John Ford was an English playwright during the early modern period of English history. He wrote primarily under the reigns of King James I and King Charles I. While he is best remembered for his dramatic works, Ford also produced poetry addressing themes of love and mortality.
Ford was admitted to Exeter College at Oxford University when he was only sixteen years old. He joined a prestigious law school called the Middle Temple, but it is unclear whether Ford actually studied law during his time there. It is likely that during his time at Middle Temple, Ford met junior member John Marston, another known playwright at the time.
Ford's first published works were born out of a need for financial security. After being expelled from Middle Temple in the spring of 1606, he wrote Fame's Memorial (a lengthy elegy) and Honour Triumphant (a prose pamphlet). Both texts are attempts to seek patronage from a prominent donor. Ford was eventually readmitted to Middle Temple in 1608.
It was not until 1620 that Ford began writing plays. At first, he participated mostly in collaborations with other, more experienced playwrights like Thomas Dekker, John Webster, and William Rowley. During the early reign of King Charles I, Ford wrote the play for which he is best known, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, about an incestuous brother and sister. Ford's dramatic work usually addresses the conflict between individual passion and social expectation; he was deeply interested in alternative psychologies and one can see this interest manifest in his morally complex characters on the stage.
Ford died around the year 1639, though the exact details of his death are unrecorded.
Stagecoach came out in 1939 to critical acclaim. It marked the first film of many in which director John Ford used Monument Valley as a backdrop for his narrative. It is also the film that made the iconic actor John Wayne a star. The film was shot...
'Tis a Pity She's a Whore is an early modern English tragedy written in the early 1620s by John Ford. It was first published in 1633 and in its original published form was entitled 'Tis Pitty Shee's a Whoore. It was first performed between 1629...
