- A. W.
The anonymous poet A.W. is responsible for the long poem, "Complaint" printed in "
A Poetical Rapsody " issued by two brothers, Francis andWalter Davison , in1602 . In the "Rapsody" the poem is ascribed to Francis Davison, but in Davison’s own manuscript, to “A. W.”. Not only the eight rhyme-endings, but the actual words that compose them, are the same in each of eight stanzas, a virtuoso display.The mysterious "A.W." has never been identified but the songs of "A.W." found places in many anthologies and song-books of the early seventeenth century.
References
* [http://www.bartleby.com/214/0609.html "The Cambridge History of English and American Literature" (1907–21): vol. IV, Prose and Poetry: Sir Thomas North to Michael Drayton, vi. The Song-Books and Miscellanies. § 9. A Poetical Rapsody; Francis Davison; “A.W.”; Sir Edward Dyer]
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