FLETCHER

fletcher, phineas (1582-1650), english poet, elder son of dr giles fletcher, and brother of giles the younger, noticed above, was born at cranbrook, kent, and was baptized on the 8th of april 1582. he was admitted a scholar of eton, and in 1600 entered king's college, cambridge. he graduated b.a. in 1604, and m.a. in 1608, and was one of the contributors to _sorrow's joy_ (1603). his pastoral drama, _sicelides or piscatory_ (pr. 1631) was written (1614) for performance before james i., but only produced after the king's departure at king's college. he had been ordained priest and before 1611 became a fellow of his college, but he left cambridge before 1616, apparently because certain emoluments were refused him. he became chaplain to sir henry willoughby, who presented him in 1621 to the rectory of hilgay, norfolk, where he married and spent the rest of his life. in 1627 he published _locustae, vel pietas jesuitica_. _the locusts or apollyonists_, two parallel poems in latin and english furiously attacking the jesuits. dr grosart saw in this work one of the sources of milton's conception of satan. next year appeared an erotic poem, _brittains ida_, with edmund spenser's name on the title-page. it is certainly not by spenser, and is printed by dr grosart with the works of phineas fletcher. _sicelides_, a play acted at king's college in 1614, was printed in 1631. in 1632 appeared two theological prose treatises, _the way to blessedness_ and _joy in tribulation_, and in 1633 his _magnum opus, the purple island_. the book was dedicated to his friend edward benlowes, and included his _piscatorie eclogs and other poetical miscellanies_. he died in 1650, his will being proved by his widow on the 13th of december of that year. _the purple island, or the isle of man_, is a poem in twelve cantos describing in cumbrous allegory the physiological structure of the human body and the mind of man. the intellectual qualities are personified, while the veins are rivers, the bones the mountains of the island, the whole analogy being worked out with great ingenuity. the manner of spenser is preserved throughout, but fletcher never lost sight of his moral aim to lose himself in digressions like those of the _faerie queene_. what he gains in unity of design, however, he more than loses in human interest and action. the chief charm of the poem lies in its descriptions of rural scenery. the _piscatory eclogues_ are pastorals the characters of which are represented as fisher boys on the banks of the cam, and are interesting for the light they cast on the biography of the poet himself (thyrsil) and his father (thelgon). the poetry of phineas fletcher has not the sublimity sometimes reached by his brother giles. the mannerisms are more pronounced and the conceits more far-fetched, but the verse is fluent, and lacks neither colour nor music. a complete edition of his works (4 vols.) was privately printed by dr a.b. grosart (fuller worthies library, 1869).