About

Jump to

Relationships
Family
Associates
Similar

Aphra Behn (bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors. Rising from obscurity, she came to the notice of Charles II, who employed her as a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London and a probable brief stay in debtors' prison, she began writing for the stage. She belonged to a coterie of poets and famous libertines such as John Wilmot, Lord Rochester. Behn wrote under the pastoral pseudonym Astrea. During the turbulent political times of the Exclusion Crisis, she wrote an epilogue and prologue that brought her into legal trouble; she thereafter devoted most of her writing to prose genres and translations. A staunch supporter of the Stuart line, Behn declined an invitation from Bishop Burnet to write a welcoming poem to the new king William III. She died shortly after.

Key details

edit section

Born	Aphra Johnson December 1640 Canterbury, Kent, England
Died	16 April 1689 (aged 48) London, Kingdom of England
Zodiac	Cancer
Tags	Add tag

Family members

Spouse 1

Johan Behn - · m. 1664 info edit

expand_more

view couple »

Parents

Add parent

Siblings

Add sibling

Other family members

Add family member

Connections

Friends & associates

Add friend/associate

Aphra Behn dating history

add

List
Detail
More

Johan Behn

1

Married · 1664

1664 - 1665

Partner Died

view »

edit

edit

Children

No records found.

Scholars

expand_more

Show more expand_more