William Cosmo Monkhouse

William Cosmo Monkhouse (1840-1901), by John McLure Hamilton (1853-1936). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

William Cosmo Monkhouse
Born	March 18, 1840(1840-Template:MONTHNUMBER-18) London, U.K.
Died	July 20, 1901(1901-Template:MONTHNUMBER-20) (aged 61)
Nationality	English
Occupation	poet, critic
Spouse	Laura Keymer (1st wife), Leonora Eliza Blount (2nd wife)
Parents	Cyril John Monkhouse (father)

William Cosmo Monkhouse (18 March 1840 - 20 July 1901) was an English poet and art critic.

Life

Youth and education

Monkhouse was born in London, the son of Cyril John Monkhouse, a solicitor, by his wife Amelia Maria (Delafosse), of a Huguenot family which had come to England after the revocation of the edict of Nantes.

Monkhouse entered St. Paul's School on 3 Oct. 1848. He wrote much verse while at school, and he was an early contributor to Temple Bar, the Argosy, the Englishwoman's, and other magazines.

Career

Monkhouse left St. Paul's in 1856 to take up a nomination to a supplementary clerkship in the board of trade, then under the presidency of Lord Stanley of Alderley. Rising through various grades, he was assistant secretary to the finance department at his death. In 1870-1871 he was sent by the board to South America in connection with Seamen's Hospitals; in 1894-1896 he acted as a member of the committee on the Mercantile Marine Fund.

It was not until 1865 that [[Edward Moxon{Moxon]] published his debut collection, A Dream of Idleness, and other poems. The volume was of promise, and some of its pieces, e.g. "The Chief Ringer's Burial" and "The Night Express," found their place in anthologies. But it had no great success, pecuniary or otherwise.

After a 3-volume novel, A Question of Honour (1868), Monkhouse for some years practically abandoned poetry for literary and art criticism. He became a frequent contributor to the Academy, to the Magazine of Art (then under the editorship of W.E. Henley), and eventually to the Saturday Review.

In 1869 he published Masterpieces of English Art; in 1872 he edited and prefaced a photographic edition of Hogarth's works; in 1877 came a Handbook of Precis Writing; in 1879 an excellent short life of Turner for Cundall's Great Artists, and in 1887 a little guide-book on the Italian Pre-Raphaelites in the National Gallery. In 1890 followed a valuable volume on the Earlier English Water Colour Painters (2nd edition 1897).

Monkhouse was a diligent contributor of lives of artists, including Reynolds and Turner, to the Dictionary of National Biography.

In 1890 Monkhouse returned to poetry with Corn and Poppies, some portions of which had appeared in the Magazine of Art. Of a fine ballad entitled "The Christ upon the Hill," a limited edition was issued with etchings by William Strang in 1895; and after his death appeared a slender volume entitled Pasiteles the Elder, and other poems, in which this ballad was included.

Monkhouse died at Skegness on 2 July 1901.

Writing

Poetry

As a poet, though Monkhouse lacked the leisure to realise his full ambition, he left much which no true lover of finished and thoughtful work can wisely afford to neglect. His ambition was wide and his devotion to the art so thorough, that it is difficult not to regret the slender bulk of his legacy to posterity.

A Dream of Idleness, and other poems (1865) was a collection strongly colored by his admiration for Wordsworth and Tennyson. It was marked by exceptional maturity, and scarcely received the recognition it deserved.

Corn and Poppies contained many of his best pieces, and notably his highest effort, the stately "Dead March."

Prose

As an art critic, Monkhouse's judgments were highly valued; and he had the rare gift of differing without offending, while he invariably secured respect for his honesty and ability.

His other prose works were: 'A Memoir of Leigh Hunt' in the 'Great Writers' series, 1893; 'In the National Gallery,' 1895; 'British Contemporary Artists,' chiefly contributed to Scribner's Magazine,' 1899; 'A History of Chinese Porcelain,' 1901; and 'Life of Sir John Tenniel' (for the Art Journal), 1901.

Recognition

There are painted portraits of Monkhouse by C.E. Johnson, R.I., and J. M'Lure Hamilton, and an etching by William Strang, A.R.A.

Publications

Poetry

• A Dream of Idleness, and other poems. London: Edward Moxon, 1865.
• Corn and Poppies. London: Elkin Mathews, 1890.
• The Christ upon the Hill: A ballad (chapbook; etched by W. Stanc). London: Smith, Elder, 1895.
• Nonsense Rhymes (illustrated by G.K. Chesterton). London: R. Brimley Johnson, 1900.
• Pasiteles the Elder, and other poems. London: R. Brimley Johnson, 1901.

Fiction

• A Question of Honour: A novel. (3 volumes), London: Chapman & Hall, 1868.

Non-fiction

• The Precis Book: or, Lessons in Accuracy of Statement and Preciseness of Expression. London: Crosby, Lockwood, 1877.
  • Second edition (revised). London: Crosby, Lockwood, 1878.
• Key to the Exercises in "The Precis Book". London: Crosby, Lockwood, 1877.
• Life of Leigh Hunt. London: Walter Scott, 1893.

Art

• The Works of John Henry Foley, R.A., sculptor. London: Virtue, Spalding, 1860.
• Masterpieces of English Art. London: Bell and Daldy, 1869.
• Pictures and Painters of the English School. New York: A.W. Lovering, 1870.
• "Biographical Sketch" in Pictures by William Etty. London: Routledge, 1874.
• "Biographical Sketch" in Pictures by Sir Charles Eastlake. London: Virtue, Spaulding, 1875.
• Turner. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1879; New York: Scribner & Welford, 1879.
• The Works of Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A. London: Virtue, 1879.
• The Life and Works of Joseph Wright, A.R.A., commonly called "Wright of Derby." London: Derby, Benrose, 1885.
• The Earlier English Water-Colour Painters. London: Seeley, 1890; New York: Macmillan, 1890.
• In the National Gallery. London: A.D. Innes, 1895.
• The Life and Work of Sir Edward J. Poynter, President of the Royal Academy. London: Art Journal, 1897.
• British Contemporary Artists. London: Heinemann, 1899; New York: Scribner, 1899.
• The Life and Works of Sir John Tenniel. London: 1901.
• A History and Description of Chinese Porcelain. London & New York: Cassell, 1901.

The Secret l Poetry & Multi-version - William Cosmo MONKHOUSE (1840 - 1901)

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

References

•  Dobson, Henry Austin (1912). "Monkhouse, William Cosmo". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement​. 2. London: Smith, Elder. p. 634.  . Wikisource, Web, Feb. 24, 2017.

External links

Poems

• Monkhouse, William Cosmo Monkhouse (1840-1901) (6 poems) at Representative Poetry Online
• Cosmo Monkhouse in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895: "Song," "A Dead March," "The Spectrum," "The Secret," "The Ballad of Judas Iscariot," "Spring Song in the City," "The Wake of Tim O'Hara," "Two Sons," "On a Young Poetess's Grave," "The Summer Pool," "We Are Children," "When We Are All Asleep," "The Dream of the World without Death," "The Faëry Foster-Mother." "The Churchyard"
• William Cosmo Monkhouse at PoemHunter (29 poems)
• William Cosmo Monkhouse at Poetry Nook (32 poems)

 ;Books

• Works by William Cosmo Monkhouse at Project Gutenberg
• William Cosmo Monkhouse at Amazon.com

About

• Monkhouse, William Cosmo in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica\

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Dictionary of National Biography, 2nd supplement​ (edited by Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1912. Original article is at: Monkhouse, William Cosmo