Thomas Parnell, born in Dublin on 11 September 1679 and dead at Chester, England, on 24 October 1718, occupies a distinctive position in the literary culture of the early eighteenth century. He was an Anglo-Irish clergyman, poet, translator, essayist, and valued member of the brilliant circle that included Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, and John Arbuthnot. His name is often introduced through those greater…
“There is something so amusing for the time in this state of vanity and ill-grounded satisfaction, that even the wiser world has chosen an exalted word to describe its enchantments, and called it the Paradise of Fools.”
Neighbourhood:
Augustan Poets, Death & Mortality, Devotional Poets, Irish Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Sensuality
William Shenstone was born on 18 November 1714 at the Leasowes, near Halesowen, then an unusual detached portion of Shropshire surrounded by Worcestershire and now within the West Midlands. He died at the Leasowes on 11 February 1763, not yet forty-nine years old. His reputation has never rested on a vast body of poetry or on one overwhelming masterpiece. Rather, it arises from a distinctive and influential life in w…
“I have no notion of a happy life, but a happy moment.”
Neighbourhood:
Georgian Poets, Light Verse Poets, Nature Poets
Emotional landscape: Peace, Joy, Longing
