LAWES, Henry.

The article presents information on the life and works of English songwriter Henry Lawes. Though not himself a poet, Lawes deserves a place of some prominence in any history of English poetry. He was the most important songwriter of the Caroline period and the Interregnum. This was a period when much of the finest lyrical poetry was designed for musical setting and among the poets of this period there seems to have been a widely shared agreement that it was Lawes who could be relied upon to do fullest justice to their work, in ways that would respect both their art and his. Lawes set texts by most of the finest lyrical poets of his time. They include John Donne, Thomas Carew and Richard Lovelace.