Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin (May 3, 1835 – 1913) was an English poet, who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Tennyson. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (465x640, 40 KB) Summary http://lcweb2. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (465x640, 40 KB) Summary http://lcweb2. ... May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ... | Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages English (de facto) Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st... A poet exists within a cultural and intellectual tradition and usually writes in a specific language, but the qualities of good poetry are to some extent timeless and address issues common to all humanity. ... Tennyson may refer to: A placename: In Australia: Tennyson, Queensland Tennyson railway station, Brisbane Tennyson, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney Tennyson Point, New South Wales a suburb of Sydney Tennyson, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide Tennyson, Victoria In the United States of America: Tennyson, Wisconsin Tennyson, Indiana...

Life

Alfred Austin was born at Headingley, near Leeds, on 30 May 1835. His father, Joseph Austin, was a merchant in Leeds; his mother, a sister of Joseph Locke, M.P. for Honiton. Austin was educated at Stonyhurst College, Oscott, and University of London, from which he graduated in 1853.^[1] Headingley is also the name of a city in Manitoba, Canada. ... Leeds is a city in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire in the north of England. ... Joseph Locke, railway engineer Joseph Locke (9 August 1805- 18 September 1860) was a notable British civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway projects. ... Location within the British Isles Honiton is a town in Devon, England. ... The front of Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is the leading English Jesuit public school near Clitheroe, Lancashire, England. ... Oscott is a ward) in the North of Birmingham, England. ... Senate House, designed by Charles Holden, home to the universitys central administrative offices and its library The University of London is a federation of colleges and institutes which together constitute one of the worlds largest universities. ...

He became a barrister in 1857 before leaving law to concentrate on literature.^[2] A barrister (advocate in Scotland and the Channel Islands, barrister-at-law in Ireland and elsewhere) is a lawyer found in some Common law jurisdictions who principally, but not exclusively, represents litigants as their advocate before the courts of that jurisdiction. ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Politically Conservative Austin edited National Review for several years, and wrote leading articles for The Standard.^[3] Not to be confused with the present-day American publication of the same name, National Review was launched in 1883 as a platform for the British Conservative Party. ...

On Tennyson's death in 1892 it was felt that none of the then living poets, except Swinburne or William Morris, who were outside consideration on other grounds, was of sufficient distinction to succeed to the laurel crown, and for several years no new poet-laureate was nominated. In the interval the claims of one writer and another were assessed, but eventually, in 1896, Austin was appointed to the post.^[4]

Austin died of unknown causes on 2 June 1913 in Ashford, Kent, England.^[5]

Poetry

In 1861, after two false starts in poetry and fiction, he made his first noteworthy appearance as a writer with The Season: a Satire, which contained incisive lines, and was marked by some promise both in wit and observation. In 1870 he published a volume of criticism, The Poetry of the Period, which was conceived in the spirit of satire, and attacked Tennyson, Browning, Matthew Arnold and Swinburne in an unrestrained fashion. The book aroused some discussion at the time, but its judgments were extremely uncritical.^[6] Robert Browning Robert Browning (May 7, 1812 – December 12, 1889) was an English poet and playwright. ... Caricature from Punch, 1881: Admit that Homer sometimes nods, That poets do write trash, Our Bard has written Balder Dead, And also Balder-dash Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic, who worked as an inspector of schools. ... Swinburne may be A. C. Swinburne the poet Swinburne University of Technnology in Melbourne, Australia Swinburne, Free State in South Africa This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

As poet-laureate, his topical verses did not escape negative criticism; a hasty poem written in praise of the Jameson Raid in 1896 being a notable instance. The most effective characteristic of Austin's poetry, as of the best of his prose, was a genuine and intimate love of nature. His prose idylls, The Garden that I love and In Veronica's Garden, are full of a pleasant, open-air flavour. His lyrical poems are wanting in spontaneity and individuality, but many of them possess a simple, orderly charm, as of an English country lane. He had, indeed, a true love of England, sometimes not without a suspicion of insularity, but always fresh and ingenuous. A drama by him, Flodden Field, was acted at His Majesty's theatre in 1903.^[7]

Among his works are Pacchiarotto, Prince Lucifer and The Human Tragedy (1862). His autobiography was published in 1911.^[8] An autobiography (from the Greek auton, self, bios, life and graphein, write) is a biography written by the subject or composed conjointly with a collaborative writer (styled as told to or with). The term dates from the late eighteenth century, but the form is much older. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ...

A Poem -- To England

References

1. The autobiography of Alfred Austin, poet laureate, 1835 – 1910; (ISBN 0404087175)

Notes

1. ^  http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/A/AU/AUSTIN_ALFRED.htm
2. ^  ibid
3. ^  ibid
4. ^  ibid
5. ^  ibid
6. ^  ibid
7. ^  ibid
8. ^  ibid
9. ^  http://www.sonnets.org/austin.htm

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