Christopher Smart was born on 11 April 1722 at Fairlawne, the estate near Shipbourne in Kent where his father, Peter Smart, worked as steward to the Vane family. He died on 21 May 1771, not 1770 as has sometimes been reported, in London after a life marked by extraordinary accomplishment, recurrent distress, financial insecurity, and long periods of confinement. Few English poets of the eighteenth century have seemed…
“He walks as if he had fouled his small-clothes, and looks as if he smelt it.”
Neighbourhood:
Devotional Poets, Metaphysical Poets, Nature Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Tenderness, Joy
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
