Thomas Warton (9 January 172821 May 1790) was an English

literary historian The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment (concept), enlightenment, or Education, instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the devel ...

, critic, and poet. He was appointed

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

in 1785, following the death of William Whitehead. He is sometimes called ''Thomas Warton the younger'' to distinguish him from his father who had the same name. His most famous poem is ''The Pleasures of Melancholy'', a representative work of the Graveyard poets.

Life

Warton was born in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, the son of poet Thomas Warton, the Elder, and younger brother of

Joseph Warton Joseph Warton (April 1722 – 23 February 1800) was an English academic and literary critic. He was born in Dunsfold, Surrey, England, but his family soon moved to Hampshire, where his father, the Reverend Thomas Warton, became vicar of Bas ...

and Jane Warton. As a youngster, Warton demonstrated a strong predilection toward writing poetry, a skill he would continue to develop all of his life.Life of Thomas Warton, the Younger
In fact, Warton translated one of

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

's epigrams at nine, and wrote ''The Pleasures of Melancholy'' at seventeen. His early education was given to him by his father at home. In March 1744, aged 16, he entered

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

. He graduated from Oxford in 1747, where he subsequently became a Fellow. Warton was selected as Poet Laureate of Oxford in 1747 and again in 1748. His duty in this post was to write a poem about a selected patroness of the university, which would be read to her on a specially appointed day. Warton was appointed

Professor of Poetry The Professor of Poetry is an academic appointment at the University of Oxford. The chair was created in 1708 by an endowment from the estate of Henry Birkhead. The professorship carries an obligation to lecture, but is in effect a part-time p ...

at the university in 1757, a post that he held for ten years. In 1771, he was appointed rector of Kiddington in Oxfordshire, a post he held until his death. In 1785, he was appointed

Camden Professor of History The Camden Professorship of Ancient History at the University of Oxford was established in 1622 by English antiquary and historian William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, and endowed with the income of the manor of Bexley, becoming the first and ...

, as well as

. Among other important contributions, Warton, along with his brother, was among the first to argue that ''Sir Thopas'', by

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

, was a parody. Warton contributed to the general project of the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

revival. He was a general supporter of the poetry of

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his '' Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,'' published in 1751. G ...

—a fact that Johnson satirized in his parody "Hermit hoar, in solemn cell." Among his minor works were an edition of

Theocritus Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...

, a selection of Latin and Greek inscriptions, the humorous ''Oxford Companion to the Guide and Guide to the Companion'' (1762); lives of Sir Thomas Pope and Ralph Bathurst; and an ''Inquiry into the Authenticity of the Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley'' (1782). Warton gave little attention to his clerical duties, and Oxford always remained his home. He was known as a very easy and convivial as well as a very learned don, with a taste for

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern t ...

s and crowds as well as dim

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, pa ...

s and romances.

Poetry, criticism and historical works

In a poem written in 1745 he shows the delight in Gothic churches and ruined castles which inspired much of his subsequent work in romantic revival. Most of Warton's poetry was written before the age of twenty-three, when he took his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree. In 1749, he penned ''The Triumph of Isis'', a poem in praise of Oxford and the many students who had received their education there. Published anonymously, ''The Triumph of Isis'' rebutted William Mason's Isis, an Elegy published the previous year, which was anything but flattering to Oxford. Following the success of ''The Triumph of Isis'', Warton wrote ''Newmarket, a Satire'', which was followed by a collection of verses. His complete poetical works were included in an anthology that was published in 1853. Although he continued to write poetry, Warton's main energies were turned to poetical reading and criticism. His first major academic work was ''Observations on the

Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

of Spenser'', published in 1754. He is, however, best known for the three-volume ''

The History of English Poetry ''The History of English Poetry, from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century'' (1774-1781) by Thomas Warton was a pioneering and influential literary history. Only three full volumes were ever published, going as ...

'' (1774–81), which covered the poetry of the 11th through the 16th centuries. Although the work was criticized for its many inaccuracies, it is nonetheless considered a highly important and influential historical tome. In 1782, he wrote ''The History and Antiquities of Kiddington'', an early example of

English local history Local history is the study of the history of a relatively small geographic area; typically a specific settlement, parish or county. English local history came to the fore with the antiquarians of the 19th century and was particularly emphasised by t ...

Various works

* * * – an anthology of verse and Oxford wit * * *

Warton Lectures

In 1910,

Frida Mond Frida Mond (1847–1923) was a German-born patron of the arts, who gave significant bequests to the British Academy and King's College London, during her lifetime and upon her death. Life Frida Mond was born Frederike Löwenthal in Cologne, G ...

endowed the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars s ...

with a fund to establish an annual Shakespeare oration or lecture, as well as an annual lecture on English poetry to be called the Warton Lecture, as a tribute to the memory of Thomas Warton as a historian of English poetry. The inaugural lectures in these series were delivered in 1911 and 1910, respectively.

References

External links

*
Thomas Warton
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Warton, Thomas 1728 births 1790 deaths People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford 18th-century English poets English literary critics British Poets Laureate British medievalists People from Basingstoke 18th-century English writers 18th-century English male writers Oxford Professors of Poetry Camden Professors of Ancient History English male poets English male non-fiction writers