William Barnes

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title William Barnes
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Sir Andrew Motion
SeriesPoet to Poet
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:144
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 120
Category/GenreLiterary studies - c 1800 to c 1900
Literary studies - poetry and poets
ISBN/Barcode 9780571236657
ClassificationsDewey:821.8
Audience
Undergraduate
Edition Main - Poet to Poet

Publishing Details

Publisher Faber & Faber
Imprint Faber & Faber
Publication Date 5 April 2007
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to the most important poets in our literature. William Barnes was born in 1801 near Sturminster Newton in Dorset, of a farming family. He learned Greek, Latin and music, taught himself wood engraving, and in 1823 became a schoolmaster in Mere. He was deply interested in grammar and language, and waged a lifelong campaign to rid English of classical and foreign influences. Among his best-known books of poetry are Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844) and Homely Rhymes (1859. His work has often been praised for its evocations of Dorset life, landscape and customs; he also wrote political poems of great power and was a master elegist. Barnes died in 1886.

Author Biography

Andrew Motion was UK Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009 and is co-founder of the online Poetry Archive. In 2015 he was appointed Homewood Professor in the Arts at Johns Hopkins University; he lives in Baltimore.