William Smith (poet) facts for kids

William Smith was an English poet who lived a long time ago. He wrote beautiful poems called sonnets. He was also a friend of another famous poet, Edmund Spenser. William Smith shared his poems in popular collections like The Phoenix Nest (1593) and England's Helicon (1600). He also published his own book of sonnets called Chloris in 1596.

William Smith's Poems

In 1596, William Smith published a book of poems called Chloris. The full title was Chloris, or the Complaint of the passionate despised Shepheard. This book was a collection of 48 sonnets. A sonnet is a special type of poem with 14 lines.

Smith dedicated his book to his friend, Edmund Spenser. He called Spenser "the most excellent and learned shepheard, Collin Cloute." This showed how much he respected Spenser.

The book also included a longer poem called Corins Dreame of the faire Chloris. This poem was later included in another famous collection of poems called England's Helicon.

Who Wrote What?

Sometimes, it can be tricky to know for sure who wrote certain old poems. Some poems signed "W. S." were thought to be by William Smith. However, this was just a guess. For example, some thought he wrote parts of books by John Grange and Nicholas Breton.

There was also a handwritten book called A New Yeares Guift. It was given to Mary Sidney by someone who wrote Chloris. This book is now kept safe in the British Library.

It is important to know that plays signed "W. Smith" were not written by this William Smith. They were written by a different person named Wentworth Smith.