William Browne (poet)

For other people named William Browne, see William Browne (disambiguation).

William Browne (c. 1590 – c. 1645) was an English pastoral poet, born at Tavistock, Devon, and educated at Exeter College, Oxford; subsequently he entered the Inner Temple.

Illustration by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale

William Browne
Born	1590 Tavistock, Devon
Died	1645 (aged c. 55)
Nationality	English
Occupation	poet
Notable work	Britannia's Pastorals (1613); The Shepherd's Pipe (contributing author, 1614)

His chief works were the long poem Britannia's Pastorals (1613), and a contribution to The Shepheard's Pipe (1614). Britannia's Pastorals was never finished: in his lifetime Books I & II were published successively in 1613 and 1616. The manuscript of Book III (unfinished) was not published until 1852. The poem is concerned with the loves and woes of Celia, Marina, etc.

To him is due the epitaph for the dowager Countess of Pembroke ("Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother").^[1]