Lascelles Abercrombie

Lascelles Abercrombie (1881-1938). Courtesy Media Hex.

Lascelles Abercrombie (9 January 1881 - 27 October 1938) was an English poet and literary critic, perhaps best known today as a member of the Dymock poets.

Life

Abercrombie was born in Ashton upon Mersey and educated at Malvern College, and at the University of Manchester.

Before World War I, he lived for a time at Dymock in Gloucestershire, part of a community that included Rupert Brooke and Robert Frost. Edward Thomas also visited.

In 1922 Abercrombie was appointed Professor of English at the University of Leeds in preference to J.R.R. Tolkien, (with whom he shared, as author of The Epic (1914), a professional interest in heroic poetry).In 1929  Abercrombie moved to the University of London, and in 1935 to a prestigious readership at Oxford University.

He wrote a series of works on the nature of poetry, including The Idea of Great Poetry (1925) and Romanticism (1926). He also published several volumes of original verse, largely metaphysical poems in dramatic form, and a number of verse plays. His poems and plays were collected in Poems (1930). In the same year he published separately his most ambitious poem, 'The Sale of Saint Thomas' in six 'Acts'.

Family

He was the brother of the architect Patrick Abercrombie. His son was cell biologist Michael Abercrombie. His great-grandson is author Joe Abercrombie.

Writing

"Complex and cerebral in style," the Columbia Encyclopedia says of Abercrombie, "his poetry often expressed his distaste for 20th-century industrialism."

A number of fellow poets and professors of literature (including Oliver Elton and Una Ellis-Fermor) admired the sublimity of his themes and his ability to clothe metaphysical thought in vivid imagery.(Citation needed) His critical studies of Hardy (1912) and Wordsworth (published posthumously) are still sometimes referred to.Template:Whom? He is remembered because of his contacts with Edward Marsh, Rupert Brooke, and other 'Georgian' poets, and sometimes called the "Georgian poet laureate.'

Publications

Poetry

• Interludes and Poems. London & New York: John Lane, 1908.
• Emblems of Love: Designed in several discourses. London & New York: John Lane, 1912.
• New Numbers (by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, Rupert Brooke, Lascelles Abercrombie, & John Drinkwater). Ryton, Dymock, Gloucester, UK: Crypt House Press, 1914.
• The Poems of Lascelles Abercrombie. London: Humphrey Milford / Oxford University Press, 1930.
• Lyrics and Unfinished Poems. Newtown, Montgomeryshire, UK: Gregynog Press, 1940.

Plays

• Mary and the Bramble . Much Marcle, Herefordshire, UK: privately printed, 1910.
• The Sale of St. Thomas. Ryton, Dymock, UK: privately printed, 1911; London: Martin Secker, 1931.
• Deborah: a play in three acts. London & New York: John Lane, 1913.
• Four Short Plays. London: M. Secker, 1922.
• Phoenix: A tragicomedy in three acts. London: Martin Secker, 1923.

Short fiction

• Speculative Dialogues. London: Martin Secker, 1913.

Non-fiction

• Thomas Hardy: A critical study. London: Martin Secker, 1912.
• The Epic: an essay. London: Martin Secker, 1914; new edition, London: Martin Secker, 1922
  • Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1969.
• Poetry and Contemporary Speech (pamphlet). London: The English Association, 1914.
• An Essay Towards a Theory of Art. London Martin Secker, 1922.
• Principles of English Prosody. London: Martin Secker, 1923
  • New York: AMS Press, 1976.
• The Idea of Great Poetry. London: Martin Secker, 1925.
  • Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1969.
• The Theory of Poetry. London: Martin Secker, 1926; New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1926
  • St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1973.
• Romanticism. London: Martin Secker, 1926
  • London: High Hill / New York: Barnes & Noble, 1963.
• Progress in Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1929.
• A Plea for the Liberty of Interpreting. London: Humphrey Milford, 1930
  • Folcroft, PA: Folcroft Library Editions, 1973; Norwood, PA: Norwood Editions, 1975.
• Revaluations: Studies in biography. London: Humphrey Milford / Oxford University Press, 1931
  • Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1967.
• Poetry: Its music and meaning. London: Humphrey Milford / Oxford University Press, 1932.
• Principles of Literary Criticism. London: Victor Gollancz, 1932
  • Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979.
• Ascpects of Shakespeare: Being British Academy lectures. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1933.
• The Art of Wordsworth. London: Oxford University Press, 1952.

Edited

• New English Poems: A miscellany of contemporary verse never before published. London: Victor Gollancz, 1931.

Hymn to Love LibriVox Short Poetry 082 Lascelles Abercrombie

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• The Dymock poets
• List of British poets
• List of literary critics

External links

Poems

• "Emblems of Love"
• Lascelles Abercrombie at Poets' Corner (6 poems)
• Lascelles Abercrombie at PoemHunter (13 poems).

Plays

• "The End of the World" in Georgian Poetry 1913-1915

Books

• Works by Lascelles Abercrombie at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Lascelles Abercrombie at Internet Archive
• Lascelles Abercrombie at Amazon.com

About

• Lascelles Abercrombie in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Lascelles Abercrombie (1881-1938) at Friends of the Dymock Poets

Etc

• Elizabeth Whitcomb Houghton Collection, containing letters by Abercrombie
• Dymock Poets Archive University of Gloucestershire Archives and Special Collections