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RICHARD WATSON DIXON (1833-1900)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 347 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RICHARD See also:WATSON See also:DIXON (1833-1900)  , See also:English poet and divine, son of Dr See also:James See also:Dixon, a Wesleyan See also:minister, was See also:born on the 5th of May 1833 . He was educated at See also:King See also:Edward's school, See also:Birmingham, and on proceeding to See also:Pembroke See also:College, See also:Oxford, became one of the famous " Birmingham See also:group " there who shared with See also:William See also:Morris and Burne-See also:Jones in the Pre-Raphaelite See also:movement . He took only a second class in moderations in 1854, and a third in Literae Humaniores in 1856; but in1858 he 'won the See also:Arnold See also:prize for an See also:historical See also:essay, and in 1863 the English Sacred Poem prize . He was ordained in 1858, was second See also:master of See also:Carlisle high school, 1863–1868, and successively See also:vicar of See also:Hayton, See also:Cumberland, and See also:Warkworth, See also:Northumberland . He became See also:minor See also:canon and honorary librarian of Carlisle in 1868, and honorary canon in 1874, he was See also:proctor in See also:convocation (189o-1894), and received the honorary degree of D.D. from Oxford in 1899 . He died at Warkworth on the 23rd of See also:January 1900 . Canon Dixon's first two volumes of See also:verse, See also:Christ's See also:Company and Historical Odes, were published in 1861 and 1863 respectively; but it was not until 1883 that he attracted conspicuous See also:notice with Mano, an historical poem in terza rima, which was enthusiastically praised by Mr See also:Swinburne . This success he followed up by three privately printed volumes, Odes and Eclogues (1884), Lyrical Poems (1886), and The See also:Story of Eudocia (1888) . Dixon's poems were during the last fifteen years of his See also:life recognized as scholarly and refined exercises, touched with both dignity and a certain severe beauty, but he never attained any See also:general popularity as a poet, the See also:appeal of his See also:poetry, being directly to the See also:scholar . A See also:great student of See also:history, his studies in that direction See also:colour much of his poetry . The romantic See also:atmosphere is remarkably preserved in Mano, a successful metrical exercise in the difficult terza rima . His typical poems have See also:charm and See also:melody, without introducing any new See also:note or variety of See also:rhythm .

He is contemplative, sober and finished in See also:

literary workmanship, a typical example of the Oxford school . Pleasant as his poetry is, however, he will probably be longest remembered by the See also:work to which he gave the best years of his life, his History of the See also:Church of See also:England from the Abolition of the See also:Roman See also:Jurisdiction (1878-1902) . At the See also:time of his See also:death he had completed six volumes, two of which were published posthumously . This See also:fine work, covering the See also:period from 1529 to 1570, is built upon elaborate See also:research,, and presents a trustworthy and unprejudiced survey of its subject . Dixon's Selected Poems were published in 1909 with a memoir of the author by See also:Robert See also:Bridges .

End of Article: RICHARD WATSON DIXON (1833-1900)
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HENRY HALL DIXON (1822-1870)
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WILLIAM HEPWORTH DIXON (1821-1879)

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