John Keble



John Keble (25 April 1792 - 29 March 1866) was an English poet and churchman, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.

Yourh
Keble was born in Fairford, Gloucestershire (where his father, the Rev. John Keble, was Vicar of Coln St. Aldwyns). He attended Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and, after a brilliant academic performance there, became a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and was for some years a tutor and examiner in the University. While still at Oxford he took Holy Orders in 1815, and became first a curate to his father, and later curate of St Michael and St Martin's Church, Eastleach Martin, in Gloucestershire.

The Christian Year
Meantime, he had been writing 'The Christian Year', which appeared in 1827, and met with an almost unparalleled acceptance. Though at first anonymous, its authorship soon became known, with the result that Keble was in 1831 appointed to the Chair of Poetry at Oxford, which he held until 1841.

Victorian scholar Michael Wheeler calls The Christian Year simply "the most popular volume of verse in the nineteenth century". In his essay on "Tractarian Aesthetics and the Romantic Tradition," Gregory Goodwin claims that The Christian Year is "Keble’s greatest contribution to the Oxford Movement and to English literature." As evidence of that Goodwin cites E.B. Pusey’s report that 95 editions of this devotional text were printed during Keble’s lifetime, and "at the end of the year following his death, the number had arisen to a hundred-and-nine." By the time the copyright expired in 1873, over 375,000 copies had been sold in Britain and 158 editions had been published.

Notwithstanding its widespread appeal among the Victorian readers, the popularity of Keble’s The Christian Year faded in the 20th century.

Tractarianism and Vicar of Hursley
In 1833 his famous Assize Sermon on "national apostasy" gave the first impulse to the Oxford Movement, also known as the Tractarian movement. Along with his colleagues, including John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey, he became a leading light in the movement, but did not follow Newman into the Roman Catholic church.

In 1835 he was appointed Vicar of Hursley, Hampshire, where he settled down to family life and remained for the rest of his life as a parish priest at All Saints Church. He was a profound influence on a near neighbour, the author Charlotte Mary Yonge.

Other writings
In 1846 he published another book of poems, Lyra Innocentium. Other works were a Life of Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, and an edition of the Works of Hooker. After his death appeared Letters of Spiritual Counsel, and 12 volumes of Parish Sermons. Of Keble, John Cousins says, in the 1910 A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature:


 * The literary position of Keble must mainly rest upon The Christian Year, the object of which was, as described by the author, to bring the thoughts and feelings of the reader into unison with those exemplified in the Prayer Book. The poems, while by no means of equal literary merit, are generally characterised by delicate and true poetic feeling, and refined and often extremely felicitous language; and it is a proof of the fidelity to nature with which its themes are treated that the book has become a religious classic with readers far removed from the author's ecclesiastical standpoint and general school of thought. Keble was one of the most saintly and unselfish men who ever adorned the Church of England, and, though personally shy and retiring, exercised a vast spiritual influence upon his generation.

Recognition
His poem "Burial of the Dead" was included in the Oxford Book of English Verse (1250-1900).

Two lives of Keble have been written, by John Taylor Coleridge (1869), and by the Rev. Walter Lock (1895). In 1963 Georgina Battiscombe wrote a biography titled John Keble: a Study in Limitations. John Keble died in Bournemouth at the Hermitage Hotel, after visiting the area to try and recover from a long term illness as he believed the sea air had therapeutic qualities. He is buried in All Saints churchyard in Hursley.

Keble's feast day is kept on 14 July (the anniversary of his Assize Sermon) in the Church of England, and on 29 March (the anniversary of his death) elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.

Keble College, a college of the University of Oxford, was founded in his memory.

Poetry

 * The Christian Year: Thoughts in verse for the Sundays and holydays throughout the year. London & New York: Warne, Frederick, 1827; London & New York: Routledge, 1827; London: Frederick Stokes, 1827; London: James Nesbit, 1827; London: Cassell, Petter, & Galdin, 1827
 * 39th edition. London & Oxford, UK: John Henry Parker, 1850.
 * London: Humphrey Milford / Oxford University Press, 1940.
 * The Child's Christian Year: Hymns for every Sunday and Holy-Day, compiled for the use of parochial schools. Oxford, UK: John Henry Parker / London: J.G. & F. Rivington, 1842; Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1842.
 * Lyra Innocentium: Thoughts in verse on Christian children, their ways, and their privileges. Oxford, UK: John Henry Parker, 1846; New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1846.
 * The Psalter, or Psalms of David: In English verse. London & Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1869.
 * Miscellaneous Poems. London & Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1870.
 * The Christian Year, Lyra Innocentium, and other poems. London: Oxford University Press, 1914.

Non-fiction

 * Primitive Tradition Recognised in Holy Scripture: A sermon, preached in the Cathedral Church of Winchester, at the visitation of the Worshipful and Reverend William Dealtry, D.D., Chancellor of the Diocese, September 27, 1836. London: J., G., & F. Rivington, 1836.
 * The Case of Catholic Subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles Considered: With especial reference to the duties and difficulties of English Catholics in the present crisis, in a letter to the Hon. Mr. Justice Coleridge. London: Gilbert & Rivington, 1841.
 * Sermons: Academical and occasional. Oxford, UK: John H. Parker / London: F. & J. Rivington, 1847.
 * On Eucharistical Adoration: With considerations suggested by a late pastoral letter (1858) on the doctrine of the most holy Eucharist. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1867.
 * Sermons: Occasional and parochial. Oxford, UK: John H. Parker / London: F. & J. Rivington, 1868.
 * Letters of Spiritual Counsel and Guidance (edited by R.F. Wilson). London & Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1870.
 * A Concordance to 'The Christian Year'. London & Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1871; New York: Pott & Amery, 1871.
 * Sermons for the Christian Year. London & Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1875. Volume I: Lent to Passontide.
 * Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1875.
 * Sermons for the Holy Week. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1876.
 * Sermons for Easter to Ascension Day. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1876.
 * Sermons for Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1876.
 * Studia sacra. Commentaries on the introductory verses of St. John's Gospel, and on a portion of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans; with other theological papers. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1877.
 * Occasional Papers and Reviews. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1877.
 * Sermons for Septuagesima to Ash-Wednesday: With sermons for confirmation and on the litany. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1879.
 * Sermons for Advent to Christmas Eve. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1879.
 * Outlines of Instruction; or, Meditations for the Church seasons. Oxford, UK: James Parker, 1880.
 * Lectures on Poetry, 1832-1841. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1912.

Collected editions

 * Selections from the Writings of John Keble. London & Edinburgh: Rivingtons, 1883.
 * Maxims and Gleanings from the Writings of John Keble (selected by C.M. Smith). London & Edinburgh: Rivingtons, 1883.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.