Edward Young

Edward Young (1683–1765) was an English poet, playwright, and Anglican clergyman. Educated at Winchester College and the University of Oxford, he pursued a literary career in London while also taking holy orders. Young wrote tragedies and satires, including *The Revenge* (1721), but he is best remembered for *The Complaint, or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality* (1742–1745), a long poem in nine “Nights” that reflects on mortality, faith, and grief. He later became rector of Welwyn, Hertfordshire, where he spent much of his remaining life. His meditative style influenced later eighteenth-century and Romantic writers.