Abraham Cowley

Abraham Cowley (1618–1667) was an English poet, essayist, and playwright often linked with the Metaphysical poets. A precocious writer, he published *Poetical Blossoms* while still a schoolboy. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he later became involved with the royalist cause during the English Civil War and spent years in exile with the court of Queen Henrietta Maria in France. After the Restoration he returned to England, but his hopes for major public office were disappointed. Cowley is known for the Pindaric odes collected in *Poems* (1656) and for *The Mistress* (1647). He died at Chertsey, Surrey.