Gay, John

Gay, John (1685-1732), English dramatist and poet, who was one of the outstanding writers of the Neo-Classical period in English literature. He was born and educated in Barnstaple. His early poetry includes The Shepherd's Week (1714), a pastoral cycle, and Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716), the latter a studiedly artificial counterpart of Georgics (Virgil). His next work was the play Three Hours After Marriage (1717) which he wrote with Pope and Arbuthnot. The first night performance sealed the play's fate when Gay and Colley Cibber, the leading actor, came to blows after Cibber's discovery that the part he was playing was in fact a lampoon of himself.

Gay is famous for his Fables (two series, 1727 and, posthumously, 1738), tales in verse considered the best of their kind in English. His fame as a playwright rests primarily on The Beggar's Opera (1728), a social satire that two centuries later inspired The Threepenny Opera (1928; trans. 1933) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. The play was based on an idea given to Gay by his friend Swift. The Beggar's Opera, in various adaptations, is still popular. A sequel, entitled Polly (1729), was banned from the stage because of its satirization of Walpole, but was published and widely read. Gay composed the lyrics to many songs, including “'Twas When the Seas Were Roaring”, and he wrote many ballads, the most familiar of which is “Sweet William's Farewell to Black-eyed Susan”. He also wrote the libretto for Handel's Acis and Galatea (1732).