Several of Richard Barnfield's lyrics seemed fine enough that they were long ascribed to William Shakespeare; yet Barnfield himself has rarely been read, studied, or anthologized. His obscurity results more from his homoerotic interests than from poetic limitations, for Barnfield is one of the most unusual, interesting, and technically accomplished minor Elizabethan poets.

Little is known of his life, aside from Alexander B. Grosart's findings (circa 1876) and the essential new research of Fred Clitheroe. Born in June 1574 at Norbury Manor in Staffordshire to Richard Barnfield and Mary Skrymsher Barnfield, the poet was the privileged scion of prosperous landowning families of the region and the eldest son, with three siblings: Robert, John, and Dorothea. In 1572 the estate of his uncle, James Skrymsher, at whose manor Barnfield was born, included fifteen thousand acres; the poet's father had patrimonially inherited the manors of Edgmond, Wyndersley, Church Pulverbache, and Pykstock in 1568. In...