John Dyer
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John Dyer (1699 – 15 December 1757) was a painter and Welsh poet who became a priest in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
.Shaw, Thomas B. ''A Complete Manual of English Literature''. Ed. William Smith. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1872. 372. Print. He was most recognised for '' Grongar Hill'', one of six early poems featured in a 1726 miscellany. Longer works published later include the less successful genre poems, ''The Ruins of Rome'' (1740) and ''The Fleece'' (1757). His work has always been more anthologised than published in separate editions, but his talent was later recognised by
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...
among others.


Life and career


Youth

John Dyer was the fourth of six children born to Robert and Catherine Cocks Dyer in
Llanfynydd Llanfynydd is a village, parish and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The community population at the 2011 census was 499. It lies some 10 miles (16 km) north-east of the county town, Carmarthen. Bordering it are the communities of Llansaw ...
, Carmarthenshire, five miles from Grongar Hill. His exact birth date is unknown, but the earliest existing record of John Dyer dates his baptism on 13 August 1699 – within fourteen days after his birth as was the tradition of the time – in Llanfynnydd parish. His grandfather was churchwarden there and his father was a highly successful solicitor in Llanfynnydd and owned several properties in the neighbourhood. Presumably for financial opportunity and greater living space for six children, the family moved in 1710 to the mansion of
Aberglasney Aberglasney House and Gardens is a medieval house and gardens set in the Tywi valley in the parish of Llangathen, Carmarthenshire, West Wales. It is owned and run by Aberglasney Restoration Trust, a registered charity. It is a Grade II* li ...
in the nearby parish of
Llangathen Llangathen () is a community located in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The population taken at the 2011 census was 507. The parish church of St Cathen is a Grade II* listed building and houses the tomb of Anthony Rudd, an Elizabethan Bishop of St Dav ...
. Dyer was first educated in an unknown school in the countryside before attending
Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...
under Dr.
Robert Freind Robert Freind (1667–1751) was an English clergyman and headmaster of Westminster School. Life Freind, eldest son of the Rev. William Freind (also Friend), rector of Croughton, Northamptonshire, was born there, and at an early age was sent to Wes ...
. Dyer's dislike for Westminster was chronicled in a 1714 entry in his ''Journal of Escapes'': "Ran from school and my father, on a box of the ear being given me strolled for three or four days – found at Windsor." He retained little of what he learned, as evidenced later by his unfamiliarity with the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
authors that were a school staple. After Westminster School, Dyer worked in his father's office, learning the business. His talent in the field of law was evidenced by the lawsuits in which he was involved and he was the only one of four sons to have managed his property well. John's father, who wanted his son to pursue a career as solicitor, subdued the poet's longing to channel his creativity through painting and writing. Ralph M. Williams comments that it was upon his return to Aberglasney "that we first begin to know something of his personality and see for the first time the conflict in him between the dreamy romantic and the practical man of business that runs through his life." Having grown up among the ancient stoneworks in the Aberglasney grounds, it was not surprising that Dyer had developed an interest in antiquities and the love of nature that characterises his work. Robert Dyer's death on 8 July 1720 ended John's apprenticeship to the law and he was not named in his father's will, releasing him from handling the lawsuit riddled estate bequeathed to his brother, also called Robert. John then left Aberglasney for London in 1720 or 1721 to pursue painting and poetry.


Painting and poetry

In London, Dyer apprenticed himself under the artist
Jonathan Richardson Jonathan Richardson (12 January 1667 – 28 May 1745), sometimes called "the Elder" to distinguish him from his son (Jonathan Richardson the Younger), was an English artist, collector of drawings and writer on art, working almost entirely as a ...
. Richardson's fundamental principle of painting was that all aspects of learning, from reading, observation of nature, studying works by masters in painting and writing poetry were necessary to provide artists with inspiration. As a result, Dyer retained such interests and translated his studies into verbal landscape art. His first attempt in writing
Miltonic John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
octosyllabic
couplets A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...
was addressed to his mentor, "An Epistle to a Famous Painter", the same measure as in his second version of ''Grongar Hill''. It was under Richardson that Dyer met his coffee house group of friends, Thomas Edwards,
Daniel Wray Daniel Wray (28 November 1701 – 29 December 1783) was an English antiquary and Fellow of the Royal Society. Life Born on 28 November 1701 in the parish of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, he was the youngest child of Sir Daniel Wray (died 1719), a Lo ...
,
George Knapton George Knapton (1698–1778) was an English portrait painter and the first portraitist for the Society of Dilettanti in the 1740s. He became Surveyor and Keeper of the King's Pictures from 1765 to 1778. Life and work Knapton was born in Chri ...
and Arthur Pond. Pond would later be referred to in ''The Fleece'' (IV. 265). Dyer, with Richardson's blessing, sailed to Italy in 1724 to continue his studies and made his way straight to Rome, where he admired its objects of antiquity. The
Pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics *Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...
was a favourite building and preoccupied his time during the trip, while the
Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...
and the
Baths of Caracalla The Baths of Caracalla ( it, Terme di Caracalla) in Rome, Italy, were the city's second largest Ancient Rome, Roman public baths, or ''thermae'', after the Baths of Diocletian. The baths were likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, durin ...
were also held in high regard. Among sculptures and reliefs, he notes the
Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...
, the
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
, the "
Venus de Medici The Venus de' Medici or Medici Venus is a tall Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. It is a 1st-century BC marble copy, perhaps made in Athens, of a bronze original Greek sculpture, following the type of t ...
," the
Laocoön group Laocoön (; grc, , Laokóōn, , gen.: ), is a figure in Greek and Roman mythology and the Epic Cycle. Laocoon was a Trojan priest. He and his two young sons were attacked by giant serpents, sent by the gods. The story of Laocoön has been the s ...
,
Trajan's column Trajan's Column ( it, Colonna Traiana, la, Columna Traiani) is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Ap ...
, the temple of
Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...
, the arches of
Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...
and
Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
and the Borghese Dancers (now in the Louvre). Such were the inspirations or objects of interest in Dyer's poem ''
The Ruins of Rome ''Complaints'' is a poetry collection by Edmund Spenser, published in 1591. It contains nine poems. Its publisher, William Ponsonby, added an introduction of his own. ''The Ruins of Time'' The poem is narrated by Verulame, female spirit of Verul ...
'', written in 1740. But though he appreciated the beauties about him, his staunch Protestantism was appalled by what he regarded as the superstitious practices of Catholicism: "God of our Fathers, keep us from the ways of these foul hirelings," he exclaimed in a poetic fragment written at the time. While there, Dyer fell ill with a
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
l fever caught in the
Campagna Campagna (Italian: ) is a small town and ''comune'' of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy. Its population is 17,148. Its old Latin name was Civitas Campaniae (City of Campagna). Campagna is located in one of the ...
and began to contemplate his future. Resuming his journey northwards, he visited the ruins of
Otricoli Otricoli is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Terni, Umbria, central Italy. It is located on the Via Flaminia, near the east bank of the Tiber, some 70 km north of Rome and 20 km south of Narni. History Anciently named Ocricu ...
, where he found inspiration for his poem signifying this shift of mood, "Written at Ocriculum in Italy, 1725". Continuing on his journey to
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, his visits to museums and buildings there instigated a shift in his interests from the classical to the Renaissance period to create one of his few surviving paintings, a copy of Antonio da Correggio's masterpiece, " Madonna Adoring the Christ Child." On Dyer's return, a selection of six of his poems were published in Richard Savage's ''Miscellaneous Poems and Translations'' (1726), which largely consisted of the work of the coterie that had gathered about Aaron Hill, one of those literary groupings typical of the 18th century whose work interconnected and was often cross-referential. This was evident in the many 'collected' editions of Dyer's poems published after his death that were prefaced by poems addressed to him by these friends, in answer to or answered by the shorter poems of Dyer's placed at the end. Thus Dyer's poem "To Mr Savage, son of the late Earl Rivers", exhorting him to bear up under misfortune, is answered by Savage's "An epistle to My John Dyer in answer to his from the country". And Dyer's paean to living in country obscurity, "To a friend in town", becomes a
Horatian Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
exchange when complemented by Aaron Hill's "The Choice". Another cluster of poems about Dyer's portrait of Martha Fowke, who went under the name of Clio in the group, is particularly rich. Both Dyer's "A Country Walk" and "The Inquiry" mention her with singular devotion. So also does "To Clio from Rome" (which remained uncollected in 18th century editions) with its reference to "the wreathed urn among the vines, whose form my pencil now designs." This comes aptly, since Dyer had recently painted her. Martha's reply apologises for her tardiness and compliments both his poetic and artistic tributes: "Your claim demands the bays in double wreath, Your poems lighten and your pictures breathe". Savage too paid his tribute "To Mr John Dyer, occasioned by seeing his picture of the celebrated Clio" in which, going beyond outward likeness, "You eye the Soul". The most that Dyer himself will admit in his epistle "To a Famous Painter" (his teacher Jonathan Richardson), also written from Rome, is the modest confession that "As yet I but in verse can paint". Several later poems that only exist in manuscript were addressed to different ladies. His epistle "To Aurelia", another member of the coterie, is an appeal to "leave the smoky Town" with him for some rural retreat. Other poems cover pseudonymous flirtations with a Myra and a Celia.


Later life

Following his return to England after a year and half in Italy, and then the publication of his early poems in 1726, Dyer briefly returned to Aberglasney, where he became estranged from his brother Robert. The next several years were spent between London and Herefordshire or on painting trips. In 1734 he restored to profitability a rundown farm belonging to an aunt and spent several more years as a gentleman farmer in other counties.Gerrard, Christine. "John Dyer (1699–1757)." ''Eighteenth-Century Poetry An Annotated Anthology'' (Blackwell Annotated Anthologies). 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Blackwell Limited, 2004. 239. Print. It was at this period too that Dyer began writing again. From then dates the anecdotal pastoral "My Ox Duke". He was also on the lookout for a suitable subject for a longer poem and began work on the unfinished fragment "The Cambro-Briton". Eventually, however, he fell back on the fruits of his Italian travels, published as ''The Ruins of Rome'' in 1740. It was only much later in his georgic ''The Fleece'' (1757) that he put to use the insight into the wool industry that he gained as a farmer. The master theme of ''The Ruins of Rome'' had already suggested itself to Dyer in his earlier "Written at Ocriculum in Italy, 1725". Written in a mannered imitation of Miltonic blank verse, it opens with Dyer painting among the ruins, "studious to excel, of praise and fame ambitious". As night falls, a seer comes to remind him of his mortality by pointing to the downfallen architecture of the past. Instead he is exhorted to learn from the work of the eternal Creator spread in beauty across the skies and dedicate his life to goodness. The poem's religious conclusions were also to find expression in two unpublished poems of the 1750s, "A Night Prospect written on Lincoln Heath" and "On the Destruction of Lisbon". Little is known about his paintings all this time, for most have been lost. Apart from family portraits attributed to him, two others on religious subjects are reported. One was a "Last Supper" at Newtown Church, the other a head of Christ owned by another family member. In 1741 Dyer travelled to
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
to paint the portrait of Bishop John Hough and while there was persuaded to seek
ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...
in the Church of England. In September of that year he was created a
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
and by October was made priest of
Catthorpe Catthorpe is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. It is located beside the River Avon and close to the A5 road, and hence close to the tripoint at Dow Bridge formed by Leicestershire, Northamptonshi ...
in Leicestershire, a position he held for the next nine years. Now Dyer married a 26-year-old widow, Sarah Ensor Hawkins (said to be a descendant of Shakespeare), with whom he had several children. In 1751 patrons found him a more prosperous living in Belchford, Lincolnshire, and in the following year he ministered to
Coningsby Coningsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, 13 miles (22 km) north west of Boston and 8 miles (13 km) so ...
as well, later still moving to
Kirkby on Bain Kirkby on Bain is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the River Bain between Horncastle and Coningsby, and just west of the A153 road. Close to the north is the village of Haltham. H ...
, also in Lincolnshire. In 1752 he had been made a
Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
of
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and by now had begun writing ''The Fleece'', on the title page of which the initials LL.B followed his name. Living in the Lincolnshire fens, "among reeds and mud, begirt with dead brown lakes", as he reported in verses sent to a friend, proved fatal to Dyer's tubercular condition. Some months after the publication of his final poem, he died in December 1757. His major poems were published by
Robert Dodsley Robert Dodsley (13 February 1703 – 23 September 1764) was an English bookseller, publisher, poet, playwright, and miscellaneous writer. Life Dodsley was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school. H ...
in 1761, followed later by wider selections that included his earlier poems from Savage's miscellany. The contents of these varied little, until the appearance of ''The Poems of Mark Akenside and John Dyer'', This included manuscript poems in the possession of a family descendant, William Hilton Longstaffe, who had earlier written a commentary on some of these in ''The Patrician''. Edward Thomas brought out a shorter selection in 1903 for the Welsh Library and there have been American studies of his poetry since then.


Poems

Among Dyer's papers is a transcription that he describes as ''P't of Gron'. Hill as 'twas wrote first in ye year 1716''. It is a discursive work in decasyllabic couplets with little relation to the ''Grongar Hill'' published a decade later and might just as well have served as the basis of "The Country Walk". The first published version of his celebration of the hill was written in
Pindarics Pindarics (alternatively Pindariques or Pindaricks) was a term for a class of loose and irregular odes greatly in fashion in England during the close of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. Abraham Cowley, who published fifteen ''Pindari ...
and originally appeared in Richard Savage's miscellany. In the same year, after having received some acclaim, Dyer rewrote '' Grongar Hill'' in four-stressed octosyllabic couplets roughly modelled on those of Milton's ''
L'Allegro ''L'Allegro'' is a pastoral poem by John Milton published in his 1645 ''Poems''. ''L'Allegro'' (which means "the happy man" in Italian) has from its first appearance been paired with the contrasting pastoral poem, '' Il Penseroso'' ("the me ...
'' and contrasting strongly with the version of pastoral in
Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...
's ''Windsor Forest''. Though the rhymes and grammar are uncertain, the poem was eventually to be accounted his best work and was recognised as a precursor of Romanticism. Dyer worked outside the trend of politically oriented work and kept his focus on the rural landscape, its colours and visual perspective, following his training as a painter. ''The Ruins of Rome'' was a descriptive poem in 545 lines of Miltonic blank-verse. Though it was first published anonymously in 1740, its reference to the earlier "Grongar" in its opening lines establishes Dyer's authorship. ::Enough of Grongar, and the shady dales ::Of winding Towy, Merlin's fabled haunt, ::I sung inglorious. Now the love of arts, ::And what in metal or in stone remains ::Of proud Antiquity, thro' various realms ⁠ ::And various languages and ages fam'd, ::Bears me remote o'er Gallia's woody bounds. As in that earlier poem, Dyer's approach to antiquity is personalised and a forerunner of the "Age of Sensibility" that led poetry in the direction of Romanticism. The poem has been described as "largely responsible for the eighteenth-century revival of a unique subgenre of landscape poetry dealing with the ruins of the ancient world." The ambitious four-book ''The Fleece'' (1757), was also written in blank-verse. It was a georgic in the line of Virgilian imitations written during the 18th century that included
John Philips John Philips (30 December 1676 – 15 February 1709) was an 18th-century English poet. Early life and education Philips was born at Bampton, Oxfordshire, the son of Rev. Stephen Philips, later archdeacon of Salop, and his wife Mary Wood. ...
' ''Cyder'', Christopher Smart's '' The Hop-Garden'' (1752) and
James Grainger James Grainger (c. 1721–1766) was a Scottish doctor, poet and translator. He settled on St. Kitts from 1759 until his death of a fever on 16 December 1766. As a writer, he is best known for his poem ''The Sugar Cane'', which is now valued as an ...
's ''
The Sugar Cane ''The Sugar Cane'' was a pioneering georgic poem adapted to a West Indian theme, first published in 1764. With renewed interest in Caribbean literature, and especially after a new edition was published in 2000, it has attracted critical attention, e ...
'' (1764). Dyer's poem deals with the tending of sheep, the shearing and preparation of the wool, weaving, and trade in wollen manufactures. Its lofty epic diction also addresses the reasons for England's prosperity and on a personal level reflects on the benefits that trade will bring to him. Poetic recognition, however, was not among such benefits at the time, although the work had its supporters, including Grainger, one of the few who reviewed Dyer's poem sympathetically. In the following century
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...
was to address a sonnet to Dyer as the :Bard of the Fleece, whose skilful genius made :That work a living landscape fair and bright.Bartleby
/ref>


References


Bibliography

*Cazamian, Louis. ''A History of English Literature Modern Times (1660–1950)''. New York: Macmillan Co., 1957. 824. Print. *Goodridge, John. ''Rural Life in Eighteenth-Century English Poetry''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print. *Head, Dominic, ed. "Dyer, John." ''The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English''. 3rd ed. New York: Cambridge UP, 2006. 336. Print. *Humfrey, Belinda. ''John Dyer''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1980. Print. *Longstaffe, William Hilton. "Notes on the life and writings of John Dyer, the poet", ''The Patrician''
vol.IV (1847)
*Saintsbury, George. "Dyer." ''Short History of English Literature''. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1960. 572. Print. *Sampson, George. "The Age of Johnson." ''The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature''. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941. 523. Print. *Williams, Ralph M. ''Poet, Painter and Parson: the Life of John Dyer''. New York: 1956. Print. *Wilmott, Robert Aris (ed.)
''The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside and John Dyer''
London 1885


External links


John Dyer
at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, John 18th-century English poets 1699 births 1757 deaths 18th-century deaths from tuberculosis Anglo-Welsh poets Anglican poets People from Carmarthenshire People educated at Westminster School, London Tuberculosis deaths in England