William Congreve was a famous English poet and a playwright. He was born on 24th of January, 1670 in Bradsey Grange, on an estate near Ledston, West riding of Yorkshire. Colonel William Congreve and Mary Browning were his parents who moved to London in the year 1672.
He started education at Kilkeny College. Later he moved to London to study Law but his interests and preferences were drama, literature and fashionable life. In the year 1692, when he was 17 years old, he wrote Incognita: or Love and duty reconcil’d which was published under a pseudonym – Cleophil. This work of his brought him fame and recognition into the Literary world.
Congreve achieved success in the year 1693 when he wrote his first play – The Old Bachelor. This play of his was produced at the Theatre Royal, Dury Lane. He wrote shaped his English comedies through his well-written dialogues and satires. This play of his was a huge success as it ran for continuous two weeks when it opened. His second play was The Double – Dealer which was not as successful as the first one. By the age of thirty Congreve wrote four comedy plays which included Love for Love premiered on 30th April 1695. This play was a successful one as the forst one. In the year 1700 he wrote The Way of the World which was a failure at that time, but today it is considered as a masterpiece written by him. The Mourning Bride was written by him in 1697 which became very popular at time. As a playwright Congreve was very successful but he wrote only five pays which were authored from 1693 to 1700.
After this he left theatres and for the rest of his life he managed to live his life from the royalties he received when his plays were produced, as well as his private income. He died on 19th January 1729 in London, Great Britain at the age of 58.