DAY, JOHN

born 1574, Cawston, Norfolk, Eng. died 1640? Elizabethan dramatist whose verse allegory The Parliament of Bees shows unusual ingenuity and delicacy of imagination. About 1598 Day became a playwright for the theatre proprietor and manager Philip Henslowe. In this capacity Day collaborated with Thomas Dekker, Henry Chettle, and some lesser-known writers. His first extant play is The Blind-Beggar of Bednal-Green (written in 1600, with Chettle; published 1659). Among his other plays are The Isle of Gulls (1606) and Humour Out of Breath (1608). Day's reputation rests mainly on The Parliament of Bees, which is traditionally dated 1607, though no edition earlier than that of 1641 exists. This exquisite masque, which is actually a series of pastoral eclogues, is about the doings, the births, the wars, the wooings of bees. The bees hold a parliament under Prorex, the Master Bee, and grievances are presented against the bumblebee, the wasp, the drone, and other insects whom the author uses to represent various human types. The satirical allegory ends with a royal progress of the fairy king Oberon, who dispenses justice among the bees.