After attending the University of Cambridge (1581–84), Campion studied law in London, but he was never called to the bar. Little is known of him until 1606, by which time he had received a degree in medicine from the University of Caen, France. He practiced medicine from 1606 until his death.

Campion’s first publication was five sets of verses appearing anonymously in the pirated 1591 edition of Philip Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella. In 1595 his Poemata (Latin epigrams) appeared, followed in 1601 by A Booke of Ayres (written with Philip Rosseter), of which much of the musical accompaniment and verses were Campion’s. He wrote a masque in 1607 and three more in 1613, in which year his Two Bookes of Ayres probably appeared. The Third and Fourth Booke of Ayres came out in 1617, probably followed by a treatise (undated) on counterpoint.

Campion’s lyric poetry and songs for lute accompaniment are undoubtedly his works of most lasting interest. Though his theories on music are slight, he thought naturally in the modern key system, with major and minor modes, rather than in the old modal system. Campion stated his theories on rhyme in Observations in the Art of English Poesie (1602). In this work he attacked the use of rhymed, accentual metres, insisting instead that timing and sound duration are the fundamental element in verse structure. Campion asserted that in English verse the larger units of line and stanza provide the temporal stability within which feet and syllables may be varied.

With the exception of his classic lyric Rose-cheekt Lawra, Come, Campion usually did not put his advocacy of quantitative, unrhymed verse into practice. His originality as a lyric poet lies rather in his treatment of the conventional Elizabethan subject matter. Rather than using visual imagery to describe static pictures, he expresses the delights of the natural world in terms of sound, music, movement, or change. This approach and Campion’s flowing but irregular verbal rhythms give freshness to hackneyed subjects and seem also to suggest an immediate personal experience of even the commonest feelings. The Selected Songs, edited by W.H. Auden, was published in 1972.

Maguire’s father, Vincent, and mother, Wendy, were young and unwed when he was born. Although they married soon after the birth, their relationship was short-lived and Maguire spent much of his early childhood shuttling between households in California, Washington and Oregon.

Maguire’s mother, a secretary, encouraged her son to take acting lessons and soon she was escorting him through the standard circuit of Hollywood auditions. Maguire managed to cadge one- and two-line roles in such sitcoms as Roseanne and Blossom. Maguire left school in the ninth grade to devote himself to acting. He eventually landed a lead role in FOX’s ill-fated Great Scott! . The show was cancelled in 1992 after nine weeks.

In 1995, Maguire auditioned for the lead in the Generation X comedy Empire Records. He was given a small part and eventually excused himself from the production, citing personal frustration. His scenes were cut from the little-seen film.

But this personal setback proved a prelude to giant professional leap forward. After a brief sabbatical from the audition circuit, later that year he appeared in Duke of Groove, a short-film which received an Oscar nomination. He then leveraged a role in Woody Allen’s Deconstructing Harry (1997) and following that, a major role in the brooding, Ang Lee drama The Ice Storm (1997). Maguire’s performance as Paul Hood, the sardonic-but-sensitive son of Kevin Kline and Joan Allen, earned high praise from critics. In 1998, Maguire again played the fictive son of Joan Allen in Pleasantville, but this time, it was Maguire in the lead role.

After a small role in the film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Maguire again played the coming-of-age card in The Cider House Rules, a wistful interpretation of John Irving’s bestselling novel. The film garnered seven Academy Award nominations.

In Wonder Boys (2000), Maguire found himself playing a slightly quirkier version of the prodigal son. Cast opposite Michael Douglas, Maguire played James Leer, a precocious writing student with a flair for prevarication.

But with the release of Spiderman (2002), Maguire’s days as the Holden-Caulfield-in-residence seem to be over. Reportedly paid $4 million for the title role, Maguire (with the help of a range of state-of-the-art special effects) made the transition from nerdy teen Peter Parker to comic book hero. The film, which was tied up in copyright wrangling for almost a decade, also features Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe. The film netted $114 million in its opening weekend, a box-office record. The actor signed on for the sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man, for 2004. In 2006, Maguire starred in the Oscar-nominated film, The Good German. Maguire returns as Peter Parker in the third Spider-Man film opening in May 2007.

Maguire lives in Los Angeles. Although he has publicly proclaimed his abstention from alcohol and drugs, he is an avid participant in the city’s nightlife and a visible member of what the media has dubbed “the latter-day Rat Pack” along with fellow actor and friend Leonardo DiCaprio.

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In 1984, Burton created a unique version of the Frankenstein story with the live-action short Frankenweenie. Impressed with Frankenweenie, Paul Reubens commissioned Burton to direct the wildly inventive comedy Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985). The success of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure brought about other opportunities, including the 1988 ghost story Beetlejuice starring Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, and Geena Davis. Often considered the prototypical Burton film, Beetlejuice was recognized for its visual flair and interwoven themes of fantasy and horror.

After forming his own production company, Burton directed the lavish production Batman (1989). With a cast that included Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, and Kim Basinger, the stylized feature became the first film to sell $100 million in the first 10 days of release. The following year, Burton helmed the bizarre but touching film Edward Scissorhands. Featuring notable performances by up-and-coming stars Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder (as well as Price’s final feature role as the eccentric inventor), Edward Scissorhands was acclaimed for being both a social satire and a simple tale of love and intolerance.

Directing an ensemble that included Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DeVito, and Christopher Walken, Burton reteamed with Keaton for the 1992 Batman sequel, Batman Returns. The following year, he produced the animated musical Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. Created with the painstaking process of stop-motion animation, the film became a critical and commercial success, while Burton was credited for his technical prowess.

In 1994, Burton cast Johnny Depp as the title character in Ed Wood—a black-and-white portrait of a middling filmmaker and his all-consuming passion to succeed. Although critically praised (Martin Landau won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of a drug-addicted Bela Lugosi), the film failed to appeal to mass audiences. After producing the third installment Batman Forever (1995) and the animated feature James and the Giant Peach (1996), Burton directed the sci-fi spoof Mars Attacks! The film flopped at the box office despite an all-star cast that included Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, and Pierce Brosnan.