Edward Young
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Edward Young | |
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Born | 1683 |
Died | 5 April 1765 | (aged 81–82)
Notable work | |
Parent | Edward Young |
Edward Young (1683 – 5 April 1765) was an English poet, best remembered for Night-Thoughts, a series of philosophical writings in blank verse, reflecting his state of mind following several bereavements. It was one of the most popular poems of the century, influencing Goethe and Edmund Burke, among many others, with its notable illustrations by William Blake.
Young also took holy orders, and wrote many fawning letters in search of preferment, attracting accusations of insincerity.
Early life
Young was a son of
Literary career
Young's first publication was an Epistle to ... Lord Lansdoune (1713). This was followed by a Poem on the Last Day (1713), dedicated to Queen Anne; The Force of Religion: or Vanquished Love (1714), a poem on the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband, dedicated to the Countess of Salisbury; and an epistle to Joseph Addison, On the late Queen's Death and His Majesty's Accession to the Throne (1714), in which he rushed to praise the new king. The fulsome style of the dedications jars with the pious tone of the poems, and they are omitted from his own edition of his works.[3]
About this time he came into contact with
Young, living in a time when patronage was slowly fading out, was notable for urgently seeking patronage for his poetry, his theatrical works, and his career in the church: he failed in each area. He never received the degree of patronage that he felt his work had earned, largely because he picked patrons whose fortunes were about to turn downward.[3]
Though his praise was often unearned, often fulsome, he could write, "False praises are the whoredoms of the pen / And prostitute fair fame to worthless men."[3]
In 1728 Young became a
Night-Thoughts
In the preface to
Young is said to have been a brilliant talker. Although Night-Thoughts is long and disconnected, it abounds in brilliant isolated passages. Its success was enormous. It was translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Young's masterpiece Night-Thoughts emerged from obscurity by being mentioned in Edmund Blunden's World War One memoir, Undertones of War (1928), as a source of comfort during time in the trenches. This latter work emerged from the darkness of the more recent past thanks to its mention and discussion in Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory (1975), which discussed Blunden's reliance on Night-Thoughts. Blunden's mention of Young's poem reintroduced an interesting, sometimes bombastic precursor to the early Romantics to students of English literature.[3]
Samuel Richardson in a letter to bookseller Andrew Millar discussed a new edition of Young's poem, Night-Thoughts (1750), which was already very popular, and which would become one of the most frequently-printed poems of the eighteenth century. Millar had purchased the copyright to the second volume of Night-Thoughts (parts 7–11) from Young for £63 on 7 April 1749; the edition under discussion was the first in which Millar was involved, and it would be advertised for sale in the General Advertiser on 30 January 1750.[4]
William Hutchinson included a gloss on Night-Thoughts in his series of lectures The Spirit of Masonry (1775), underlining the masonic symbolism of the text.[3]
Influence on romanticism
I would compare genius to virtue, and learning to riches. As riches are most wanted where there is least virtue ; so learning where there is least genius. As virtue without much riches can give happiness, so genius without much learning can give renown... Learning is borrowed knowledge; genius is knowledge innate, and quite our own.
— Edward Young, Conjectures on original composition
In 1759, at the age of 76, he published a piece of critical prose under the title of Conjectures on Original Composition which put forward the vital doctrine of the superiority of "genius," of innate originality being more valuable than classic indoctrination or imitation, and suggested that modern writers might dare to rival or even surpass the "ancients" of Greece and Rome.
The Conjectures was a declaration of independence against the tyranny of classicism and was at once acclaimed as such becoming a milestone in the history of English, and European, literary criticism. It was immediately translated into German at Leipzig and at Hamburg and was widely and favourably reviewed. The cult of genius exactly suited the ideas of the Sturm und Drang movement and gave a new impetus to the cult of Young’ (Harold Forster, ‘Some uncollected authors XLV: Edward Young in translation I’).[3]
The young
Clerical career
Young was forty-seven when he took holy orders.[5] It was reported that the author of Night-Thoughts was not, in his earlier days, "the ornament to religion and morality which he afterwards became", and his friendships with the Duke of Wharton and with Dodington did not improve his reputation. A statement attributed to Alexander Pope is that: "He had much of a sublime genius, though without common sense; so that his genius, having no guide, was perpetually liable to degenerate into bombast. This made him pass a foolish youth, the sport of peers and poets; but his having a very good heart enabled him to support the clerical character when he assumed it, first with decency and afterwards with honour" (O Ruffhead, Life of A. Pope, p. 291).[3]
Other works
Other works by Young are:
- Busiris, King of Egypt (1719), a play
- The Revenge (1721), a play
- The Instalment (to Sir R. Walpole, 1726)
- Cynthio (1727)
- The Brothers (1728), a play
- A Vindication of Providence ... (1728), a sermon
- An Apology for Punch (1729), a sermon
- Imperium Pelagi, a Naval Lyrick ... (1730)
- Two Epistles to Mr Pope concerning the Authors of the Age (1730)
- A Sea-Piece ... (1733)
- The Foreign Address, or The Best Argument for Peace (1734)
- The Centaur not Fabulous; in Five Letters to a Friend (1755)
- An Argument ... for the Truth of His [Christ's] Religion (1758), a sermon preached before the king
- Conjectures on Original Composition ... (1759), addressed to Samuel Richardson
- Resignation ... (1762), a poem.
Night-Thoughts was illustrated by
Notes
- ^ "bibliotheca Augustana". Hs-augsburg.de. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
- Rev. John Mitford(1781–1859), The poetical works of Edward Young, Volume 1
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Chisholm, 1911
- ^ "The manuscripts, Letter from Samuel Richardson to Andrew Millar, 31 July, 1750. Andrew Millar Project. University of Edinburgh". Millar-project.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
- ISBN 0-8021-1162-9.
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Young, Edward". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- Works by Edward Young at Project Gutenberg
- Works by Edward Young at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Works by Edward Young at Faded Page (Canada)
- Works by or about Edward Young at Internet Archive
- Edward Young, "The Poetical Works of Edward Young," Vol. I, Vol. II, London: Bell and Daldy, 1858.
- Edward Young at the Bibliotheca Augustana
- Mentioned in the 1962 Anya Seton novel Devil Water.
- "Archival material relating to Edward Young". UK National Archives.
- Portraits of Edward Young at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Edward Young at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)