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 or education to the reader, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pie ...
, critic, and poet. He was appointed
Poet Laureate 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 a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...
,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, the son of poet
Thomas Warton, the Elder, and younger brother of
Joseph Warton 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](_blank)
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 and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', pu ...
'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
Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...
. 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 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, as well as the eighth
Poet Laureate.
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 were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
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, and classics, classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. He is widely ...
—a fact that Johnson satirized in his parody "Hermit hoar, in solemn cell." Among his minor works were an edition of
Theocritus
Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Life
Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...
, 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 type 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 that ...
s and crowds as well as dim
aisle
An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...
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. 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 poetry, 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 ov ...
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 criticised 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.
Various works
*
*
* – an anthology of verse and Oxford wit
*
*
*
Warton Lectures
In 1910,
Frida Mond endowed the
British Academy
The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies 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 sa ...
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 Wartonat 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
English 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