Ernest Christopher Dowson
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Ernest Christopher Dowson (2 August 186723 February 1900) was an English poet, novelist, and short-story writer who is often associated with the
Decadent movement The Decadent movement (from the French language, French ''décadence'', ) was a late 19th-century Art movement, artistic and literary movement, literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artif ...
.


Biography

Ernest Dowson was born in Lee, then in Kent, in 1867. His great-uncle was
Alfred Domett Alfred Domett (20 May 18112 November 1887) was the fourth Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier of New Zealand, a close friend of the poet Robert Browning and author of the epic poem ''Ranolf and Amohia, a South Sea Day Dream''. Born in Englan ...
, a
Prime Minister of New Zealand The prime minister of New Zealand () is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Christopher Luxon, leader of the New Zealand National Party, took office on 27 November 2023. The prime minister (informally abbreviated to P ...
. Dowson attended
The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...
, but left in March 1888 without obtaining a degree. In November 1888 Dowson started work at Dowson & Son, his father's
dry-docking A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
business in
Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throu ...
, East London. He led an active social life, carousing with medical students and law pupils, visiting music halls, and taking the performers to dinner. Dowson was a member of the
Rhymers' Club The Rhymers' Club was a group of London-based male poets, founded in 1890 by W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys. Originally not much more than a dining club, it produced anthologies of poetry in 1892 and 1894.''The Oxford Companion to English Literatu ...
, and a contributor to literary magazines such as ''
The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...
'' and '' The Savoy''. In October 1892, he was commissioned by William Theodore Peters to write a rhyming playlet that would ultimately become ''The Pierrot of the Minute'' (1897). He collaborated with Arthur Moore on two unsuccessful novels, worked on a novel of his own, ''Madame de Viole'', and wrote reviews for ''
The Critic ''The Critic'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as w ...
''. Later in his career Dowson became a
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
of French fiction, including novels by Balzac and the Goncourt brothers, and ''
Les Liaisons dangereuses ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (; English: ''Dangerous Liaisons'') is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu on March 23, 1782. It is the story of the Marquise Isabelle de Merteu ...
'' by Choderlos de Laclos. In 1889 Dowson became infatuated with an 11-year-old girl, Adelaide "Missie" Foltinowicz, the daughter of a Polish restaurant-owner. In 1891 Dowson converted to Roman Catholicism and in 1893 he proposed to Foltinowicz, who was then aged 15. She rejected his proposal and later married a tailor. In August 1894 Dowson's father, suffering from
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
, died of an overdose of
Chlorodyne Chlorodyne was one of the best known patent medicines sold in the British Isles. It was invented in the 19th century by a Dr. John Collis Browne, a doctor in the British Indian Army; its original purpose was in the treatment of cholera. Brown ...
. In February 1895 his mother, who also had tuberculosis, hanged herself. Soon after her death Dowson's health began to decline rapidly.
Leonard Smithers Leonard Charles Smithers (19 December 1861 – 19 December 1907) was a London bookseller and publisher associated with the Decadent movement of the late 19th century. Biography Born in Sheffield, England, Smithers worked as a solicitor after ...
gave Dowson an allowance to live in France and make translations for him. However, in 1897 Dowson returned to London to live with the Foltinowicz family. In 1899
Robert Sherard Robert Harborough Sherard (3 December 1861 – 30 January 1943) was an English writer and journalist. He was a friend, and the first biographer, of Oscar Wilde, as well as being Wilde's most prolific biographer in the first half of the twentiet ...
found Dowson almost penniless in a wine bar. Sherard took him to his cottage in
Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdivi ...
, where Dowson spent his last six weeks. On 23 February 1900 Dowson died in Catford at the age of 32. He was interred in Lewisham Cemetery later renamed Ladywell Cemetery of the present twinned cemeteries of
Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries (also known as Ladywell and Brockley Cemetery) were opened within one month of each other in 1858 and are sited on adjacent plots of previously open land. The two component parts are characteristic examples of the ...
in London.


Works

Dowson is best remembered for three phrases from his poems: * "Days of wine and roses", from the poem "Vitae Summa Brevis" * "Gone with the wind", from the poem ''Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae" * "I have been faithful ... in my fashion", from "Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae" J. P. Miller called a television play ''Days of Wine and Roses'' (1958) and the film of the same title was based on the play. The phrase also inspired the song " Days of Wine and Roses".
Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone ...
, touched by the "far away, faintly sad sound I wanted" in the first line of the third stanza of "Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae", chose the line as the title of her novel ''
Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...
''. "Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae" is also the source of the phrase "I have been faithful ... in my fashion", as in the title of the film '' Faithful in My Fashion'' (1946).
Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...
paraphrased Dowson in the song " Always True to You in My Fashion" in the musical ''
Kiss Me, Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off- ...
''.
Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...
uses the lines, "In my own strange way, / I've always been true to you. / In my own sick way, / I'll always stay true to you" in the song "Speedway" on the album '' Vauxhall & I''. According to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'', Dowson provides the earliest recorded use of the word "
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
" in written language, although he spelled it "socca". Dowson's prose works include the
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
collected as ''Dilemmas'' (1895), and the two novels ''A Comedy of Masks'' (1893) and ''Adrian Rome'' (each co-written with Arthur Moore). "Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae" was first published in ''The Second Book of the Rhymer's Club'' in 1894, and was noticed by Richard Le Gallienne in his "Wanderings in Bookland" column in '' The Idler'', Volume 9.


Books

* ''A Comedy of Masks: A Novel'' (1893) With Arthur Moore. * ''Dilemmas, Stories and Studies in Sentiment'' (1895) * ''Verses'' (1896) * ''The Pierrot of the Minute: A Dramatic Phantasy in One Act'' (1897) * ''Decorations in Verse and Prose'' (1899) * ''Adrian Rome'' (1899), with Arthur Moore * ''Cynara: A Little Book of Verse'' (1907) * ''Studies in Sentiment'' (1915) * ''The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson, with a Memoir by Arthur Symons'' (1919) * ''Letters of Ernest Dowson'' (1968) * ''Collected Shorter Fiction'' (2003)


Legacy

* In a letter to
Leonard Smithers Leonard Charles Smithers (19 December 1861 – 19 December 1907) was a London bookseller and publisher associated with the Decadent movement of the late 19th century. Biography Born in Sheffield, England, Smithers worked as a solicitor after ...
,
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
wrote of the death of Dowson: "Poor wounded wonderful fellow that he was, a tragic reproduction of all tragic poetry, like a symbol, or a scene. I hope bay leaves will be laid on his tomb, and rue and myrtle too, for he knew what love is."Ernest Christopher Dowson, ed., ''The Letters of Ernest Dowson'', Epilogue, p. 421
retrieved 10 August 2013 * Arthur Moore wrote several comic novels about the young adult duo of Anthony "Tony" Wilder and Paul Morrow. Tony is based on Dowson, while Paul is based on Moore. Moore's novel ''The Eyes of Light'' is mentioned by E. Nesbit in her novel ''
The Phoenix and the Carpet ''The Phoenix and the Carpet'' is a fantasy novel for children, written by E. Nesbit and first published in 1904. It is the second in a trilogy of novels that begins with '' Five Children and It'' (1902), and follows the adventures of the sa ...
''. * In a memoir included in ''Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson'' (1919) Arthur Symons describes Dowson as "a man who was undoubtedly a man of genius ... There never was a poet to whom verse came more naturally. ... He had the pure lyric gift, unweighed or unballasted by any other quality of mind or emotion." *
Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...
set several of Dowson's poems to music in his '' Songs of Sunset'' and ''
Cynara ''Cynara'' is a genus of thistle-like perennial plants in the family Asteraceae. They are native to the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, northwestern Africa, and the Canary Islands. The genus name comes from the Greek ''kynara'', which ...
''. * John Ireland set Dowson's poem "I Was Not Sorrowful (Spleen)" from ''Verses'' (1896) in his 1912
song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...
'' Songs of a Wayfarer''. * T. E. Lawrence quotes from Dowson's poem "Impenitentia Ultima" in ''
Seven Pillars of Wisdom ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'' is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British Army Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") while serving as a military advisor to Bedouin forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empi ...
'' (Chapter 54). * Eugene O"Neill quotes from both "Vitae Summa Brevis" and "Cynarae" in his play '' Long Day's Journey into Night'' (1941). * Dowson's poem '' Vitae Summa Brevis'' a/k/a "Days of Wine and Roses" is recited by the character Waldo Lydecker in the 1944
Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( ; ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian Americans, Austrian-American film and theatre director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the the ...
-directed film noir '' Laura'' and in the UK-produced TV series '' The Durrells in Corfu'' (series 2, episode 4). * In anticipation of the anniversary of Dowson's birth on 2 August 2010 his grave, which had fallen derelict and been vandalised, was restored. The unveiling and memorial service were publicised in the '' South London Press'', on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
and in the ''
Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', and dozens of people paid tribute to the poet 110 years after his death. *
Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...
quotes from Dowson's poem "Impenitentia Ultima" in '' The Sea-Wolf'' (Chapter XXVI). * The lyrics of The Cure’s 2024 song “Alone” from the album “Songs of a Lost World” heavily reference Dowson’s poem “Dregs”.


Notes


References

Citations Sources * * Anon (1968) "Ernest Dowson", in ''Essays and Reviews from the Times Literary Supplement 1967'', London: Oxford University Press, pp. 55–63. Originally published in the ''
Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', 2 November 1967. * * * *Plarr, Victor (1914). ''Ernest Dowson 1888-1897: Reminiscences, Unpublished Letters and Marginalia'', with a bibliography compiled by H. Guy Harrison. New York: Laurence J. Gomme. * Richards, Bernard (n.d.).
Dowson, Ernest Christopher (1867–1900), poet
, in
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
online, , retrieved 30 April 2014.


Further reading

Primary works (modern scholarly editions) * ''The Stories of Ernest Dowson'', ed. by Mark Longaker (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1947) * ''The Poems of Ernest Dowson'', ed. by Mark Longaker (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press The University of Pennsylvania Press, also known as Penn Press, is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The press was originally incorporated with b ...
, 1962) * ''The Letters of Ernest Dowson'', ed. by Desmond Flower and Henry Maas (London: Cassell, 1967) * ''The Poetry of Ernest Dowson'', ed. by Desmond Flower (Cranbury, NJ:
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (FDU Press) is a publishing house under the operation and oversight of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the largest private university in New Jersey. History FDU Press was established in 1967 by the university ...
, 1970) * ''The Pierrot of the Minute'', restored edition with Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations (CreateSpace, 2012) * ''Le Pierrot de la Minute'', bilingual illustrated edition with French translation by Philippe Baudry (CreateSpace, 2012) Biographies * Jad Adams, ''Madder Music, Stronger Wine: The Life of Ernest Dowson, Poet and Decadent'' (London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 2000) * Mark Longaker, ''Ernest Dowson: A Biography'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1945) * Henry Maas, ''Ernest Dowson: Poetry and Love in the 1890s'' (London: Greenwich Exchange, 2009) * Robert Stark, ''Ernest Dowson: Lyric Lives'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) Critical Studies on Dowson and the 1890s * Elisa Bizzotto, ''La mano e l'anima. Il ritratto immaginario fin de siècle'' (Milano: Cisalpino, 2001) * Kostas Boyiopoulos, ''The Decadent Image: The Poetry of Wilde, Symons, and Dowson'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015) * Jean-Jacques Chardin, ''Ernest Dowson et la crise fin de siècle anglaise'' (Paris: Editions Messene, 1995) * Linda Dowling, ''Language and Decadence in the Victorian Fin de Siècle'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986) * B. Ifor Evans, ''English Poetry in the Later Nineteenth Century'' (London: Methuen, 1966) * Ian Fletcher, ''Decadence and the 1890s'' (London: Edward Arnold, 1979) * Jessica Gossling and Alice Condé (eds), ''In Cynara’s Shadow: Collected Essays on Ernest Dowson'' (Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang UK, 2019) * Graham Hough, ''The Last Romantics'' (London: Duckworth, 1949) * Holbrook Jackson, ''The Eighteen Nineties'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1927) * Agostino Lombardo, ''La poesia inglese dall'estetismo al simbolismo'' (Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1950) * Franco Marucci, ''Storia della letteratura inglese dal 1870 al 1921'' (Firenze: Le Lettere, 2006) * * Murray G. H. Pittock, ''Spectrum of Decadence: The Literature of the 1890s'' (London: Routledge, 1993) * Mario Praz, ''La carne, la morte e il diavolo nella letteratura romantica'' (Firenze: Sansoni, 1976) * Bernard Richards, ''English Poetry of the Victorian Period'' (London: Longman, 1988) * Robert Stark, ''Ernest Dowson: Lyric Lives'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) * Thomas Burnett Swann, ''Ernest Dowson'' (New York: Twayne, 1964) * Arthur Symons, ''The Memoirs of Arthur Symons'', ed. by Karl Beckson (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977) *
William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...
, ''Autobiographies'' (London: Macmillan, 1955)


External links


''Poems'' (1900)


through the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Arthur Symons's memoir of Dowson
* * *

* Text o
"Days of Wine and Roses"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowson, Ernest 1867 births 1900 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholics Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford English Catholic poets Converts to Roman Catholicism People from Lee, London English Roman Catholic writers English male poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers Burials at Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries French–English translators 19th-century English translators