Alfred austin quotes

Now here is a curious thing:  how can a man who was once appointed poet laureate of all England, succeeding no less than Alfred, Lord Tennyson by the way, be considered (in some quarters) to be “the worst and least read English poet”?  That is what happened to Alfred Austin in 1896, a man who had spent his whole life writing and publishing both novels and poetry, while also being an active political journalist.

He was born into a well off family in the north Leeds suburb of Headingley in 1835.  Austin’s father was a merchant and also served on the local magistrate’s bench.  His mother was the sister of the famous Member of Parliament and civil engineer Joseph Locke.  Alfred enjoyed a private education and acquired a BA in 1853 at the University of London.  A career in law was his first option and he was a barrister on the northern circuit for a few years but it was his great ambition to become a published writer and the death of his father in 1861 gave him that opportunity.

Having been left a sufficient amount of money he decided to leave the Bar and write professionally.  He ha

Alfred Austin

Alfred AustinDL (30 May 1835 – 2 June 1913) was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896.

Quotes

The Golden Age: A Satire (1871)

London: Chapman and Hall, 1871

  • Then, without toil, by vale and mountain side,
    Men found their few and simple wants supplied;
    Plenty, like dew, dropped subtle from the air,
    And Earth's fair gifts rose prodigal as prayer.
    Love, with no charms except its own to lure,
    Was swiftly answered by a love as pure.
    No need for wealth; each glittering fruit and flower,
    Each star, each streamlet, made the maiden's dower.
  • Lo, where huge London, huger day by day,
    O'er six fair counties spreads its hideous sway.
  • And Clara dies that Claribel may dance.

Savonarola (1881)

London: Macmillan and Co., 1881

  • Let your house
    Be spacious more than splendid, and be books
    And busts your most conspicuous furniture.
  • Friendship craves
    The commerce of the mind, not the exchange
    Of emulous feasts that foster sycophants.
    • Lorenzo de' Medici in Act I, sc. i; pp. 6–7.
  • Know, Nature, like the cuck

    Alfred Austin

    English poet (1835–1913)

    Alfred Austin

    Alfred Austin, by Langfier, 1900.

    In office
    1 January 1896 – 2 June 1913
    MonarchVictoria

    Edward VII

    George V
    Preceded byAlfred, Lord Tennyson
    Succeeded byRobert Bridges
    Born(1835-05-30)30 May 1835
    Headingley, Yorkshire, England
    Died2 June 1913(1913-06-02) (aged 78)
    Ashford, Kent, England
    SpouseHester Jane Homan-Mulock
    OccupationPoet, novelist, dramatist

    Alfred AustinDL (30 May 1835 – 2 June 1913) was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896, after an interval following the death of Tennyson, when the other candidates had either caused controversy or refused the honour. It was claimed that he was being rewarded for his support for the Conservative leader Lord Salisbury in the General Election of 1895. Austin's poems are little remembered today, his most popular work being prose idylls celebrating nature. Wilfred Scawen Blunt wrote of him, "He is an acute and ready reasoner, and is well read in theology and science. It is strange his poe

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