Austin Dobson

(Henry) Austin Dobson (1840-1921). Portrait by Frank Brooks (1854-1937), 1911. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Henry Austin Dobson (January 18, 1840 - September 2, 1921) was an English poet and essayist, of whom it has been said that his "love and knowledge of the eighteenth century lent a graceful elegance to his poetry and inspired his critical studies."

Life

Dobson was born at Plymouth, the eldest son of George Clarisse Dobson, a civil engineer, of French descent. When he was about 8, the family moved to Holyhead, and his first school was at Beaumaris in Anglesey, Wales. He was later educated at Coventry, and at the Gymnase, Strasbourg. He returned at the age of 16 with the intention of becoming a civil engineer.

At the beginning of his career, he continued to study at the South Kensington School of Art, in his spare time, but without definite ambition. In December 1856 he entered the Board of Trade, gradually rising to the rank of principal in the harbour department, from which he retired in the autumn of 1901.

In 1868, he had married Frances Mary, daughter of the distinguished civil engineer Nathaniel Beardmore (1816–1872) of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, and settled at Ealing.

He died in 1921 and is buried in the Westminster Cemetery, Uxbridge Rd, Hanwell, Middlesex.

Writing

From Eighteenth-Century Studies, 1914. Courtesy Internet Archive.

Dobson's official career was uneventful, but as a poet and biographer he was distinguished. Those who study his work are struck by its maturity. It was about 1864 that he turned his attention to writing original prose and verse, and some of his earliest work was his best. It was not until 1868 that the appearance of St Paul's, a magazine edited by Anthony Trollope, gave Harry Dobson an opportunity and an audience; and during the next 6 years he contributed some of his favourite poems, including "Tu Quoque," "A Gentleman of the Old School," "A Dialogue from Plato," and "Une Marquise." Many of his poems in their original form were illustrated — some, indeed, were written to support illustrations.

By the autumn of 1873 Dobson had produced enough verse for a volume, and published Vignettes in Rhyme, which quickly went through 3 editions. During the period of their appearance in the magazine the poems had received unusual attention, George Eliot, among others, encouraging the anonymous author. The little book immediately introduced him to a larger public. The period was an interesting one for a first appearance, since the air was full of metrical experiment. Swinburne's bold excursions into classical meter had broken new ground; it was hopeless to attempt to compete, and the poets of the day were looking for fresh forms and variations.

Early in 1876, a small body of English poets discovered the French forms of Théodore de Banville, Clement Marot and François Villon, and determined to introduce them into English verse. Austin Dobson, who had already made successful use of the triolet, was at the head of this movement, and in May 1876 he published in The Prodigals the earliest original ballade written in English. This he followed by English versions of the rondel, rondeau, and villanelle. An article in the Cornhill Magazine by Edmund Gosse, "A Plea for Certain Exotic Forms of Verse," appearing in July 1877, simultaneously with Dobson's 2nd volume, Proverbs in Porcelain, drew the general eye to the possibilities and achievements of the movement. The experiment was deemed a success.

In 1883 Dobson published Old-World Idylls, which contained some of his most characteristic work. By this time his taste was gradually settling on the period with which it has since become almost exclusively associated; and the spirit of the 18th century was revived in "The Ballad of Beau Brocade" and in "The Story of Rosina", as nowhere else in modern English poetry. In "Beau Brocade", the pictorial quality of his work is at its very best. He has been compared with Randolph Caldecott, with which it has much in common; but Dobson's humor was not so "rollicking" and his portraiture not so broad as that of the illustrator of John Gilpin. His appeal was more intellectual.

At the Sign of the Lyre (1885) was the next of Dobson's separate volumes of verse, and he also published a volume of Collected Poems (1897). At the Sign of the Lyre contains much variety. The admirably fresh and breezy "Ladies of St James's" has precisely the qualities we have traced in his other 18th-century poems; there are ballades and rondeaus, with all the earlier charm; and in "A Revolutionary Relic," as in "The Child Musician" of the Old-World Idylls, the poet reaches a depth of true pathos which he does not often attempt, but in which, when he seeks it, he never fails. Contrasting with these are the light occasional verses, influenced by Winthrop Mackworth Praed, but also quite individual. The chief novelty in At the Sign of the Lyre was the series of "Fables of Literature and Art," founded in manner upon John Gay. It is in these perhaps, more than in any other of his poems, that we see how Dobson interpenetrates the literature of fancy with the literature of judgment.

After 1885 Dobson was engaged mainly in critical and biographical prose, by which he added considerably to the general knowledge of his favourite 18th century. His biographies of Henry Fielding (1883), Thomas Bewick (1884), Richard Steele (1886), Oliver Goldsmith (1888), Horace Walpole (1890) and William Hogarth (1879-1891-1897-1902-1907) are studies marked alike by assiduous research, sympathetic presentation and sound criticism. In Four Frenchwomen (1890), in the 3 series of Eighteenth-Century Vignettes (1892-1894-1896), and in The Paladin of Philanthropy (1899), which contain unquestionably his most delicate prose work, the accurate detail of each study is relieved by a charm of expression which could only be attained by a poet. In 1901 he collected his hitherto unpublished poems in a volume entitled Carmina Votiva.

Recognition

3 of his poems ("A Garden Song", "Urceus Exit", and "In After Days") were included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.

In popular culture

In 2005 the Industrial]]/Nu metal band, Industrial Frost, used the words of a Dobson poem called "Before Sedan" as the lyrics of a song of the same name.

Publications

Poetry

• Vignettes in Rhyme, and Vers de Societe (now first collected). London: H.S. King, 1873.
• Proverbs in Porcelain, and other verses. London: H.S. King, 1877; London: C. Kegan Paul, 1878.
  • also published as Proverbs in Porcelain, and other poems. Portland, ME: T.B. Mosher, 1909.
• Vignettes in Rhyme, and other verses. New York: Henry Holt, 1880.
• At the Sign of the Lyre. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1886.
• Old World Idylls, and other verses. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1889.
• The Sundial: A poem. New York: Dodd, Mean, 1890.
• The Ballad of Beau Brocade, and other poems of the XVIIIth century (illustrated by Hugh Thomson). London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1892.
• Proverbs in Porcelain. To which is added Au Revoir, a dramatic vignette. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1893.
• The Story of Rosina, and other verses (illustrated by Hugh Thomson). . London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1895.
• Poems on Several Occasions (illustrated by Adolphe Lalauze). (2 volumes), New York: Dodd, Mead, 1895. Volume I, Volume II.
• Collected Poems. (2 volumes), New York: Dodd, Mead, 1895. Volume I, Volume II.
• Collected Poems. (1 volume), London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1897.
• Carmina Votiva, and other occasional verses. London: privately printed, 1901.
• Poems (selected). . London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1905.
• Lyrics by Austin Dobson. Portland, ME: 1908.
• Complete Poetical Works (edited by  Alban Dobson). London: Humphrey Milford / London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1923.
• Poetical Works. St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1970.
• Selected Poems. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1972.

Short fiction

• Sidewalk Studies. London: Chatto & Windus, 1902.

Non-fiction

• Hogarth. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1879.
  • revised and enlarged as William Hogarth. London: Sampson Low, 1891; London: Heinemann / New York: McClure, Phillips, 1902.
• Fielding. London: Macmillan, 1883.
  • revised & enlarged as Henry Fielding: A memoir. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1900.
• Thomas Bewick and His Pupils. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884.
  • Detroit, MI: Singing Tree Press, 1968.
• Life of Oliver Goldsmith. London: Walter Scott, 1888.
  • also published as Oliver Goldsmith: A memoir. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1899.
• Four Frenchwomen. London: Chatto & Windus, 1890; New York: Dodd, Mead, 1890.
• Horace Walpole: A memoir. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1890; London: J.R. Osgoode, McIlvaine, 1893.
  • new edition. London: Harper, 1910.
• Eighteenth-Century Vignettes. London: Chatto & Windus, 1892; New York: Dodd, Mead, 1892
  • also published as Eighteenth-Century Vignettes, First series. London: Chatto & Windus, 1894.
• Eighteenth-Century Vignettes, Second series. London: Chatto & Windus, 1894.
• Eighteenth-Century Vignettes, Third series. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1896.
• A Handbook of English Literature (revised by William Hall Griffin). London: Crosby Lockwood / New York: Longmans Green, 1897; New York: Barnes & Noble, 2012.
• Miscellanies. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1898.
• A Paladin of Philanthropy, and other papers. London: Chatto & Windus, 1899.
• Samuel Richardson. London & New York: Macmillan, 1902.
• Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay). London & New York: : Macmillan (English Men of Letters), 1903.
• Old Kensington Palace, and other papers. London: Chatto & Windus, 1910; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1968; New York: Barnes & Noble, 2012.
• At Prior Park, and other papers. London: Chatto & Windus, 1912; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1970; New York: Barnes & Noble, 2011.
• Eighteenth-Century Studies. London: Dent, 1914.
• Later Essays, 1917-1920. London: Humphrey Milford / New York & London: Oxford University Press, 1921.
• An Austin Dobson Letter Book. Cleveland, OH: Rowfant Club, 1935.
• Miscellanies: Second series. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1969.
• Richard Steele. St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1970.

Edited

• Eighteenth-Century Essays (selected and annotated by Dobson). New York: D. Appleton, 1882; New York: H.W. Wilson, 1932.
• Oliver Goldsmith, Plays. London: J.M. Dent / Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1893.
• Coridon's Song, and other verses from various sources (illustrated by Hugh Thomson). London & New York: Macmillan, 1894.
• Oliver Goldsmith, Complete Poetical Works. London & New York: H. Frowde, 1906.
  • Oliver Goldsmith, Poems and Plays. London: Dent / New York: Dutton, 1910.

Collected editions

• De Libris: Prose and verse. London & New York: Macmillan, 1908.
• An Anthology of Prose and Verse (edited by Alban Dobson; with foreword by Edmund Gosse). London & Toronto: Dent / New York: Dutton, 1923.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

You Bid Me Try Henry Austin Dobson Multi-version (Weekly and Fortnightly poetry) English

Poems by Austin Dobson

1. The Ladies of St. James's

See also

• List of British poets

References

Fonds

• Archival material relating to Austin Dobson listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Papers of Austin Dobson in Senate House Library

External links

Poems

• "A Song of the Four Seasons"
• Dobson, Henry Austin (1840-1921) ("On the Future of Poetry") at Representative Poetry Online
• Dobson in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900: "A Garden Song," "Urceus Exit," "In After Days"
• Austin Dobson at Sonnet Central
• Henry Austin Dobson at Wikisource (12 poems)
• Dobson in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895:]] "A Dead Letter," "A Rondeau to Ethel," "With Pipe and Flute," "A Gage d'Amour," "The Cradle," "The Forgotten Grave," "The Curé’s Progress," "Good Night, Babette!," "On a Fan," "O Navis," "O Fons Bandusiae," "For a Copy of Theocritus," "To a Greek Girl," "Arts Victrix," "The Ladies of St. James's," "A Familiar Epistle," "In After Days"
• Henry Austin Dobson at AllPoetry (51 poems)
• Henry Austin Dobson at PoemHunter (52 poems)
• Henry Austin Dobson at Poetry Nook (332 poems)

Books

• 1883 highly abridged version of Dobson's 1879 Hogarth
• Works by Henry Austin Dobson at Project Gutenberg
• Austin Dobson at Amazon.com

About

• Austin Dobson in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Henry Austin Dobson in the Columbia Encyclopedia.
• Henry Austin Dobson at Poets' Graves.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.. Original article is at Henry Austin Dobson