SOURCE: MacDonagh, Thomas. “Introductory,” “Campion's Life and Works,” and “The Beginnings of English Prosody: Campion's ‘Observations’.” In Thomas Campion and the Art of English Poetry, pp. 1-21. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., Ltd., 1913.

In the following excerpt, MacDonagh provides an overview of Campion's literary output and his importance in the history of English literature.

A man of faire parts and good reputation.

Samuel Daniel.

“The great period of English poetry,” says Arthur Symons, “begins half-way through the sixteenth century, and lasts half-way into the seventeenth. In the poetry strictly of the sixteenth century, before the drama had absorbed poetry into the substance of its many energies, verse is used as speech, and becomes song by way of speech. Music had come from Italy, and had found for once a home in England. It was an age of music. Music, singing, and dancing made then, and then only, the ‘Merry...