Sir John Denham (1615-69) courtier, politician, diplomat and wit, was a highly regarded poet in his own time and for well over a century after his death. Towards the end of his life, in 1664, John Dryden praised the “majesty of the style” of Denham’s best-known poem, Cooper’s Hill, saying that it “ever will be the exact standard of good writing”. Half a century later, in 1713, Alexander Pope echoed Dryden’s praise, referring in Windsor-Forest to “majestic Denham”, and proclaiming that: “On Cooper’s Hill eternal Wreaths shall grow,/ While lasts the Mountain, or while Thames shall flow” (265-6). Towards the end of the eighteenth century, in his Life of Denham, 1779, Samuel Johnson described the poet as “a genius born to improve the literature of his country”. According to Johnson, Denham is “deservedly considered one...
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Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Sir John Denham". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 June 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1227, accessed 09 June 2026.]
