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William Watson (poet)
Encyclopedia
Sir William Watson was an English poet, popular in his time for the political content of his verse. He was born in Burley
, in West Yorkshire
.
He was a prolific poet of the 1890s, and a contributor to The Yellow Book, though without 'decadent' associations. Indeed he was very much on the traditionalist wing of English poetry. He had a gift for resonant phrasing and reiterative rhythms which he mistook (and for 20 years many critics mistook) as a gift for poetry. He was, however, well equipped to write suitable effusions on public occasions, indeed better equipped than any of his contemporaries. This made him, on Tennyson's death (1892), a strong candidate for Poet Laureate
, but his often extreme views on foreign policy (he was passionately anti-Ottoman) and a breakdown in 1894 led to him being passed over by the then Prime Minister Lord Salisbury in favour of Alfred Austin
, who was a poor poet but a loyal conservative. Again after Austin's death in 1913, Asquith seriously considered him for the post, despite the fact that he had written a cruel pasquil against Margot Asquith ('She is not old, she is not young/ The woman with the serpent's tongue'). In exchange for writing a panegyric of Lloyd George (1917) he was awarded a knighthood. After the Great War he was largely forgotten, until a number of literary men in 1935 issued a public appeal for a fund to support him in his old age; but when he died the following year, his widow Lady Watson was obliged to seek employment in domestic service. In all he was a sad example of a writer who was at first overrated and then neglected because of changing tastes, a misfortune all too common in the twentieth century. He deserves, however, to be remembered for a few poems (such as 'Wordsworth's Grave') that say conventional things gracefully and rightly.
Burley in Wharfedale
Burley-in-Wharfedale, is a village in the county of West Yorkshire, England. Along with Menston, Burley is part of Wharfedale Ward in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford . It lies on the A65, approximately fourteen miles north-west of the centre of Leeds and nine miles north of...
, in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
.
He was a prolific poet of the 1890s, and a contributor to The Yellow Book, though without 'decadent' associations. Indeed he was very much on the traditionalist wing of English poetry. He had a gift for resonant phrasing and reiterative rhythms which he mistook (and for 20 years many critics mistook) as a gift for poetry. He was, however, well equipped to write suitable effusions on public occasions, indeed better equipped than any of his contemporaries. This made him, on Tennyson's death (1892), a strong candidate for Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
, but his often extreme views on foreign policy (he was passionately anti-Ottoman) and a breakdown in 1894 led to him being passed over by the then Prime Minister Lord Salisbury in favour of Alfred Austin
Alfred Austin
Alfred Austin was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson.-Life:...
, who was a poor poet but a loyal conservative. Again after Austin's death in 1913, Asquith seriously considered him for the post, despite the fact that he had written a cruel pasquil against Margot Asquith ('She is not old, she is not young/ The woman with the serpent's tongue'). In exchange for writing a panegyric of Lloyd George (1917) he was awarded a knighthood. After the Great War he was largely forgotten, until a number of literary men in 1935 issued a public appeal for a fund to support him in his old age; but when he died the following year, his widow Lady Watson was obliged to seek employment in domestic service. In all he was a sad example of a writer who was at first overrated and then neglected because of changing tastes, a misfortune all too common in the twentieth century. He deserves, however, to be remembered for a few poems (such as 'Wordsworth's Grave') that say conventional things gracefully and rightly.
Works
- The Prince's Quest and Other Poems (1880)
- Epigrams of Art, Life and Nature (1884)
- Wordsworth’s Grave and Other Poems (1890)
- Poems (1892)
- Lachrymae Musarum (1892)
- Lyric Love: An Anthology (1892)
- Eloping Angels : A Caprice (1893)
- The Poems of William Watson (1893)
- Excursions in Criticism: Being Some Prose Recreations Of A Rhymer (1893)
- Odes and Other Poems (1894)
- The Father of the Forest & Other Poems (1895)
- The Purple East: A Series Of Sonnets On England's Desertion of Armenia (1896)
- The Year of Shame (1897)
- The Hope of the World and Other Poems (1898)
- The Collected Poems of William Watson (1899)
- Ode on the Coronation of King Edward VII (1902)
- Selected Poems (1903)
- For England. Poems Written During Estrangement (1904)
- New Poems (1909)
- Sable and Purple (1910)
- The Heralds of the Dawn: A Play in Eight Scenes (1912)
- The Muse in Exile (1913)
- Pencraft. A Plea For The Older Ways (1916)
- The Man Who Saw: and Other Poems Arising out of the War (1917)
- Retrogression and Other Poems (1917)
- The Superhuman Antagonists and Other Poems (1919)
External links
-
- The Poems of William Watson from Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- The Poems of William Watson from Project Gutenberg