Coventry Patmore

by Edmund Gosse

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905. Excerpt: ... Chapter II LIFE IN LONDON (i846-1862) THE excitement caused by the publication of his early poems had no sooner subsided than Patmore began to regard them in an almost contemptuous light of common sense. Escaping from the hot-house air in which he had been educated, brought face to face with the facts of life and forced to look at literature from a healthy standpoint, his earliest discovery was of the weakness of his own overpraised and childish verses. He told Sutton, in the spring of 1847, that he was abashed at the thought of his foolish haste in publishing before his mind was matured, and added that, when all his friends were praising " The River" and "Lilian," and falling into ecstasies over "The Woodman's Daughter," he himself "was conscious from the first of the defective character of the book." There can be no question that the admirable judgment of Tennyson, so happily secured in exchange for M the sultry complaisance of the old Cockney circle, had much to do with this healthier condition of his spirit. Patmore was prevented at this time by a consciousness of failure from recurring to the practice of verse. He was greatly occupied with other interests, literary, moral and material, and he considered that he "wanted the grand essential leisure for writing poetry." In saying this he was, no doubt, repeating a formula of Tennyson's, who was in the habit of justifying the aimless, dreamy existence which he himself led, by asserting, --and perhaps with truth, --that a sauntering life of leisure was the only one in which a poet could do justice to his imagination. Patmore was now thrilled and subdued by the genius of Emerson, which was then at the height of its splendour, having quite recently been revealed to a few first English admirers. In his haste t...

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Sir Edmund Gosse was an influential English poet, critic, biographer, and translator who played a pivotal role in shaping literary and artistic discourse in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Born into the strict religious sect of the Plymouth Brethren, Gosse experienced a repressive upbringing under his father, the naturalist Philip Henry Gosse. His eventual rejection of that faith formed the basis for his most famous book, Father and Son (1907), a groundbreaking autobiographical work considered one of the first psychological memoirs in English literature.
Gosse began his literary career as an assistant librarian at the British Museum and went on to publish poetry, translations, and literary criticism. He developed close relationships with prominent writers and artists of the time, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and the sculptor Hamo Thornycroft. His interest in Scandinavian literature led to the promotion of Henrik Ibsen’s plays in England through his translations and reviews, often in collaboration with William Archer.
In addition to lecturing in English literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, Gosse served as librarian to the House of Lords and contributed significantly to the Encyclopædia Britannica. He was also an influential art critic and authored the first historical account of the New Sculpture movement in British art. A literary patron, he was instrumental in securing support for writers such as W.B. Yeats and James Joyce.
Though married to painter Ellen Epps for over 50 years and father to three children, Gosse privately acknowledged homosexual desires, confiding in his friend John Addington Symonds. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1912 and knighted in 1925. Gosse’s legacy endures through his critical writings, literary support, and Father and Son, which remains a key text in English autobiographical literature.