Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles – Life, Poetry, and Famous Quotes

Francis Quarles (1592–1644) was a prolific English poet best known for his religious emblem books. Explore his life, spiritual poetry, style, influence, and memorable lines in this comprehensive biography.

Introduction

Francis Quarles (born 8 May 1592 – died 8 September 1644) was an English poet and devotional writer whose works found wide readership in the 17th century. He is particularly celebrated for his Emblems, a genre combining imagery and verse to convey moral and spiritual lessons. His deeply religious tone, allegorical imagination, and blending of scripture, meditation, and poetic form made him a prominent figure in the period’s devotional literature.

Though his reputation later waned amid changing tastes, Quarles’ poems and emblem books offer a window into the intimate religiosity, moral concerns, and symbolic world of the English seventeenth century.

Early Life and Family

Francis Quarles was born at Stewards (or “Stewards House”) in Romford, Essex (then in the county of Essex, now the London Borough of Havering).

He was the third son in a family of at least eight children. His father, James Quarles, served in royal service under Queen Elizabeth I and King James I; he held positions including clerk of the royal kitchen, clerk of the Green Cloth, and surveyor-general for naval victuals.

His elder brother Robert inherited the family estate and was knighted by James I in 1608.

From youth he showed aptitude in learning and devotion. His upbringing in a family tied to court and royal service shaped his orientation toward public life and piety.

Education and Early Career

Cambridge and Legal Studies

In 1608, Quarles entered Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he studied and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. Lincoln’s Inn to study law—a customary pathway for gentlemen of culture, though his legal training seems secondary to his literary vocation.

Early Posts and Royal Service

In 1613, Quarles served as cupbearer (échanson) to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James I, during her marriage to the Elector Palatine.

These roles—though not tremendously lucrative—placed him in intellectual and ecclesiastical circles, influencing his theological and meditative style.

Quarles returned to England by the early 1630s, settling in Essex, and during this period began preparing his major emblem work.

Major Works & Literary Output

Quarles was a prolific writer. His works span devotional paraphrases of scripture, meditative poems, epigrams, emblem collections, elegies, and, toward the end of his life, political pamphlets. Below are some of his most notable works and literary contributions.

Emblems (1635)

His most enduring work is Emblems Divine and Moral (often just Emblems). Emblems, Quarles combined engraved illustrations (copperplate engravings) with meditative verses, scriptural mottoes, and moral reflections. The structure was: image + explanatory text + poetic lines (epigram) to provoke spiritual reflection.

The work was well-received by the public, going through many editions and leaving a mark on the genre of emblem literature in England.

A follow-up work Hieroglyphicks of the Life of Man (1638) continued the emblematic style.

Devotional Paraphrases & Meditative Poetry

Among his earlier works, Quarles produced paraphrases and meditative poems based on biblical narratives:

• A Feast for Wormes (1620) — a poetic treatment of the history of Jonah.

• Hadassa, or the History of Queen Esther (1621)

• Job Militant, with Meditations Divine and Moral (1624)

• Sion’s Elegies and Sion’s Sonnets Sung by Solomon (1624)

• Divine Poems (c. 1630–1633) — a collected edition of his devotional writings.

• Divine Fancies (1632) — a collection of epigrams, meditations, observations.

These works reveal Quarles’ sustained engagement with scripture, his effort to make biblical stories poetically relevant, and his use of allegory and moral reflection.

Political & Pamphlet Writings

As the English Civil War loomed, Quarles leaned toward the Royalist cause (supporting the monarchy). In 1639, he was appointed Chronologer of London (a post of civic importance) and this gave him an institutional base.

In 1644, he published pamphlets in support of the king: The Loyal Convert, The Whipper Whipt, and The New Distemper.The Profest Royalist.

His political writings were careful: he defended monarchical authority and order, but also urged moderation, reconciliation, and warned both sides of excesses.

Other Works & Posthumous Publications

Quarles also published:

• The Virgin Widow (a play, published posthumously in 1649)

• Enchyridion (1640) — a collection of aphorisms, meditations, and moral reflections.

• Shepheards Oracles — pastoral eclogues with allegorical and political content, published posthumously.

Many of his manuscripts and property were damaged or lost during the turmoil of the Civil War; his house was reportedly searched, and some of his writings were destroyed by Parliamentarian forces.

After his death, his wife, Ursula Woodgate, worked to publish his remaining works, such as Solomon’s Recantation.

Literary Style, Themes & Influence

Emblem Literature & Symbolism

Quarles’ chief innovation lies in his mastery of the emblem form—a fusion of image, motto, and verbal reflection. In doing so, he adapted the Continental emblem tradition (especially that of Jesuit devotional works) into English spiritual poetry.

His emblems often use allegorical and symbolic elements (a serpent, a rose, a mirror, a lamp) to evoke Christian ideas of sin, repentance, grace, mortality, and resurrection. The visual triggers invite meditation, and the verse explains or deepens the spiritual moral.

Didactic Piety & Moral Focus

Quarles is unabashedly moral and devotional: his poetry is not aesthetic for its own sake but seeks to instruct, edify, and draw the reader closer to God. His worldview is deeply Protestant, Christian, and reflective.

His concerns include the transience of life, the soul’s journey, human frailty, divine grace, and personal devotion. Many of his shorter works (epigrams, aphorisms) encapsulate spiritual truths in compact form.

Political and Ecclesiastical Mediation

While Quarles was a Royalist in sympathies, he was not reckless or propagandistic. His political writings show caution, critique, and a call for unity — he defended authority yet warned of abuses. Shepheards Oracles allegorically addresses ecclesiastical disputes, Puritanism, and Church of England conflicts.

In combining spiritual reflection and political sensibility, Quarles stood in a tradition of loyal yet critical Christian writers of his era.

Reception & Legacy

In his own time and in the 17th and 18th centuries, Quarles was highly popular. His emblem books and devotional works were widely printed, read, and reprinted.

However, later critics (especially in the Enlightenment) tended to dismiss his ornate style as overly sentimental, derivative, or lacking in poetic sophistication. Alexander Pope famously mocked emblem writers in The Dunciad, and Quarles is sometimes cited as a target of such criticism.

Still, he has remained of interest to scholars of emblem literature, devotional writing, and the intersections of religion and poetry in early modern England. Some modern critics see in Quarles a bridging voice between popular spirituality and poetic ambition.

His influence also persisted in devotional circles, Puritan readers, and in the American colonies where emblematic and meditative poetry had resonance.

Personality & Character

From the surviving records and prefaces, we can infer elements of Quarles’ character:

• He was deeply pious, cultivating inward meditation, religious discipline, and humility.

• He had scholarly interests and appreciated learning, being conversant with classical, patristic, and biblical sources.

• His temperament seems moderate: he avoided extremes in politics and sought reconciliation rather than polemics.

• He was industrious, given his large literary output, despite financial challenges and the pressures of upheaval.

• He endured adversity: his property, manuscripts, and financial stability suffered during the Civil War.

Though these glimpses are fragmentary, they reveal a man committed to faith, reflection, and moral writing in turbulent times.

Famous Quotes & Selections

While Quarles is not known for one or two pithy lines that circulate widely today, his emblem writings and aphoristic meditations offer many memorable passages. Below are a few representative excerpts:

“Like to the Damask Rose you see, / Or like the Lily in the Valley, / Or like the Cedar in Lebanon / Which spreads its boughs both fair and tall.”
(from one of his emblems, often quoted in anthologies)

“Weep not for me, but for yourselves; for I am dead / When you have left me.”

“Of all sorrows, Sorrows that have no sound are worst.”

“Some griefs are like dark clouds, which shall break, and rain / Their dews of peace into the earth again.”

Because many of Quarles’ texts are meditative and allegorical, these lines are better appreciated in context, where image, scripture, and moral reflection resonate together.

Lessons & Reflections

From the life and work of Francis Quarles, readers today can derive several enduring lessons:

1. Art as devotion
   Quarles reminds us that poetry and spiritual life need not be separate. Literary form can serve prayer, meditation, and moral formation.

2. Symbol and image in understanding
   His emblem approach teaches how visual metaphor can deepen poetic meaning and invite contemplative engagement.

3. Moderation in conviction
   Quarles’ balanced stance in turbulent politics shows that one can hold convictions without succumbing to binary extremes.

4. Persistence amid adversity
   Despite financial pressures, war, and loss, Quarles continued writing, publishing, and shaping his spiritual voice.

5. The shifting reception of art
   His life illustrates that popularity and critical esteem can diverge, and that the value of a writer may resurface in new intellectual contexts.

Conclusion

Francis Quarles stands as a significant figure in the 17th-century English literary and religious world. His Emblems, devotional paraphrases, meditative poems, and political reflections lay bare a temper of piety, symbolic imagination, and moral earnestness. Though his reputation declined in later eras, modern scholarship continues to rediscover the richness of his emblematic art, his moral vision, and his nuanced voice during an age of conflict.