Philip James Bailey (22 April 1816 – 6 September 1902) was an English poet, best known as the author of ''Festus''.

Life

Bailey was born on 22 April 1816, in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, the only son of Thomas Bailey by his first wife, Mary Taylor. He was brought up on the poetry of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

. Educated in Nottingham, he was tutored in classics by Benjamin Carpenter, a Unitarian minister. At the age of 15, he matriculated at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. Dropping the idea of becoming a Presbyterian minister, he began in 1833 to study law in a solicitor's office in London. On 26 April 1834, he entered

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

, and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 7 May 1840, but never practised law. In 1836, Bailey retired to his father's house at Old Basford, near Nottingham, to write. In 1856, he received a

civil list pension Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions – state, occupational and personal pensions. The state pension is based o ...

in recognition of his literary work. In 1864, he moved to

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, and travelled. In 1876, he returned to England, settling first at Lee near

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay towar ...

, and in 1885 at Blackheath. Finally he retired to Nottingham. In June 1901, he received the honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

(DLL) from the

. Bailey died of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

on 6 September 1902. He was buried in Nottingham Rock (aka Church) Cemetery after a service at St Andrew's Church, Nottingham.

Works

Bailey is known almost exclusively by his one voluminous poem, ''Festus'', first published anonymously in 1839, and then expanded with a second edition in 1845. A vast pageant of theology and philosophy, it comprised in some twelve divisions an attempt to represent the relation of God to man, and to postulate "a gospel of faith and reason combined." Among the admirers of ''Festus'' was

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

imitated it in ''The Golden Legend'' (1851). Bailey himself described his approach with the neologism "omnist".

Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...

was an enthusiast for the work, if with critical reservations. The subsequent poems of Bailey, ''The Angel World'' (1850), ''The Mystic'' (1855), ''The Age'' (1858), and ''The Universal Hymn'' (1867), were failures. The author then incorporated large extracts of these into the later editions of ''Festus'', which ultimately extended to over 40,000 lines when the final edition was published in 1889. At one time his work was immensely popular, admired for its 'fire of imagination' (

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work receiv ...

), but, like the other works of the Spasmodic school of which Bailey was considered the father, it is now little read. In 2021,

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

published a critical edition of ''Festus'', edited by Mischa Willett.

Notes

References

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External links

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Festus poem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Philip James 1816 births 1902 deaths Writers from Nottingham English male poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers

Life

Works

See also

Notes

References

External links