John Gay Brief Biography

English Poet and Playwright, Famous for The Beggar's Opera

Jul 14, 2009 Tel Asiado

Brief biography of English poet and dramatist John Gay, best known for his ballad-opera satire, collaborated work with Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift.

John Gay, famous for The Beggar's Opera, was an English writer best-known for comical plays and satires. However, he dedicated himself to poetry. He was born on June 30, 1685 in Barnstaple, southwest England, and went to school there.

Later, after leaving school, he went to London and soon made friends with leading literary figures of the day, including Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and John Arbuthnot.

Gay's Early Life as a Writer

In London, John Gay supported himself by working as a journalist. When he was 28, he had his first success with the poem "Rural Sports." This long poem comically glorifies descriptions of fishing and hunting, and it has amusing sections in the style of Horace, the ancient Roman poet.

Gay's first play was satirical farce called The What D'ye Call It, which he finished when he was 30-years-old. He also collaborated with Pope and Arbuthnot a comedy, Three Hours After Marriage. It was successful, but nothing compared with his most famous work, The Beggar's Opera, which was first performed when he was 43.

The Beggar's Opera

The Beggar's Opera is a satirical and comic play with songs composed in the style of popular ballads of his day. It is a story of corrupt lawkeepers and highwaymen, and it satirizes the government of then prime minister, Robert Walpole.

The play is still performed today, and in the 1920s it inspired Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera. Gay wrote a sequel, Polly, which was banned by Walpole and not performed until 1777.

John Gay's Risky Investment

With the money he made from The Beggar's Opera, Gay invested in the South Sea Company, he thought promising. He hoped to bring in huge profits from new trade routes to South America. Everyone rushed to buy shares, but suddenly the market collapsed, and Gay, like all the other investors with him, was financially ruined. Four years after achieving his greatest success, on December 4, 1732, he died a poor man at the age of 47.

Quote from John Gay:

"One may know by your kiss, that your gin is excellent." ~The Beggar's Opera

Works by John Gay

• Rural Sports, 1713
• The Shepherd's Week, 1714
• The What D'ye Call It, 1715
• Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London, 1716
• Three Hours After Marriage (with Alexander Pope and John Arbuthnot), 1717
• Fables, 1727
• The Beggar's Opera, 1728
• Polly, 1729

Sources:

• Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994.
• Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.

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John Gay, English Poet and Playwright

John Gay Play, The Beggar's Opera, William Hogarth