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Elijah Fenton

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Elijah Fenton (20 May 1683 - 16 July 1730) was an English poet and translator.[1]

Elijah Fenton

Elijah Fenton (1683-1720). Portrait by Jonathan Richardson the elder (?1664-1745). Courtesy ArtUK.

Life[]

Overview[]

Fenton was educated at Cambridge, for a time acted as secretary to the Earl of Orrery in Flanders, and was then Master of Sevenoaks Grammar School. In 1707 he published a book of poems. He is best known, however, as the assistant of Pope in his translation of the Odyssey, of which he Englished 4 books, catching Pope's style so completely that it is hardly possible to distinguish between their work. While thus engaged he published in 1723 a successful tragedy, Mariamne. His last contributions to literature were a Life of Milton, and an edition of Waller's Poems in 1729.[2]

Youth and education[]

Fenton was born in Shelton (now Stoke-on-Trent), Staffordshire.[3] He was descended from an ancient family. His father, John Fenton, an attorney (died 1694), was coroner for the district, and must have left his children in good circumstances, since Elijah, though the 11th child, was able to proceed to Cambridge.[4]

In 1700 he entered Jesus College, where he earned a B.A. in 1705.[3]

He had been intended for a clergyman, but conscientious scruples led him to decline taking the oaths, and thus disqualified him for orders in the church of England. These objections would seem to have been rather religious than political, as they did not interfere with his subsequent panegyric upon Marlborough.[4]

Career[]

Fenton did not seek ordination at the hands of the nonjuring clergy, but appears to have almost immediately obtained employment as secretary to the earl of Orrery, whom he accompanied to Flanders. After relinquishing his patron's service, he became assistant to Ambrose Bonwicke, the schoolmaster, at Headley in Surrey, and was shortly afterwards elected head-master of the grammar school at Sevenoaks, which he is said to have brought into reputation.[4]

He had already published a volume of poems in 1707, composed an elegy on the death of the Marquis of Blandford, Marlborough's son, and obtained sufficient reputation as a wit to attract (in 1710) an invitation from Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, to give up his school in hopes of a more suitable provision, which he was assured would be forthcoming. He is said to have unsuccessfully applied for the commissionership of stamps vacated by Richard Steele, but this seems irreconcilable with his objection to take the oaths. Whatever the cause, Bolingbroke's promises were not fulfilled.[4]

Fenton's disappointment was partly solaced by his old patron Orrery, who made him, about 1714, tutor to his son, Lord Broghill. This engagement continued for 6 years, and at its termination Alexander PopePope procured him another as the instructor of Craggs, the new secretary of state, who was anxious to supply his deficiencies in literature.[4]

Fenton's prospects now seemed excellent, but they were speedily blighted by the untimely death of Craggs. Pope, however, always helpful and friendly, conferred on Fenton the distinguished honour of associating him with himself in his translation of the Odyssey, allotting him the 1st, 4th, 19th, and 20th books, and remunerating him with £300.[4]

Southern, with whom Fenton had long been connected, assisted him with his dramatic experience in the composition of his tragedy of Mariamne, which, after being rudely rejected by Colley Cibber, was acted with success at the rival theatre in 1723. Fenton's profits are said to have amounted to nearly £1,000.[4]

Pope soon obtained for him another tutorship in the family of a widow, Lady Trumbull, whose son he educated at home, and afterwards accompanied to Cambridge. When the young man's education was complete, Lady Trumbull retained Fenton in the probably nominal employment of auditor of her accounts, and his latter years were spent in ease and comfort.[4]

Final years[]

Fenton prefixed "a short and elegant" account of Milton's life to an edition of his works, and undertook to amend the punctuation of Paradise Lost, without, it may be feared, much insight into the matter. In 1729 he published a fine edition of Edmund Waller, with notes which Johnson considers even too copious.[4]

The testimony to his character is very high and uniform. "He was never," says his pupil Orrery, "named but with praise and fondness, as a man in the highest degree amiable and excellent." In face of this evidence, which is amply confirmed by particular anecdotes, the assertion that he spoke ungratefully of Pope may be dismissed as groundless. He seems to have had no fault except the indolence which shortened his life.[5]

He died in August 1730, according to some accounts of gout, but in fact, Pope tells William Broome, of want of exercise. He had translated the 1st book of Oppian, but the version appears to be lost, and had begun a tragedy on the subject of Dion, in which he had made little progress. Pope wrote his epitaph with point and feeling, but borrowed the 1st couplet from Crashaw.[4]

Writing[]

Fenton is styled by Johnson "an excellent versifier and a good poet." He had, indeed, caught the trick of Pope's versification with such success that it has never been possible to distinguish his share of the version of the Odyssey from Pope's by internal evidence.[5]

It is questionable whether he deserves the appellation of poet. His most considerable pieces, the "Hymn to the Sun," the ode to Lord Gower, the elegy on Lord Blandford, the "Epistles," are at most agreeable exercises in metre, and his general good taste does not preserve him from some rather ludicrous lapse, such as:

Foes to the tribe from which they trace their clan
As monkeys draw their pedigree from man.[5]

His tragedy exhibits considerable ability, but rather that of a playwright than of a poet. Mariamne's fate had already been the subject of one of Calderon's greatest plays, of which Fenton probably never heard.[5]

His lighter pieces are not deficient in sprightliness, but the humour is far inferior to that of his model Prior. On the whole he must be classed with those to whom poetry has been rather an amusement than an inspiration or an art.[5]

Recognition[]

There is a memorial to Fenton on the wall of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene's Church, Easthampstead, with an epitaph by Pope. This reads:-

To the memory of Elijah Fenton of Shelton in Staffordshire,
who dyed at Easthampstead Anno 1730, aged forty seven years.
In honour of his great integrity & Learning.
William Trumbell Esq erected this monument.

This modest stone what few vain marbles can
May truly say, here lies an honest man
A poet blest beyond the poets fate
Whom heav'n left sacred from the proud and great
Foe to loud praise and friend to learned ease
Content with science in the vale of peace
Calmly he look'd on either life & here
Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear
From natur's temp'rate feast rose satisfy'd
Thank'd heav'n that he had liv'd and that he dy'd.

A. POPE

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Cerealia: an imitation of Milton. London: Thomas Bennett, 1706.
  • On the First-fit of the Gout: By a person of honour. London: John Morphew, 1706.
  • An Ode to the Sun: For the New-Year. London: Jacob Tonson, 1707.
  • An Ode Addressed to the Savoir Vivre Club. London: F. Newbery / J. Ridley, 1710.
  • An Epistle to Mr. Southern. London: Benjamin Tooke, 1711.
  • M. Manlius Capitolinus. London: John Morphew, 1712.
  • To the Queen: On her Majesty's birthday. London: Benjamin Tooke, 1712.
  • Poems on several occasions. London: Jacob Tonson, 1717; London: Bernard Lintot, 1717.
  • Poetical Works. Edinburgh: The Martins, at the Apollo Press, 1779.
  • Poetical Works. London: C. Cooke (Cooke's edition), 1799.

Play[]

  • Mariamne: A tragedy. London: Jacob Tonson, 1723; Dublin: Benjamin Gunne, 1759; Edinburgh: Martin Wotherspoon, 1768; Edinburgh: J. Robertson, 1774; London: John Bell, 1777; London: Harrison, 1781. .

Novel[]

Non-fiction[]

  • "Life of John Milton" in Milton, Paradise Lost. London: Jacob Tonson, 1725; London: A. Millar, 1780;
    • also published in Two Early Lives of John Milton (with John Toland; edited by William Henry Hulme). Cleveland, OH, Western Reserve University, 1924;
    • published separately, Norwood, PA: Norwood Editions, 1977.

Edited[]

  • Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany Poems (editor & contributor). London: Bernard Lintott, 1708.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[6]

See also[]

References[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ Elijah Fenton, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Web, June 16, 2016.
  2. ↑ John William Cousin, "Fenton, Elijah," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910, 135-136. Web, Jan. 12, 2018.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Elijan Fenton (1683-1730), English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, June 16, 2016.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 Garnett, 322.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Garnett, 323.
  6. ↑ Search results = au:Elijah Fenton, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, June 16, 2016.

External links[]

Poems
Books
About

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Fenton, Elijah

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