Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore (July 23, 1823 - November 26, 1896) was an English poet and critic. July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... November 26 is the 330th day (331st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... The word critic comes from the Greek κριτικός, kritikós - one who discerns, which itself arises from the Ancient Greek word κριτής, krités, meaning a person who offers reasoned judgement or analysis, value judgement, interpretation, or observation. ...

The eldest son of Peter George Patmore, himself an author, Coventry was born at Woodford in Essex. He was privately educated, his father's intimate and constant companion, and inherited from him his early literary enthusiasm. It was his ambition to become an artist, and he showed much promise, being awarded the silver palette of the Society of Arts in 1838. In the following year he was sent to school in France for six months, where he began to write poetry. On his return his father planned to publish some of these youthful poems; but meanwhile Coventry had become interested in science and the poetry was set aside. Woodford is principally noteworthy for being the birthplace of the founder members of the notorious association who called themselves the Whores Drawers in the 1980s. ... This article is about the county of Essex in England. ... An artists palette A palette is: A thin board that a painter holds and mixes colour pigments on. ... The Royal Society of Arts, whose correct name is the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce but which is more commonly known as the RSA, is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London, which exists to deliver five Manifesto Challenges: encouraging enterprise, moving towards a zero... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ...

He soon returned to literary interests, moved towards them by the sudden success of Alfred Lord Tennyson; and in 1844 he published a small volume of Poems, which was original but uneven. Patmore, distressed at its reception, bought up the remainder of the edition and destroyed it. What upset him most was a cruel review in Blackwood's Magazine; but the enthusiasm of his friends, together with their more constructive criticism, helped foster his talent. The publication of this volume bore immediate fruit in introducing its author to various men of letters, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, through whom Patmore became known to William Holman Hunt, and was thus drawn into the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, contributing his poem "The Seasons" to The Germ. Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (August 6, 1809 - October 6, 1892) is generally regarded as one of the greatest English poets. ... Blackwoods Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 - April 10, 1882) was an English poet, painter and translator. ... William Holman Hunt - Self-Portrait. ... Persephone, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. ... Illustration by Holman Hunt to Thomas Woolners poem My Beautiful Lady, published in The Germ, 1850 The Germ was a periodical established by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to diseminate their ideas. ...

At this time Patmore's father was financially embarrassed; and in 1846 Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton obtained for Coventry the post of assistant librarian in the British Museum, a post he occupied for nineteen years, devoting his spare time to poetry. In 1847 he married Emily, daughter of Dr. Andrews of Camberwell. At the Museum he was instrumental in 1852 in starting the Volunteer movement. He wrote an important letter to The Times upon the subject, and stirred up much martial enthusiasm among his colleagues. Richard Monckton Milnes Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton (June 19, 1809 - August 11, 1885) was an English poet and politician. ... The Librarian, a 1556 painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo A librarian is an information professional trained in library science: the organization and management of information and service to people with information needs. ... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, surrounding the original Reading Room. ... Camberwell is a district of London in the London Borough of Southwark. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ...

In the next year he republished, in Tamerton Church Tower, the more successful pieces from the Poems of 1844, adding several new poems which showed distinct advance, both in conception and treatment; and in the following year (1854) appeared the first part of his best known poem, The Angel in the House, which was continued in "The Espousals" (1856), "Faithful for Ever" (1860), and "The Victories of Love" (1862). In 1862 he lost his wife, after a long and lingering illness, and shortly afterwards joined the Roman Catholic church. A poem by Coventry Patmore, first published in 1854 and revised up until 1862. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

In 1865 he married again, his second wife being Marianne Byles, daughter of James Byles of Bowden Hall, Gloucester; and a year later purchased an estate in East Grinstead, the history of which he wrote in How I managed my Estate (1886). In 1877 appeared The Unknown Eros, which unquestionably contains his finest work in poetry, and in the following year Amelia, his own favourite among his poems, together with an interesting essay on English Metrical Law. This departure into criticism continued in 1879 with a volume of papers entitled Principle in Art, and again in 1893 with Religio poetae. His second wife died in 1880, and in the next year he married Harriet Robson. In later years he lived at Lymington, where he died. East Grinstead (archaically spelt Grimstead[1]) is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. ... Cobbled streets in Lymington town centre. ...

A collected edition of his poems appeared in two volumes in 1886, with a characteristic preface which might serve as the author's epitaph. "I have written little," it runs; "but it is all my best; I have never spoken when I had nothing to say, nor spared time or labour to make my words true. I have respected posterity; and should there be a posterity which cares for letters, I dare to hope that it will respect me." The obvious sincerity which underlies this statement, combined with a certain lack of humour which peers through its naïveté, points to two of the principal characteristics of Patmore's earlier poetry; characteristics which came to be almost unconsciously merged and harmonized as his style and his intention drew together into unity.

His best work is found in the volume of odes called The Unknown Eros, which is full not only of passages but of entire poems in which exalted thought is expressed in poetry of the richest and most dignified melody. Spirituality informs his inspiration; the poetry is glowing and alive. The magnificent piece in praise of winter, the solemn and beautiful cadences of "Departure," and the homely but elevated pathos of "The Toys," are in their various manners unsurpassed in English poetry. Patmore is one of the best-regarded Victorian poets. Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ...

The Angel in the House is a long narrative and lyric poem, with four sections composed over a period of years: The Betrothed and The Espousals (1854), which eulogize his first wife; Faithful For Ever (1860); and The Victories of Love (1862), the four published together in 1863. Together they came to symbolise the Victorian feminine ideal, against which feminists of the time struggled.

His son, Henry John Patmore (1860-1883), was also a poet.

Trivia

Coventry Patmore was caricatured as the unpleasant poet Carleon Anthony in Joseph Conrad's novel Chance (1913). Joseph Conrad. ... Chance is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1913 following serial publication the previous year. ...

See also

History of feminism The History of Feminism is the history of the Feminist movement, as well as its origins. ...

External links

• Works by Coventry Patmore at Project Gutenberg