1.
Jonathan Swift
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Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin. Swift is remembered for such as A Tale of a Tub, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, Gullivers Travels. He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language and he originally published all of his works under pseudonyms – such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, Drapiers Letters as MB Drapier – or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles and his deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed Swiftian. Jonathan Swift was born on 30 November 1667 in Dublin, Ireland and he was the second child and only son of Jonathan Swift and his wife Abigail Erick of Frisby on the Wreake. Swifts father died in Dublin about seven months before he was born, Swifts family had several interesting literary connections. His grandmother Elizabeth Swift was the niece of Sir Erasmus Dryden, the same grandmothers aunt Katherine Dryden was a first cousin of Elizabeth, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh. His great-great grandmother Margaret Swift was the sister of Francis Godwin and his uncle Thomas Swift married a daughter of poet and playwright Sir William Davenant, a godson of William Shakespeare. Swifts benefactor and uncle Godwin Swift took primary responsibility for the young man and he attended Dublin University in 1682, financed by Godwins son Willoughby, from which he received his B. A. in 1686 and developed his friendship with William Congreve. Temple was an English diplomat who arranged the Triple Alliance of 1668 and he had retired from public service to his country estate to tend his gardens and write his memoirs. Gaining his employers confidence, Swift was often trusted with matters of great importance, within three years of their acquaintance, Temple had introduced his secretary to William III and sent him to London to urge the King to consent to a bill for triennial Parliaments. Swift took up his residence at Moor Park where he met Esther Johnson, then eight years old, Swift was her tutor and mentor, giving her the nickname Stella, and the two maintained a close but ambiguous relationship for the rest of Esthers life. In 1690, Swift left Temple for Ireland because of his health, the illness consisted of fits of vertigo or giddiness, now known to be Ménières disease, and it continued to plague him throughout his life. During this second stay with Temple, Swift received his M. A. from Hart Hall, then he left Moor Park, apparently despairing of gaining a better position through Temples patronage, to become an ordained priest in the Established Church of Ireland. He was appointed to the prebend of Kilroot in the Diocese of Connor in 1694, with his parish located at Kilroot, Swift appears to have been miserable in his new position, being isolated in a small, remote community far from the centres of power and influence. While at Kilroot, however, he may well have become involved with Jane Waring, whom he called Varina. A letter from him survives, offering to remain if she would marry him and promising to leave and she presumably refused, because Swift left his post and returned to England and Temples service at Moor Park in 1696, and he remained there until Temples death. There he was employed in helping to prepare Temples memoirs and correspondence for publication, during this time, Swift wrote The Battle of the Books, a satire responding to critics of Temples Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning, though Battle was not published until 1704
2.
English poetry
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This article focuses on poetry written in English from the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The article does not include poetry from other countries where the English language is spoken, the earliest surviving English poetry, written in Anglo-Saxon, the direct predecessor of modern English, may have been composed as early as the 7th century. This is generally taken as marking the beginning of Anglo-Saxon poetry and it is possible to identify certain key moments, however. The Dream of the Rood was written before circa AD700, by and large, however, Anglo-Saxon poetry is categorised by the manuscripts in which it survives, rather than its date of composition. While the poetry that has survived is limited in volume, it is wide in breadth, beowulf is the only heroic epic to have survived in its entirety, but fragments of others such as Waldere and the Finnesburg Fragment show that it was not unique in its time. Other genres include much religious verse, from works to biblical paraphrase, elegies such as The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and The Ruin, and numerous proverbs, riddles. With one notable exception, Anglo-Saxon poetry depends on alliterative verse for its structure, with the Norman conquest of England, beginning in 1111 the Anglo-Saxon language rapidly diminished as a written literary language. The new aristocracy spoke predominantly Norman, and this became the language of courts, parliament. While Anglo-Norman or Latin was preferred for high culture, English literature by no means died out, other transitional works were preserved as popular entertainment, including a variety of romances and lyrics. With time, the English language regained prestige, and in 1362 it replaced French and Latin in Parliament, the reputation of Chaucers successors in the 15th century has suffered in comparison with him, though Lydgate and Skelton are widely studied. A group of Scottish writers arose who were believed to be influenced by Chaucer. The rise of Scottish poetry began with the writing of The Kingis Quair by James I of Scotland, the main poets of this Scottish group were Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas. The Renaissance was slow in coming to England, with the generally accepted start date being around 1509 and it is also generally accepted that the English Renaissance extended until the Restoration in 1660. However, a number of factors had prepared the way for the introduction of the new learning long before this start date. A number of medieval poets had, as noted, shown an interest in the ideas of Aristotle. The introduction of printing by Caxton in 1474 provided the means for the more rapid dissemination of new or recently rediscovered writers and thinkers. Caxton also printed the works of Chaucer and Gower and these books helped establish the idea of a poetic tradition that was linked to its European counterparts. In addition, the writings of English humanists like Thomas More and Thomas Elyot helped bring the ideas, the establishment of the Church of England in 1535 accelerated the process of questioning the Catholic world-view that had previously dominated intellectual and artistic life
3.
American poetry
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Unsurprisingly, most of the early colonists work relied on contemporary British models of poetic form, diction, and theme. However, in the 19th century, a distinctive American idiom began to emerge, the history of American poetry is not easy to know. The received narrative of Modernism proposes that Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot were perhaps the most influential modernist English-language poets in the period during World War I. But this narrative leaves out African American and women poets who were published, by the 1960s, the young poets of the British Poetry Revival looked to their American contemporaries and predecessors as models for the kind of poetry they wanted to write. There are 14 such writers whom we might on that basis call American poets, early examples include a 1616 testimonial poem on the sterling warlike character of Captain John Smith and Rev. One of the first recorded poets of the British colonies was Anne Bradstreet, the poems she published during her lifetime address religious and political themes. She also wrote tender evocations of home, family life and of her love for her husband, edward Taylor wrote poems expounding Puritan virtues in a highly wrought metaphysical style that can be seen as typical of the early colonial period. This narrow focus on the Puritan ethic was, understandably, the dominant note of most of the written in the colonies during the 17th. Of course, being a Puritan minister as well as a poet, a distinctly American lyric voice of the colonial period was Phillis Wheatley, a slave whose book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in 1773. She was one of the poets of her day, at least in the colonies. The 18th century saw an emphasis on America itself as fit subject matter for its poets. The work of Rebecca Hammond Lard, although old, still apply to life in todays world. She writes about nature, not only the nature of environment, on the whole, the development of poetry in the American colonies mirrors the development of the colonies themselves. The early poetry is dominated by the need to preserve the integrity of the Puritan ideals that created the settlement in the first place, as the colonists grew in confidence, the poetry they wrote increasingly reflected their drive towards independence. This shift in subject matter was not reflected in the mode of writing which tended to be conservative and this can be seen as a product of the physical remove at which American poets operated from the center of English-language poetic developments in London. The first significant poet of the independent United States was William Cullen Bryant, whose contribution was to write rhapsodic poems on the grandeur of prairies. Formed the Fireside Poets were a group of 19th-century American poets from New England, the poets primary subjects were the domestic life, mythology, and politics of the United States, in which several of the poets were directly involved. Other notable poets to emerge in the early and middle 19th century include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Sidney Lanier, and James Whitcomb Riley
4.
Alexander Pope
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Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet. He is best known for his verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the second-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations after Shakespeare, Alexander Pope was born to Alexander Pope Senior, a linen merchant of Plough Court, Lombard Street, London, and his wife Edith, who were both Catholics. Ediths sister Christiana was the wife of the miniature painter Samuel Cooper. Pope was taught to read by his aunt, and went to Twyford School in about 1698/99 and he then went to two Catholic schools in London. Such schools, while illegal, were tolerated in some areas, in 1700, his family moved to a small estate at Popeswood in Binfield, Berkshire, close to the royal Windsor Forest. This was due to strong anti-Catholic sentiment and a statute preventing Catholics from living within 10 miles of either London or Westminster, Pope would later describe the countryside around the house in his poem Windsor Forest. He also studied languages and read works by English, French, Italian, Latin. After five years of study, Pope came into contact with figures from the London literary society such as William Wycherley, William Congreve, Samuel Garth, William Trumbull, at Binfield, he also began to make many important friends. One of them, John Caryll, was twenty years older than the poet and had many acquaintances in the London literary world. He introduced the young Pope to the ageing playwright William Wycherley and to William Walsh, a minor poet and he also met the Blount sisters, Teresa and Martha, both of whom would remain lifelong friends. From the age of 12, he suffered health problems, such as Potts disease. His tuberculosis infection caused other problems including respiratory difficulties, high fevers, inflamed eyes. He grew to a height of only 1.37 m. Pope was already removed from society because he was Catholic, although he never married, he had many female friends to whom he wrote witty letters. Allegedly, his lifelong friend Martha Blount was his lover, in May,1709, Popes Pastorals was published in the sixth part of Tonsons Poetical Miscellanies. This brought Pope instant fame, and was followed by An Essay on Criticism, published in May 1711, around 1711, Pope made friends with Tory writers John Gay, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Parnell and John Arbuthnot, who together formed the satirical Scriblerus Club. The aim of the club was to satirise ignorance and pedantry in the form of the fictional scholar Martinus Scriblerus and he also made friends with Whig writers Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. In March 1713, Windsor Forest was published to great acclaim, during Popes friendship with Joseph Addison, he contributed to Addisons play Cato, as well as writing for The Guardian and The Spectator
5.
Samuel Johnson
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Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history. He is also the subject of perhaps the most famous biography in English literature, born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford for just over a year, before his lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write for The Gentlemans Magazine and his early works include the biography Life of Mr Richard Savage, the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the play Irene. After nine years of work, Johnsons A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755 and it had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been described as one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship. This work brought Johnson popularity and success, until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnsons was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary. His later works included essays, an annotated edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare. In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he travelled to Scotland. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Johnson was a tall and robust man. His odd gestures and tics were disconcerting to some on first meeting him, after a series of illnesses, he died on the evening of 13 December 1784, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Born on 18 September 1709, to Michael Johnson, a bookseller and he did not cry and, with doubts surrounding the newborns health, his aunt exclaimed that she would not have picked such a poor creature up in the street. Since it was feared that the baby die, the vicar of St Marys was summoned to perform a baptism. Two godfathers were chosen, Samuel Swynfen, a physician and graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Richard Wakefield, a lawyer, coroner, Johnsons health improved and he was put to wet-nurse with Joan Marklew. He soon contracted scrofula, known at time as the Kings Evil because it was thought royalty could cure it. Sir John Floyer, former physician to King Charles II, recommended that the young Johnson should receive the royal touch, however, the ritual was ineffective, and an operation was performed that left him with permanent scars across his face and body. Johnson demonstrated signs of intelligence as a child, and his parents, to his later disgust. His education began at the age of three, and was provided by his mother, who had him memorise and recite passages from the Book of Common Prayer. When Samuel turned four, he was sent to a nearby school, a year later, Johnson went to Lichfield Grammar School, where he excelled in Latin. During this time, Johnson started to exhibit the tics that would influence how people viewed him in his years
6.
St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
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Saint Patricks Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1191, is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland. With its 43-metre spire, St. Patricks is the tallest church in Ireland, Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland cathedral in Dublin, is designated as the local Cathedral of the diocese of Dublin and Glendalough. Unusually, St Patricks is not the seat of a bishop, since 1870, the Church of Ireland has designated St Patricks as the national cathedral for the whole of Ireland, drawing chapter members from each of the twelve dioceses of the Church of Ireland. The dean is the ordinary for the cathedral, this office has existed since 1219, the most famous office holder was Jonathan Swift. There is almost no precedent for a city, and some believe it was intended that St Patricks, a secular cathedral, would replace Christ Church. A church with a body of devoted to both worship and learning. The new collegiate church fell outside the City boundaries, and this move created two new territories, one under the Archbishops temporal jurisdiction. The church was dedicated to God, our Blessed Lady Mary, comyns charter of 1191 or 1192, which allowed for a chapter of thirteen canons, of which three held special dignities, was confirmed by a Papal Bull within a year. The thirteen prebendaries attached to the church were provided with archepiscopal lands, See below for more on the question of status. The basis of the present building, as noted, the largest church in Ireland, was built between 1191 and 1270, though little now remains of the earliest work beyond the Baptistry, the Lady Chapel was added around 1270. In 1311 the Medieval University of Dublin was founded here with William de Rodyard, Dean of St Patricks, as its first Chancellor, and it never flourished, and was suppressed at the Reformation. From the mid-14th century, and for over 500 years, the transept of the building was used as the parish church of St Nicholas Without. The tower and west nave were rebuilt between 1362 and 1370, following a fire, the name commemorates Thomas Minot, Archbishop of Dublin 1363–75, who oversaw the rebuilding.3 metres of the floor. This situation ensured there would never be a crypt or basement area, after the English Reformation, St Patricks became an Anglican Church of Ireland church. Most Dubliners followed the same line, in the 1530s some images within the cathedral were defaced by soldiers under Thomas Cromwell, and neglect led to collapse of the nave in 1544. Under King Edward VI, St Patricks Cathedral was formally suppressed, the silver, jewels, and ornaments were transferred to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. In 1549, it was ordered that the walls be repainted and inscribed with passages from the scriptures. Belonging to the Cathedral, and which had been in the possession of the Dean and it was during this reign that the patronal festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary was last celebrated
7.
John Gilbert Cooper
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John Gilbert Cooper or John Gilbert was a British poet and writer. John Gilbert was born in Lockington, Leicestershire and his father was left a legacy which included Thurgarton Priory which he was allowed if he changed his name to Cooper. John Gilbert Cooper was educated locally and then at Westminster School and he completed his education at Trinity College, Cambridge. Cooper first published poetry in 1742 occasionally until he became a contributor to The Museum which was published by Robert Dodsley. His contributions to Dodsleys journal was under the nom de plume of Philaretes, Coopers claim to notability comes from his prose, poetry and a public row he had with William Warburton. The row arose from a book he published on Socrates where his work ignored the view of many including Warburton. Warburton responded to Coopers 1749, Life of Socrates with an Essay on Criticism in 1751, Cooper unwisely accused Warburton of personal attack in Cursory Remarks on Mr Warburtons New Edition of Mr Popes Works - it was unwise as he also made personal attacks on Warburton. Samuel Johnson later described Cooper as the Punchinello of literature, Coopers 1754 Letters Concerning Taste was said to be the first book on the subject of taste. Cooper died early after suffering with kidney stones and was buried at Thurgarton, besides Coopers books he also inspired a noted painting by Joseph Wright of Derby. The painting entitled Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his Ancestors was based on a story in Coopers Letters of Taste, Cooper had recounted a story where a greedy nobleman despoils his ancestors grave in search of riches to find himself cursed by his ancestor. John Gilbert Cooper at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive Works by John Gilbert Cooper at Project Gutenberg Works by or about John Gilbert Cooper at Internet Archive
8.
Charles Jennens
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Charles Jennens was an English landowner and patron of the arts. As a friend of Handel, he helped author the libretti of several of his oratorios, Jennens was brought up at Gopsall Hall in Leicestershire, the son of Charles Jennens and his second wife, Elizabeth Burdett. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, matriculating in 1716, a devout Christian and a non-juror, upholding the legitimacy of the deposed Stuart line. He became interested in primitive Christianity and John Chrysostom, Jennens has been identified as an anti-Deist. Richard Kidders book A Demonstration of the Messias influenced him, remaining unmarried, he was considered melancholic and extravagant, his neighbours calling him Suleyman the Magnificent. As a non-juror, Jennens was ineligible for any public appointment, George Friderick Handels compositions were very much to his musical taste and they became close friends. Handel visited him frequently at Gopsall Hall and in 1749 provided the specification for an organ for his home, thomas Hudsons portrait of Handel was commissioned by Jennens. – and the same artists portrait of Charles Jennens is now in the Handel House Museum in London. Jennens extensive collection of books by Shakespeare, on literature, philology and theology was largely dispersed in a sale in 1918, Jennens deep knowledge of the Bible and wide literary interest led him, from 1735, to prepare or contribute to libretti for Handel. These included Saul, LAllegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Messiah, Belshazzar and, possibly, the libretti were freely given and always published anonymously. Saul and Belshazzar are said to show an impressive gift for dramatic structure and characterization, well versed in music as well as literature, he annotated his copies of Handels operas, adding corrections, bass figures, rejected pieces and dates. It is also clear that on occasions Handel was prepared to accept Jennens suggestions, the most famous collaboration is Jennens libretto for Messiah, drawn entirely from the Bible, about 60% from the Old Testament. Musicologist Watkins Shaw describes it as a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief, some attribute Messiahs emphasis on the Old Testament – and choice of the Old Testament title Messiah – to Jennens theological beliefs. Jennens was less than wholly approving of the setting, writing to Edward Holdsworth, I shall show you a collection I gave Handel, called Messiah. He has made a fine entertainment of it, though not near so good as he might and ought to have done. In the early 1770s Jennens commenced the preparation of critical editions of Shakespeare plays. He completed King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, by these means he lost all opportunities of improvement, but gained what he preferred to the highest gratifications of wisdom — flattery in excess. Letters and writings of George Frideric Handel Smith, Ruth, Charles Jennens, The Man Behind Handels Messiah. London, The Gerald Coke Handel Foundation, amanda Babington and Ilias Chrissochoidis, Musical References in the Jennens–Holdsworth Correspondence, Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 45,1, 76–129
9.
Augustan poetry
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In Latin literature, Augustan poetry is the poetry that flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus as Emperor of Rome, most notably including the works of Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. In English literature, Augustan poetry is a branch of Augustan literature, the term comes most originally from a term that George I had used for himself. He saw himself as an Augustus, in the Augustan era, poets were more conversant with the writings of each other than were the contemporary novelists. They wrote in counterpoint and towards direct expansion of the works of each other, beneath that large banner raged individual battles. The other development, one seemingly agreed upon by both sides, was a gradual expropriation and reinvention of all the Classical forms of poetry, every genre of poetry was recast, reconsidered, and used to serve new functions. The ode, the ballad, the elegy, and satire, parody, song, and lyric poetry would be adapted from their older, initial literary uses. It can be seen as a growth of the power and assertiveness of the bourgeoisie, the entire Augustan ages poetry was dominated by Alexander Pope. Since Pope began publishing when very young and continued to the end of his life, his poetry is a point in any discussion of the 1710s, 1720s, 1730s. Furthermore, Popes abilities were recognized early in his career, so contemporaries acknowledged his superiority, however, if Pope had few rivals, he had many enemies. His technical perfection did not shelter him from political, philosophical, or religious opponents and his very technical superiority led Pope to injudicious improvements in his editing and translation of other authors. The Pope/Philips debate occurred in 1709 when Alexander Pope published his Pastorals, Popes Pastorals were of the four seasons. When they appeared, Thomas Tickell, a member of the Little Senate of Addisons at Buttons Coffee-shop, Pope replied by writing in Guardian with a mock praise of Philipss Patorals that heaped scorn on them. Pope quoted Philipss worst lines, mocked his execution, and delighted in pointing out his empty lines, Philips responded by putting a staff in the floor of Buttons with which to beat Pope, should he appear. In 1717, Pope explained his theory of the pastoral in the Discourse on Pastoral Poetry, Philipss Pastorals were not particularly awful poems, but they did reflect his desire to update the pastoral. In 1724, Philips would update poetry again by writing a series of dedicated to all ages and characters, from Walpole. To do so, he shortened his line length to 3.5, henry Carey was one of the best at satirizing these poems, and his Namby Pamby became a hugely successful obliteration of Philips and Philipss endeavor. What is notable about Philips against Pope, however, is not so much the particular poems, Popes insistence upon a Golden Age pastoral no less than Philipss desire to update it meant making a political statement. While it is easy to see in Ambrose Philips an effort at modernist triumph, it is no less the case that Popes artificially restricted pastoral was a statement of what the ideal should be
