View source for John Cleveland

{{Short description|English poet and Royalist (1613–1658)}}
{{for|the American politician|John Cleveland (politician)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
[[File:John Cleveland.jpg|thumb|John Cleveland]]
'''John Cleveland''' (16 June 1613 – 29 April 1658) was an English [[poet]] who supported the [[Cavalier|Royalist]] cause in the English Civil War. He was best known for political satire.

==Early life==
Cleveland was born in [[Loughborough]], the son of Thomas Cleveland, Vicar of [[Hinckley]] (1620–1652), and educated at [[Hinckley Grammar School]]. Admitted to [[Christ's College, Cambridge]], he graduated BA in 1632 and became a fellow of [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's College]] in 1634,{{sfn |Cousin |1910}}{{sfn |ACAD |CLVT627J}} where he became a college tutor and lecturer in [[rhetoric]].{{sfn |Cousin |1910}}

==Posts==
A staunch Royalist, Cleveland opposed the election of [[Oliver Cromwell]] as member for Cambridge in the [[Long Parliament]] and lost his college post as a result in 1645. He then joined [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], by whom he was welcomed, and appointed to the office of [[judge advocate]] at [[Newark-on-Trent]].{{sfn |Cousin |1910}}

In 1646, however, he lost his judge advocacy and wandered about the country dependent on the bounty of other Royalists. In 1655 he was imprisoned at [[Great Yarmouth]], but released by Cromwell, to whom he appealed, and went to London, where he spent the rest of his life.{{sfn |Cousin |1910}} For his letter to Cromwell, see ''May it please yr Highnesse'' (1657) or ''Cleaveland's petition to His Highnesse the Lord Protector'' [sic].

==Poems and other works==
Cleveland's poems first appeared in ''The Character of a London Diurnal'' (1647) and thereafter in some 20 other collections.{{sfn |Chisholm|2011}} His achievement lay in political, satirical verses written mainly in heroic couplets.{{sfn |Chisholm|2011}} He has been called "both a detached, intellectual, 'metaphysical' poet" and "a committed satirist".{{sfn |Kastan |2006 |p=22}}

Cleveland also wrote Royalist news books such as ''Mercurius Pragmaticus'' for [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]], which appeared after the [[execution of Charles I]]. He was particularly interested in the 14th-century Wat Tyler rebellion against Richard II.<ref>Cf. ''The idol of the clownes, or, Insurrection of Wat The Tyler'' (1654) and ''The Rebellion of the Rude Multitude under Wat Tyler and his priests Baal and Straw'' (1660).</ref>

His own volume of ''Poems'' was published in 1654.{{sfn |Cousin |1910}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{acad |id=CLVT627J |name=Cleveland, John}}
*{{Cite EB1911 |date=18 November 2011 |wstitle=John Cleveland }}
*{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Kastan |first=David Scott |year=2006 |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-516921-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DlMUSz-hiuEC&pg=RA1-PA22 22]}}

'''Attribution:'''
*{{A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature|wstitle=Cleveland, John}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|John Cleveland}}
{{wikisource inline|list=
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Cleveland, John |volume=6 |page=501 |noicon=x |short=x}}
*{{Cite DNB |wstitle=Cleveland, John |volume=11 |pages=50–53 |noicon=x |short=x}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveland, John}}
[[Category:1613 births]]
[[Category:1658 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century English poets]]
[[Category:17th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century English writers]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:Anglican poets]]
[[Category:People from Loughborough]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge]]