Poet & novelist Sir Henry Newbolt was born - 1862

Sir Henry John Newbolt, English poet, novelist and historian was born on June 6, 1862 in Bilston, England. He also had a very powerful role as a government adviser, particularly on Irish issues and with regard to the study of English in England. He is perhaps best remembered for Vitaï Lampada. He was the son of the vicar of St Mary's Church, the Rev. Henry Francis Newbolt, and his second wife, Emily. After his father's death, the family moved to Walshall, where Henry was educated. He was a graduate of Oxford. He married Margaret Edina Duckworth of the prominent publishing family and they had two children. Behind the prim Edwardian exterior of their marriage lay a far more complicated domestic life for Newbolt. His wife had a long running lesbian affair with her childhood love, Ella Coltman, who accompanied the Newbolt’s on their honeymoon.

Newbolt’s first book was a novel Taken from the Enemy (1892), and in 1895 he published a tragedy, Mordred; but it was the publication of his ballads, Admirals All (1897), that created his literary reputation. By far the best-known of these is "Vitaï Lampada". They were followed by other volumes of stirring verse, including The Island Race (1898), The Sailing of the Long-ships (1902), Songs of the Sea (1904) and Songs of the Fleet (1910). In 1914, Newbolt published Aladore, a fantasy novel about a bored but dutiful knight who abruptly abandons his estate and wealth to discover his heart's desire. It is a tale filled with allegories about the nature of youth, service, individuality and tradition. Probably the best known of all Newbolt's poems which was written in 1892, and for which he is now chiefly remembered is Vitaï Lampada (or "Vitaï Lampada"). The title is taken from a quotation by Lucretius and means 'the torch of life'. It refers to how a schoolboy, a future soldier, learns selfless commitment to duty in cricket matches in the famous Close at Clifton College. The poem was both highly regarded and repeatedly satirized by those who experienced World War I.  

At the start of the First World War, Newbolt - along with over 20 other leading British writers - was brought into the War Propaganda Bureau which had been formed to promote Britain's interests during the war and maintain public opinion in favour of the war. He subsequently became Controller of Telecommunications at the Foreign Office. Newbolt was knighted in 1915 and was appointed Companion of Honour in 1922. In 1921 he had been the author of a government Report entitled "The Teaching of English in England" which established the foundations for modern English Studies and professionalized the forms of teaching of English Literature. It established a canon, argued that English must become the linguistic and literary standard throughout the British Empire, and even proposed salary rates for lecturers. For many years it was a standard work for English teachers in teacher training Colleges. Newbolt died at his home in Kensington, London, on April 19, 938, aged 75. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Church in Somerset. 

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of the soon to be re-titled Literary Legends of the British Isles (formerly, Great Britain’s Literary Legends). The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following links: 

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Poet John Milton sells rights copyright to "Paradise Lost" for 10 pounds - 1667

On April 27, 1667, poet John Milton sells the copyright to his masterpiece Paradise Lost (1667) for a mere 10 pounds. Milton was born on December 9, 1608 in London, England. He was raised the indulged son of a prosperous London businessman. He excelled at languages in grammar school and at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he took a bachelor's and a master's, which he completed in 1632. He then decided to continue his own education, spending six years reading every major work of literature in several languages. He published an elegy for a college classmate, Lycidas, in 1637 and went abroad in 1638 to continue his studies. In 1642, Milton married 17-year-old Mary Powell, who left him just weeks later. He then wrote a series of pamphlets arguing for the institution of divorce based on incompatibility. The idea, however mild it seems today, was scandalous at the time, and Milton experienced a vehement backlash for his writing. Milton's wife returned to him in 1645, and the pair had three daughters. However, he continued espousing controversial views. He supported the execution of King Charles I, he railed against the control of the church by bishops, and he upheld the institution of Cromwell's commonwealth, for which he became secretary of foreign languages. In 1651, he lost his sight but fulfilled his government duties with the help of assistants, including poet Andrew Marvell. His wife died the following year. He remarried in 1656, but his second wife died in childbirth. Four years later, the commonwealth was overturned, and Milton was thrown in jail, saved only by the intervention of friends. He married for a third time in 1663. Blind, impoverished, and jobless, he began to dictate his poem Paradise Lost to his family. When the poem was ready for publication, he sold it for 10 pounds. Once printed, Paradise Lost was immediately hailed as a masterpiece of the English language. In 1671, he wrote Paradise Regained, followed by Samson Agonistes. Milton died on November 8, 1674 and was buried at St. Giles-without-Cripplegate Church in London.

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain’s Literary Legends. The book can be purchased at Amazon through the following links:

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British Poet Edmund Waller was born - 1606

British poet Edmund Waller was born on March 3, 1606 in Buckinghamshire, England. He was the eldest son of a wealthy landowner. Waller was educated at Eton and Kings College, Cambridge. He left Kings College without gaining a degree and instead went to Lincoln's Inn in order to study law. He was elected to parliament at the early age of sixteen, and wrote his first verse at the age of nineteen. In his political career he gained a reputation for brilliance as an orator. Although he was committed to remaining politically moderate in the troubled 1640's, by 1643 he had become a convinced Royalist and was involved in a plot to seize and secure London for Charles I. The plot was uncovered and despite an eloquent appeal in his own defense, Waller was fined, imprisoned and finally exiled from Britain. He was eventually allowed back into the country in 1652 and returned to parliament. Much of Waller's verse consisted of praise for Sacharissa, a name he used for Lady Dorothy Sidney whom he courted unsuccessfully in the 1630's. His best known poem was Go Lovely Rose, which was praised for its sweetness. Despite enjoying great fame and esteem during his lifetime, Waller's reputation declined with criticisms of blandness. His work did influence the literature of the Eighteenth Century, with his most remembered achievement being the perfection of the 'heroic couplet'. In 1661 he had published his poem, St James' Park; in 1664 he had collected his poetical works; in 1666 appeared his Instructions to a Painter; and in 1685 his Divine Poems. The final collection of his works is dated 1686, but there were further posthumous additions made in 1690. He died on October 21, 1687, and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary and All Saints Church, Beaconsfield.

 

 

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain’s Literary Legends. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following links: 

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British Poet Richard Garnett was Born - 1835

On February 27, 1835, British poet Richard Garnett was born in Lichfield, England. He was son of Richard Garnett, an author, historical linguist and assistant keeper of printed books in the British Museum. He was educated at a school in Bloomsbury, he entered the British Museum in 1851 (the year following his father's death) as an assistant librarian. In 1875, he became superintendent of the Reading Room, in 1881, editor of the General Catalogue of Printed Books, and in 1890 until his retirement in 1899, Keeper of Printed Books. His literary works include numerous translations, several books of verse, a book of short stories The Twilight of the Gods (1888, 16 stories; 12 stories added in the 1903 edition); numerous biographies that included The Age of Dryden (1895); a History of Italian Literature; English Literature: An Illustrated Record. He also discovered and edited some unpublished poems of Percy Shelley (Relics of Shelley, 1862). His poem Where Corals Lie was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar as part of Sea Pictures and was first performed in 1899. He died on April 13, 1906. 

 

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain’s Literary Legends. The book can be purchased at Amazon through the following links: 

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British Poet John Keats died - 1821

On February 23, 1821, British poet John Keats died in Rome, Italy. Keats had a tragically short life; yet even though he died so young the beauty that shines through his work is remarkable by any standards. He was born on the October 31, 1795, in Moorgate, London, England. His father was the principal servant at the Swan and Hoop stables, who married the daughter of his master. His mother appears to have been a tall, bright young woman fond of the pleasures of this life. There were four children, John being the oldest, born prematurely at seven months. By the age of twelve, John Keats had lost both of his parents. There was some money left for the four children and John was sent to a school at Enfield. There he showed a keen interest in Greek mythology, and this can be seen in some of his later work.

At the age of fourteen his guardian apprenticed him to a surgeon, a Mr. Thomas Hammond, in Edmonton, near Enfield. He didn't much care for this, for it did not interest him as poetry did. Still, he had little choice in the matter. He came to London to enter St. Thomas' Hospital as a student, and had the good fortune to meet Leigh Hunt. There was a small coterie of young writers, and with their encouragement, he began to concentrate on his literary aspirations. These began to engross him and he soon gave up his medical work. At the age of twenty-two he issued his first volume of poetry. It appears to have pleased none but his friends. Written within a period of but a few years, the earlier work naturally showed some immaturity, and indeed attracted somewhat harsh criticism from those who were his inferiors; but his work then developed into exquisite jewels of the English language that confounded his critics.

His longest work, Endymion, was prefaced by an apology for what he perceived were its inadequacies. It was published in 1818, when he was at Teignmouth, Devon. He had then only a few years to live. The simple opening lines have passed into the English language as a precious sequence of words, often quoted: 

A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; .....". 

The lovely contradictory phrase "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter," appears in his Ode to a Grecian Urn. "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" opens his Ode to Autumn, written while on a brief visit to Winchester. These and many others are part of the happy legacy of this young man. Few poets could have produced so many oft quoted phrases. Everywhere, those who speak English have a rich treasury of words and expressions that can be recalled with great pleasure. In his early years his outlook with regard to women was disdainful, almost hostile; but then he became attracted to a Miss Cox, a cousin of his friend J.H. Reynolds. This did not lead to anything. Nevertheless, his outlook was still one of some scorn with regard to love of women. He wrote that he found such to be "a cloying treacle to the wings of independence". 

However, as with most young men, this attitude was to change completely. He fell deeply in love with a lady called Fanny Brawne, (later to marry and become Mrs. Lindon) and some thirty-seven letters he wrote her have survived. He was consumed with love for her, and at the same time beginning to suffer the strain of the consumption that was to kill him. It has been suggested that his passion for Fanny aggravated his illness, the double strain of his romantic desires and his disease leading to an earlier death than might otherwise have occurred. However that might be, Keats was aware of his condition, and the threat to his life. Consumption was not an uncommon illness in those days, and when it developed there was little hope. It was a scourge among all classes of society, and the doctors were impotent. For most sufferers a diagnosis of tuberculosis was a notice of death.  

It is reported that in February 1820, noting the blood he had coughed up, after a cold trip on the coach, he called for a candle that he might distinguish the color. Examining the stain, he said that it was arterial blood, and stated calmly that it was his death warrant. He knew, as did people generally, that consumption was a killer, and there was no cure. He set out on a voyage to the warmer climate of Rome, Italy, and suffered a very rough passage in the Bay of Biscay. His friend Severn tended him devotedly during his last days, travelling with him, nursing him, and watching over him with great affection till death claimed him on February 23, 1821. Some ten days earlier the poet had asked that on his grave should be placed the words "Here lies one whose name was writ in water". He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome. Only twenty-six years old when he died, yet Keats left us odes, sonnets, stanzas, and longer works that have become immortal. English literature is a rich field for warm enjoyment, and John Keats has an honored place in it.

 

 

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain's Literary Legends. The book can be ordered from Amazon through the following links:

 

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British Poet Elizabeth Carter died - 1806

British poet Elizabeth Carter died on February 19, 1806. She was born in Deal, Kent, England and was the daughter of a clergyman whose parish was in the town. Encouraged by her father to study, she mastered several modern and ancient languages (including Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic) and science. She translated into English De Crousaz’s Examen de l'essai de Monsieur Pope sur l'homme (Examination of Mr. Pope’s "An Essay on Man", two volumes, 1739); Algarotti’s Newtonianismo per le donne (Newtonianism for women); and wrote a small volume of poems. Carter's position in the pantheon of eighteenth century women writers was, however, secured by her translation in 1758 of All the Works of Epictetus, the first English translation of all known works by the Greek stoic philosopher. She was a friend of Samuel Johnson, editing some editions of his periodical The Rambler.

 

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain’s Literary Legends. He book can be purchased from Amazon through the following links:

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