Robert Southey
This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(August 2018) |
Robert Southey | |
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![]() Robert Southey (1774–1843), Aged 31, John Opie | |
Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom | |
In office 12 August 1813 – 21 March 1843 | |
Monarchs | George III George IV William IV Victoria |
Preceded by | Henry James Pye |
Succeeded by | William Wordsworth |
Personal details | |
Born | Bristol,England | 12 August 1774
Died | 21 March 1843 London,England | (aged 68)
Spouses |
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Education | Balliol College, Oxford |
Occupation | Poet, historian, biographer and essayist |
Robert Southey(/ˈsaʊði/or/ˈsʌði/;[a]12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of theRomanticschool, andPoet Laureatefrom 1813 until his death. Like the otherLake Poets,William WordsworthandSamuel Taylor Coleridge,Southey began as a radical but became steadily more conservative as he gained respect for Britain and its institutions. Other romantics such asByronaccused him of siding with the establishment for money and status. He is remembered especially for the poem "After Blenheim"and the original version of"Goldilocks and the Three Bears".
Life[edit]
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Robert Southey was born in Wine Street,Bristol,to Robert Southey and Margaret Hill.[1]He was educated atWestminster School,London (where he was expelled for writing an article inThe Flagellant,a magazine he originated,[2]attributing the invention of flogging to the Devil),[3]and atBalliol College, Oxford.[4]
Southey went to Oxford with "a heart full of poetry and feeling, a head full ofRousseauandWerther,and my religious principles shaken byGibbon".[2]He later said of Oxford, "All I learnt was a little swimming... and a little boating". He did, however, write a play,Wat Tyler(which, in 1817, after he became Poet Laureate, was published, to embarrass him, by his enemies). Experimenting with a writing partnership with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, most notably in their joint composition ofThe Fall of Robespierre,Southey published his first collection of poems in 1794. The same year, Southey, Coleridge,Robert Lovelland several others discussed creating an idealistic community ( "pantisocracy") on the banks of theSusquehanna Riverin America.
In 1795 he married Edith Fricker, whose sister Sara married Coleridge. The same year, he travelled to Portugal, and wroteJoan of Arc,published in 1796. He then wrote many ballads, went to Spain in 1800, and on his return settled in theLake District.[2]
In 1799, Southey and Coleridge were involved with early experiments withnitrous oxide(laughing gas), conducted by theCornishscientistHumphry Davy.[5]
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While writing prodigiously, he received a government pension in 1807, and in 1809 started a long association with theQuarterly Review,which provided almost his only income for most of his life. He was appointed laureate in 1813, a post he came greatly to dislike. In 1821, Southey wroteA Vision of Judgment,to commemorateGeorge III,in the preface to which he attackedByronwho, as well as responding with a parody,The Vision of Judgment(see below), mocked him frequently inDon Juan.[2]
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In 1837, Edith died, and Southey remarried, toCaroline Anne Bowles,also a poet, on 4 June 1839.[7]The marriage broke down,[8]not least because of his increasing dementia. His mind was giving way when he wrote a last letter to his friendWalter Savage Landorin 1839, but he continued to mention Landor's name when generally incapable of mentioning anyone. He died on 21 March 1843 and was buried in the churchyard ofCrosthwaite Church,Keswick, where he had worshipped for forty years. There is a memorial to him inside the church, with an epitaph written by his friend William Wordsworth.
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Southey was also a prolific letter writer, literary scholar, essay writer, historian and biographer. His biographies include the life and works ofJohn Bunyan,John Wesley,William Cowper,Oliver CromwellandHoratio Nelson.The last has rarely been out of print since its publication in 1813 and was adapted as the 1926 British filmNelson.
He was a generous man, particularly kind to Coleridge's abandoned family, but he incurred the enmity of many, includingHazlittas well as Byron, who felt he had betrayed his principles in accepting pensions and the laureateship, and in retracting his youthful ideals.[2]
Politics[edit]
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Conservatism in the United Kingdom |
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Although originally a radical supporter of theFrench Revolution,Southey followed the trajectory of his fellow Romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge towards conservatism. Embraced by the Tory establishment as Poet Laureate, and from 1807 in receipt of a yearly stipend from them, he vigorously supported theLiverpoolgovernment. He argued against parliamentary reform ( "the railroad to ruin with the Devil for driver" ), blamed thePeterloo Massacreon an allegedly revolutionary "rabble" killed and injured by government troops, and spurned Catholic emancipation.[9]In 1817 he privately proposedpenal transportationfor those guilty of "libel" or "sedition". He had in mind figures likeThomas Jonathan WoolerandWilliam Hone,whose prosecution he urged. Such writers were guilty, he wrote in theQuarterly Review,of "inflaming the turbulent temper of the manufacturer and disturbing the quiet attachment of the peasant to those institutions under which he and his fathers have dwelt in peace." Wooler and Hone were acquitted, but the threats caused another target,William Cobbett,to emigrate temporarily to the United States.
In some respects, Southey was ahead of his time in his views on social reform. For example, he was an early critic of the evils the new factory system brought to early 19th-century Britain. He was appalled by the living conditions in towns likeBirminghamandManchesterand especially by employment of children in factories and outspoken about them. He sympathised with the pioneering socialist plans ofRobert Owen,advocated that the state promote public works to maintain high employment, and called for universal education.[10]
Given his departure from radicalism, and his attempts to have former fellow travellers prosecuted, it is unsurprising that less successful contemporaries who kept the faith attacked Southey. They saw him as selling out for money and respectability.
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In 1817, Southey was confronted with the surreptitious publication of a radical play,Wat Tyler,which he had written in 1794 at the height of his radical period. This was instigated by his enemies in an attempt to embarrass the Poet Laureate and highlight his apostasy from radical poet to supporter of the Tory establishment. One of his most savage critics wasWilliam Hazlitt.In his portrait of Southey, inThe Spirit of the Age,he wrote: "He wooed Liberty as a youthful lover, but it was perhaps more as a mistress than a bride; and he has since wedded with an elderly and not very reputable lady, called Legitimacy." Southey largely ignored his critics but was forced to defend himself whenWilliam Smith,a member of Parliament, rose in the House of Commons on 14 March to attack him.[11]In a spirited response Southey wrote an open letter to the MP, in which he explained that he had always aimed at lessening human misery and bettering the condition of all the lower classes and that he had only changed in respect of "the means by which that amelioration was to be effected."[12]As he put it, "that as he learnt to understand the institutions of his country, he learnt to appreciate them rightly, to love, and to revere, and to defend them."[12]
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Another critic of Southey in his later period wasThomas Love Peacock,who scorned him in the character of Mr. Feathernest in his 1817 satirical novelMelincourt.[13]
He was often mocked for what were seen as sycophantic odes to the king, notably inByron's long ironic dedication ofDon Juanto Southey. In the poem Southey is dismissed as insolent, narrow and shabby. This was based both on Byron's lack of respect for Southey's literary talent, and his disdain for what he perceived as Southey's hypocritical turn to conservatism later in life. Much of the animosity between the two men can be traced back to Byron's belief that Southey had spread rumours about him andPercy Bysshe Shelleybeing in a "League of Incest" during their time onLake Genevain 1816, an accusation that Southey strenuously denied.
In response, Southey attacked what he called theSatanic Schoolamong modern poets in the preface to his poem,A Vision of Judgement,written after the death ofGeorge III.While not naming Byron, it was clearly directed at him. Byron retaliated withThe Vision of Judgment,a parody of Southey's poem.
Without his prior knowledge, theEarl of Radnor,an admirer of his work, had Southey returned as MP for the latter'spocket boroughseat ofDowntoninWiltshireat the1826 general election,as an opponent of Catholic emancipation, but Southey refused to sit, causing a by-election in December that year, pleading that he did not have a large enough estate to support him through political life,[14]or want to take on the hours full attendance required. He wished to continue living in the Lake District and preferred to defend theChurch of Englandin writing rather than speech. He declared that "for me to change my scheme of life and go into Parliament, would be to commit a moral and intellectual suicide." His friend John Rickman, a Commons clerk, noted that "prudential reasons would forbid his appearing in London" as a Member.[15]
In 1835, Southey declined the offer of abaronetcy,but accepted a life pension of £300 a year from Prime MinisterSir Robert Peel.[15]
Reputation[edit]
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Charles Lamb,in aletterto Coleridge, stated, "WithJoan of ArcI have been delighted, amazed. I had not presumed to expect of any thing of such excellence from Southey. Why the poem is alone sufficient to redeem the character of the age we live in from the imputation of degenerating in Poetry [...] On the whole, I expect Southey one day to rivalMilton."[16]
RegardingThalaba the Destroyer,Ernest Bernhard-Kabisch pointed out that "Few readers have been as enthusiastic about it asCardinal Newmanwho considered it the most 'morally sublime' of English poems. But the young Shelley reckoned it his favourite poem, and both he and Keats followed its lead in some of their verse narratives. "[17]
While Southey was writingMadoc,Coleridgebelieved that the poem would be superior to theAeneid.[18]
Robert Southey had a notable influence onRussian literature.Pushkinhighly appreciated his work and translated the beginning of theHymn to the PenatesandMadoc,and was also inspired by the plot ofRoderickto create an original poem on the same plot (Родрик). At the beginning of the 20th century, Southey was translated byGumilyovandLozinsky.In 1922, the publishing house "Vsemirnaya Literatura" published the first separate edition of Southey's ballads in Russia, compiled by Gumilyov. In 2006, a bilingual edition prepared by E. Witkowski was published, a significant part of which included new translations.
Southey was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Societyin 1822.[19]He was also a member of theRoyal Spanish Academy.
In popular culture[edit]
- In the video gameBook of Hours,released in 2023 byWeather Factory,the Southey family are good friends with the fictional Baroness Eva Dewulf, and there are rumours that they adopted her illegitimate child as Abra Southey and presented her as the younger sister to Robert.
Partial list of works[edit]
- Harold, or, The Castle of Morford(an unpublished Robin Hood novel that Southey wrote in 1791).[20]
- The Fall of Robespierre(1794) (withSamuel Taylor Coleridge)
- Poems: Containing the Retrospect, Odes, Elegies, Sonnets, &c.(withRobert Lovell)
- Joan of Arc(1796)
- Icelandic Poetry, or The Edda of Sæmund(contributing an introductory epistle to A. S. Cottle's translations, 1797)
The full text ofPoems, vols. I & IIat Wikisource
- Letters Written During a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal(1797)
- St. Patrick's Purgatory(1798)
- After Blenheim(1798)
- The Devil's Thoughts(1799).Revised ed. pub. in 1827 as "The Devil's Walk". (with Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
- English Eclogues(1799)
- The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them(1799)
- Thalaba the Destroyer(1801)
- The Inchcape Rock(1802)
- Madoc(1805)
- Letters from England: By Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella(1807),the observations of a fictitious Spaniard.
- Chronicle of the Cid, from the Spanish(1808)
- The Curse of Kehama(1810)
- History of Brazil(3 vols.) (1810–1819)[21][22]
- The Life of Horatio, Lord Viscount Nelson(1813)
- Roderick the Last of the Goths(1814)
- Journal of a tour in the Netherlands in the autumn of 1815(1902)
- SirThomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur(1817)
- Wat Tyler: A Dramatic Poem(1817; written in 1794)
- Cataract of Lodore(1820)
- The Life of Wesley; and Rise and Progress of Methodism(2 vols.) (1820)
- What Are Little Boys Made Of?(1820)
- A Vision of Judgement(1821)
- History of the Peninsular War, 1807–1814(3 vols.) (1823–1832)
- Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society(1829)
- The Works of William Cowper,15 vols., ed. (1833–1837)
- Lives of the British Admirals, with an Introductory View of the Naval History of England(5 vols.) (1833–40);republished as "English Seamen" in 1895.
- The Doctor(7 vols.) (1834–1847).IncludesThe Story of the Three Bears(1837).
- The Poetical Works of Robert Southey, Collected by Himself(1837)
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^Southey's biographer comment: "There should be no doubt as to the proper pronunciation of the name: 'Sowthey'. The poet himself complained that people in the North would call him 'Mr Suthy'" (Jack Simmons:Southey(London: Collins, 1945), p. 9). Byron rhymed Southey with "mouthy" (Don JuanCanto the First, Stanza 205)Retrieved 12 August 2012.The pronunciation Southey objected to is still used; theOxford English Dictionarycites both for "Southeyan" (relating to Southey or his work).
References[edit]
- ^Basil Cottle,Robert Southey and Bristol(Bristol Historical Association pamphlets, no. 47, 1980), p.1
- ^abcdeMargaret Drabbleed:The Oxford Companion to English Literature(6th edition, Oxford, 2000), about criticized the school's practice of excessive whippings, pp 953-4.
- ^Geoffrey Treasure:Who's Who in Late Hanoverian Britain(2nd, enlarged edition, London: Shepheard-Walwyn, 1997), p. 143.
- ^Carnall, Geoffrey (2004)."Southey, Robert (1774–1843), poet and reviewer".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26056.Retrieved26 August2012.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^Humphry Davy,NNDB
- ^ab"Letter 1669. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 12 August 1809".The Collected Letters of Robert Southey.Romantic Circles, University of Maryland. 12 August 1809.Retrieved6 March2015.
- ^Blain, Virginia H. (2004)."Southey, Caroline Anne Bowles (1786–1854), poet and writer".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26054.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^Fiona Sampson,Two-Way Mirror – The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning,Profile Books (2021), p 123
- ^Carnall, Geoffrey. "Southey, Robert (1774–1843)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26056.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^Carnall (1971), p. 9.
- ^ M. H. Port / R. G. Thorne (1986)."SMITH, William (1756-1835), of Eagle House, Clapham Common, Surr. and Parndon, Essex.".In Thorne, R. G. (ed.).The House of Commons 1790-1820.The History of Parliament Trust.Retrieved26 November2022.
- ^abSpeck (2006) p. 172.
- ^Howard Mills:Peacock, His Circle and His Age(Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,1969) p. 115 ff.Retrieved 31 July 2018.(
- ^MPs were then unsalaried, and expected to treat voters at election times.
- ^ab[1]History of Parliament article.
- ^Madden 1972 qtd pp. 45–46
- ^Bernhardt-Kabisch 1977 pp. 84–85
- ^Bernhardt-Kabisch 1977 p. 109
- ^American Antiquarian Society Members Directory.
- ^Bodleian MS. Eng. Misc. e. 121
- ^"Review ofHistory of Brazilby Robert Southey. Part the First ".The Quarterly Review.4:451–474. November 1810.
- ^"Review ofHistory of Brazilby Robert Southey, vol. ii ".The Quarterly Review.18:99–128. October 1817.
Sources[edit]
- Geoffrey Carnall,Writers and Their Works: Robert Southey,London: Longman Group, 1971
- Basil Cottle,Robert Southey and Bristol(Bristol Historical Association pamphlets, no. 47, 1980), 30 pp.
- Kenneth Curry, ed.,New Letters of Robert Southey,2 vols, New York/London: Columbia UP, 1965
- Edward Dowden, ed.,The Correspondence of Robert Southey with Caroline Bowles,Dublin/London, 1881
- Dennis Low,The Literary Protégées of the Lake Poets,Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006
- John Lionel Madden,Robert Southey: the critical heritage,London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972
- Michael Nash,Southey'sNelson.Bibliography of the 1813–1857 English Editions of Robert Southey'sLife of Nelson, Hoylake & Tattenhall/Marine & Cannon Books, 2019
- Lynda Pratt, ed.,Robert Southey, Poetical Works, 1793–1810,5 vols, London: Pickering and Chatto, 2004
- Jack Simmons,Southey,Washington DC: Kennikat, 1945
- Charles Cuthbert Southey, ed.,The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey,New York, 1855
- W. A. Speck,Robert Southey: Entire Man of Letters,Yale University Press, 2006
- Stephen, Leslie(1902). .Studies of a Biographer.London: Duckworth and Co. pp. 45–85.
External links[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- Works by Robert SoutheyatProject Gutenberg
- Works by or about Robert SoutheyatInternet Archive
- Works by Robert SoutheyatLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)
- The Pilgrim To Compostella
- The original Southey version of The Three Bears
- History of BrazilSouthey, Robert
- e-book ofMadoc,an epic poem in two volumes about the legendaryWelshprinceMadoc.
- Biography of Robert Southeyby Peter Landry at Blupete
- Greta HallKeswick home of Robert Southey
- Portraits of Robert Southeyat theNational Portrait Gallery, London
- Robert SoutheyatLibrary of Congress,with 201 library catalogue records
Archive materials[edit]
- The Robert Southey Collection:Presented online byThe University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center.Titles include:
- Southey, Robert, 1774–1843. Southey's Common-place book. First series. Choice passages. Collections for English manners and literature: 2nd ed. (1850)
- Southey, Robert, 1774–1843. Southey's Common-place book. Second series. Special collections: 2nd ed. (1850)
- Southey, Robert, 1774–1843. Southey's Common-place book. Third series. Analytical readings: 2d. ed. (1850)
- "Archival material relating to Robert Southey".UK National Archives.
- "The Bertram R. Davis" Robert Southey "Collection".University of Waterloo Library.Special Collections & Archives.Retrieved4 April2016.
- Archival material atLeeds University Library
- Robert Southey Collection.General Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Robert Southey
- 1774 births
- 1843 deaths
- English Christians
- British Poets Laureate
- Romantic poets
- Christian poets
- People educated at Westminster School, London
- Writers from Bristol
- Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
- British Hispanists
- 19th-century British biographers
- English biographers
- 19th-century English historians
- English translators
- 19th-century British translators
- Spanish–English translators
- Burials in Cumbria
- English male poets
- Members of the American Antiquarian Society
- Translators of the Poetic Edda
- People from Keswick, Cumbria
- English male biographers