Dekker, Thomas (1572?-1632?), brought to Elizabethan popular literature a fresh emphasis on the life of his day. Dekker’s best-known play is The Shoemaker’s Holiday (1599). It is a zestful picture of Elizabethan life that combines patriotism and romance with a favorable portrayal of the rising merchant and artisan classes. Dekker’s other plays include the romance Old Fortunatus (1599) and the comedy The Honest Whore (1604-1605).
Dekker wrote many dramas and pamphlets. Between 1598 and 1602 alone, he wrote all or part of over 40 plays, most of them now lost. Yet he usually had no money and apparently spent several years in prison for debt. From about 1604, Dekker turned increasingly to writing popular pamphlets, mainly satires of the London underworld. The Gull’s Hornbook (1609) is a lively record of London life of the time.
