William John Courthope

William John Courthope (17 July 1842 - 10 April 1917) was an English poet, academic, and literary critic.

William John Courthope (1842-1917), from The Country Town, and other poems, 1920. Courtesy Internet Archive.

Life

Youth and education

Courthope was born 17 July 1842 at South Malling, near Lewes, of which parish his father was rector. His mother was a sister of John Charles Ryle]], 1st bishop of Liverpool.

Courthope’s father died in 1849 and the 3 children were brought up by their uncle, the head of this ancient Sussex family, at Whiligh, near Wadhurst. William John was sent to Blackheath and then placed at Harrow School, under C.J. Vaughan and (from 1859) H. Montagu Butler.

In 1861 he matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and in 1862 became an exhibitioner of New College, where he was a pupil of Edward Charles Wickham (afterwards dean of Lincoln). On the introduction of John Addington Symonds the younger who had preceded him from Harrow, he formed a close friendship with John Conington, then Corpus professor of Latin, which lasted with increasing intimacy till Conington’s death in1869. He gained 1st classes in moderations and literae humaniores, and the Newdigate prize in 1864.

Career=

Courthope seemed destined for distinction as a poet, his volume of Ludibria Lunae (1869) being followed in 1870 by the remarkably fine Paradise of Birds. But a certain academic quality of mind seemed to check his output in verse and divert it into the field of criticism.

Apart from many contributions to the higher journalism, his literary career is associated mainly with his continuation of the edition of Pope's works, begun by Whitwell Elwin, which appeared in 10 volumes from 1871-1889; his life of Addison (Men of Letters series, 1882); and his Liberal Movement in English Literature (1885).

From 1895 to 1901 he served as Oxford Professor of Poetry, which resulted in his elaborate History of English Poetry (the initial volume appearing in 1895), and his Life in Poetry (1901). He deals with the history of English poetry as a whole, and in its unity as a result of the national spirit and thought in succeeding ages, and attempts to bring the great poets into relation with this.}

In 1887 he was appointed a civil service commissioner, becoming 1st commissioner in 1892 and being made a CB.

The closing years of his life were spent in Sussex, near Whiligh. They were full of literary activities and domestic interest, until a gradual failure of strength ended in his death on 10 April 1917. In 1870 he had married Mary (daughter of John Scott, H.M. inspector of hospitals at Bombay), who, with 4 sons and 2 daughters, survived him.

Writing

In his History of English Poetry (1895-1910) Courthope undertook a work which had been projected by Pope, and passed on to Gray and to Thomas Warton, but never carried out. After laying sure foundations in philology, the author set himself to trace through successive poets the continuity of English poetry, and its correspondence with the great movements of English history, the great poets being those who felt the impact of conflicting forces and were able to reconcile them; a standard which Spenser had failed to attain. The History was carried down to the romantic reaction of the later 18th century, and was completed in 6 volumes.

In 1901 Courthope published the lectures given in his 5 years as professor under the title Life in Poetry, Law in Taste, in which he contended that poetry is a social art, and the history of English poetry a continuous one.

Of Courthope’s other writings Ludibria Lunae (1869), an allegorical burlesque on an Italian model, is more successful, perhaps, in its passages of beauty and deep feeling than as a political satire on the ‘women’s rights’ question of the day. It was followed in 1870 by the Paradise of Birds, which echoes the mingled gaiety and pathos of Aristophanes, with something added, and has delighted successive generations of young readers.

Later on he sang the praises of his native Sussex in 'The Country Town' (Lewes), contributed to the National Review in 1886, and 'The Hop Garden' (Blackwood's Magazine, 1905), in which, with sure Virgilian touch and perfect accuracy of detail, he set out the charms of a waning industry. Both poems were brightened by passages of glowing hopefulness for the future of the race.

His remains, The Country Town, and other poems (1920), include many smaller pieces of great charm, as 'The Chancellor’s Garden' (1888) and some lines suggested by war-time (1900 and 1914). He wrote frequently in the National Review, and contributed valuable papers to the newly founded British Academy.

His last published work was a selection of translations and imitations in English verse of Martial’s Epigrams (1914).

Recognition

At Oxford, Couthorpe won the Newdigate Prize for poetry in 1864 (for "The Three Hundredth Anniversary of Shakespeare's Birth") and the Chancellors English essay in 1868 (for "The Genius of Spenser").

He was made an honorary fellow of New College in 1896, and was given the honorary degrees of D.Litt by the University of Durham in 1895 and of LL.D by Edinburgh University in 1898.

Publications

Poetry

• The Three Hundredth Anniversary of Shakespeare's Birth: A prize poem. Oxford, UK: T. & G. Shrimpton, 1864.
• Ludibria Lunae; or, The wars of the women and the gods: An allegorical burlesque. London: Smith, Elder, 1869.
• The Paradise of Birds: An old extravaganza in a modern dress. Edinburgh & London: Blackwood, 1870; London: Macmillan, 1896.
• The Longest Reign: An ode on the completion of the sixtieth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1897.
• The Country Town, and other poems. London: Humphrey Milford for Oxford University Press, 1920.

Play

• The Tercentenary of Corydon: A bucolic drama in three acts. Oxford, UK: T. & G. Shrimpton, 1864.

Non-fiction

• The Genius of Spenser: An English prize essay. London: Rivingtons, 1868.
• Addison. London: Macmillan, 1884; New York: Harper, 1884.
• The Liberal Movement in English Literature. London: John Murray, 1885.
• The Life of Alexander Pope. London: John Murray, 1889.
• A History of English Poetry. (6 volumes), New York & London: Macmillan
  • Volume I: The Middle Ages, 1895
  • Volume II: The Renaissance and the Reformation, 1897
  • Volume III: The intellectual conflict of the 17th century, 1903
  • Volume IV: Development and decline of the poetic drama, 1903
  • Volume V: The constitutional compromise of the 18th century, 1905
  • Volume VI: The romantic movement in English poetry, 1910
• Liberty and Authority in Matters of Taste: An inaugural lecture. London: Macmillan, 1896.
• Life in Poetry / Law in Taste: Two series of lectures delivered in Oxford, 1895-1900. London & New York: Macmillan, 1901.
• A Consideration of Macaulay's Comparison of Dante and Milton. London: Henry Frowde for the British Academy, 1909.
• The Connexion Between Ancient and Modern Romance: Warton lecture on English poetry. London: British Academy, 1914.
• Essays on Milton. Folcroft, PA: Folcroft Press, 1970.

Translated

• Epigrams of Martial. London: John Murray, 1914.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets
• List of literary critics

Preceded by Francis Turner Palgrave

Oxford Professor of Poetry 1895-1901

Succeeded by A.C. Bradley

References

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Courthope, William John". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 327. . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 19, 2020.
•  Davis, H.W.C. & Wheeler, J.R.H., ed (1927). "Courthope, William John". Dictionary of National Biography, 3rd supplement​. London: Smith, Elder. pp. 126-127. . Wikisource, Web, Oct. 27, 2024.

External links

Poems

• William John Couthorpe at PoemHunter ("Birdcatcher's Song")
• Courthope in A Victorian Anthology: from The Paradise of Birds: "Birdcatcher's Song," "Ode - To the Roc," "In Praise of Gilbert White"
• William John Courthope at Poetry Nook (21 poems)

Books

• Works by William John Courthope at Project Gutenberg
• William John Courthope at Amazon.com

About

• William John Courthope in the Encyclopædia Britannica

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Original article is at Courthope, William John
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Dictionary of National Biography, 3rd supplement​ (edited by H.W.C. Davis & J.R.H. Weaver). London: Smith, Elder, 1927. Original article is at: Courthope, William John