William Webbe (fl. 1568â€"1591) was an English critic and translator. Little is known about him except that he attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and was a tutor for distinguished families.
He wrote a Discourse of English Poetrie (1586), in which he discusses prosody and reviews English poetry up to his own day. He also translated Virgil's first two Eclogues. A letter by Webbe to Robert Wilmot (fl. 1568-1608) is prepended to the 1591 edition of Wilmot's play Tragedie of Tancred and Gismund. The letter, praising Wilmot for having decided to publish the tragedy, acts as a prefacing endorsement of the play.
Notes
- ^ "Webbe, William" A Dictionary of Writers and their Works. Ed. Michael Cox. Oxford University Press, 2001.
- ^ "Webbe, William (WB569W)".
- ^ Wilmot, Robert. The Tragedie of Tancred and Gismund. London, 1591.
References
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. WikisourceÂ
External links
- A Discourse of English poetrie at Internet Archive.
- Quotations related to William Webbe at Wikiquote