Who is Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn (; bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors. Rising from obscurity, she came to the notice of Charles II, who employed her as a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London and a probable brief stay in debtors' prison, she began writing for the stage. She belonged to a coterie of poets and famous libertines such as John Wilmot, Lord Rochester. Behn wrote under the pastoral pseudonym Astrea. During the turbulent political times of the Exclusion Crisis, she wrote an epilogue and prologue that brought her into legal trouble; she...
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Aphra Behn Poems

  • Song (love)
    Oh love! that stronger art than Wine,
    Pleasing Delusion, Witchery divine,
    Wont to be priz'd above all Wealth,
    Disease that has more Joys than Health; ...
  • On The Death Of The Late Earl Of Rochester
    Mourn, Mourn, ye Muses, all your loss deplore,
    The Young, the Noble Strephon is no more.
    Yes, yes, he fled quick as departing Light,
    And ne're shall rise from Deaths eternal Night, ...
  • The Disappointment
    1.

    One Day the Amarous Lisander,
    By an impatient Passion sway'd, ...
  • Epitaph On The Tombstone Of A Child
    This Little, Silent, Gloomy Monument,
    Contains all that was sweet and innocent ;
    The softest pratler that e'er found a Tongue,
    His Voice was Musick and his Words a Song ; ...
  • On The Death Of E. Waller, Esq.
    How, to thy Sacred Memory, shall I bring
    (Worthy thy Fame) a grateful Offering?
    I, who by Toils of Sickness, am become
    Almost as near as thou art to a Tomb? ...
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Top 10 most used topics by Aphra Behn

Love 11 I Love You 11 Heart 8 God 7 Alone 7 World 7 Desire 7 Fire 7 Power 6 Pride 6


Aphra Behn Quotes

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Comments about Aphra Behn

Nasimmahmood28: money speaks sense in a language all nations understand. aphra behn
Aphraconference: deadline april 1st to propose a paper for 2024’s aphra behn & her restoration’ - the 8th international conference hosted by the aphra behn (europe) society; this conference is a special one - taking place in behn’s home city of canterbury. cfp & details:
Welovewalktours: just spied this guided walk: aphra behn was a (very early) british female author. so this looks like a particularly interesting theme tying in with the playwright marlowe, as i think i'm right in saying they were both also spies.
Katsukinnie: i have decided i really like aphra behn and the way no one knows shit about her actual life
Spiesvespers: it’s time for strange spy facts! poets and poetry edition! former spy aphra behn was a poet and playwright during the restoration period, and the first woman in england to earn a living as a writer.
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Poem of the day

Bliss Carman and Richard Hovey Poem
Hem And Haw
 by Bliss Carman and Richard Hovey

Hem and Haw were the sons of sin,
Created to shally and shirk;
Hem lay 'round and Haw looked on
While God did all the work.

Hem was a fogy, and Haw was a prig,
For both had the dull, dull mind;
And whenever they found a thing to do,
...

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