“The Church, which was once the mother of poets no less than of saints…” — Francis Thompson

“The Church, which was once the mother of poets no less than of saints, during the last two centuries has relinquished to aliens the chief glories of poetry, if the chief glories of holiness she has preserved for her own.”

Lamenting the separation of poetry and religious life · Essay on Shelley

Francis Thompson

About Francis Thompson

18 December 1859–13 November 1907

Francis Thompson was born on 18 December 1859 in Preston, Lancashire, and died in London on 13 November 1907. His life has often been told as a dramatic Victorian parable: the devout doctor’s son who failed at the professions chosen for him, fell into homelessness and opium dependence in London, and was rescued into…

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