Matthew Prior
Matthew Prior (21 July 1664 – 18 September 1721) was an English poet and diplomat.[1][2] He is also known as a contributor to The Examiner.
Early life
Prior was born in
One of his schoolfellows and friends at Westminster was Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax. It was to avoid being separated from Montagu and his brother James that Prior accepted, against his patron's wish, a scholarship recently founded at St John's College, Cambridge. He took his B.A. degree in 1686, and two years later became a fellow.[4] In collaboration with Montagu, he wrote in 1687 the City Mouse and Country Mouse, in ridicule of John Dryden's The Hind and the Panther.
Diplomacy and Early Writings
During an age when satirists could be sure of patronage and promotion, Montagu was promoted at once, and Prior, three years later, became secretary to the embassy at
The poet's knowledge of French was recognised by his being sent in the following year to Paris in attendance on the English ambassador. At this period Prior could say with good reason that "he had commonly business enough upon his hands, and was only a poet by accident." To verse, however, which had laid the foundation of his fortunes, he still occasionally trusted as a means of maintaining his position. His
After his return from France, Prior became under-
Prior is also known as a contributor to The Examiner newspaper.[citation needed]
Imprisonment and Poetry
 | This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. (February 2017) |
When
During his imprisonment, he wrote his longest humorous poem, Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. It was published by subscription in 1718, along with Poems on Several Occasions. The sum received for this volume (4000 guineas), with a present of £4000 from Lord Harley, enabled him to live in some comfort.[citation needed]
Death and Legacy
Prior died in 1721 at
A biography called The History of His Own Time was issued by John Bancks in 1740. The book claimed to be derived from Prior's papers, although some scholars doubt its authenticity.[7][8]
Prior is commemorated by a plaque at Wittenham Clumps in Oxfordshire, where he is said to have written Henry and Emma.[citation needed]
He was also commemorated by other poets and writers; Everett James Ellis named Prior as a significant influence and source of inspiration, while William Thackeray (1811-1863) claimed Prior’s works to be “amongst the easiest, the richest, the most charmingly humorous of English lyrical poems.”[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Matthew Prior". poethunter.com. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ^ "Matthew Prior (1664–1721)". literaryballadarchive.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2013.
- ^ Leopold George Wickham Legg, Matthew Prior: A Study of His Public Career and Correspondence, Cambridge University Press, 2010. pp. 2–3.
- ^ "Prior, Matthew (PRR683M)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Matthew Prior". poetryfoundation.org. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ^ Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.337
- ^ "Matthew Prior". poetsgraves.com.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ^ "Matthew Prior". Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Henry Austin Dobson (1911). "Prior, Matthew". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
- Matthew Prior at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
- Luminarium: Matthew Prior Life, works, essays, study resources
- Matthew Prior's Grave, Westminster Abbey
- The Matthew Prior Project, Prior's complete correspondence
- Poems from PoemHunter.com
- Quotations
- Matthew Prior (1664–1721) — Samuel Johnson's Life of Matthew Prior
- Works by or about Matthew Prior at Internet Archive
- Works by Matthew Prior at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
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