Aphra Behn
Country
Great Britain
Birth - Death
1640 - 1689
Occupation
Writer, Poet
Description
Poet, author, prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and one of the first English professional female writers. Plays were considered scandalous because they were written by a woman. Notable books of poetry include 'Poems upon Several Occasions: with A Voyage to the Island of Love' (1684) and 'Lycidus: Or The Lover in Fashion' (1688). Homoeroticism is standard in Behn's verse, either in descriptions such as these of male to male relationships or in depictions of her own attractions to women. Her plays include 'The Forced Marriage, or the Jealous Bridegroom' (1671); 'The Amorous Prince' (1671); 'The Town Fop' (1677); and 'The Rover, or the Banished Cavalier' (in two parts, 1677 and 1681); and The Roundheads (1682).
