Alfred Austin, the Poetry.

Poetry is a fascinating use of language.

With almost a million words at its command, it is not surprising that these Isles have produced some of the most beautiful, moving and descriptive verse through the centuries.

In this series we look at individual poets who have shaped and influenced their craft and cement their place in our heritage.

In this volume we look at the works of the Victorian Poet Laureate Alfred Austin.

Born in Headingly, Yorkshire, in 1835, Austin went on to graduate from the University of London in 1853. Training to be a barrister was a success, but his love was literature, and he turned to this full time as a novelist, playwright and poet. After several false starts he published as a poet in 1861, it arrived with a measure of success. In 1870 he wrote a book, Poetry of the Period, which managed to criticise the great Victorian poets of Tennyson, Arnold, Swinburne and Browning without an undue measure of negativity.

With the death of Tennyson in 1892, a number of candidates were looked at for the post of Poet Laureate. Finally, in 1896, after it was rejected by William Morris, the post was Austin’s. His work was entwined with his love of nature, and he is a fine example of this Imperial age. His poems have a softness, texture and comfort that is deeply rewarding. Alfred Austin died in 1913.

Among our readers are Richard Mitchley and Ghizela Rowe.