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EDWARD DOWDEN (1843- )

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 457 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDWARD See also:DOWDEN (1843- )  , Irish critic and poet, son of See also:John See also:Wheeler See also:Dowden, See also:merchant and landowner, was See also:born at See also:Cork on the 3rd of May 1843, being three years junior to his See also:brother John, who became See also:bishop of See also:Edinburgh in 1886 . His See also:literary tastes were shown See also:early, in a See also:series of essays written at the See also:age of twelve . His See also:home See also:education was continued at See also:Queen's See also:College, Cork, and Trinity College, See also:Dublin; at the latter university he had a distinguished career, becoming See also:president of the Philosophical Society, and winning the See also:vice-See also:chancellor's See also:prize for See also:English See also:verse and See also:prose, and the first See also:senior moderatorship in See also:ethics and See also:logic . In 1867 he was elected See also:professor of See also:oratory and English literature in Dublin University . His first See also:book, See also:Shakespeare, his Mind and See also:Art (1875), was a revision of a course of lectures, and made him widely known as a critic, being translated into See also:German and See also:Russian; and his Poems (1876) went into a second edition . His Shakespeare Primer (1877) was also translated into See also:Italian and German . In 1878 he was awarded the See also:Cunningham See also:gold See also:medal of the Royal Irish See also:Academy " for his literary writings, especially in the See also:field of Shakespearian See also:criticism." Later See also:works by him in this field were his Shakespeare's Sonnets (1881), Passionate See also:Pilgrim (1883), Introduction to Shakespeare (1893), See also:Hamlet (1899), Romeo and Juliet (190o), Cymbeline (1903), and his See also:article (See also:National See also:Review, See also:July 1902) on " Shakespeare as a See also:Man of See also:Science," criticizing T . E . See also:Webb's See also:Mystery of See also:William Shakespeare . His See also:critical essays " Studies in Literature " (1878), " Transcripts and Studies " (1888), " New Studies in Literature " (1895) showed a profound knowledge of the currents and tendencies of thought in various ages and countries; but it was his See also:Life of See also:Shelley (1886) that made him best known to the public at large . In 1900 he edited an edition of Shelley's works . Other books by him which indicate his interests in literature are his See also:Southey (in the " English Men of Letters " series, 188o), his edition of Southey's See also:Correspondence with See also:Caroline See also:Bowles (1881), and Select Poems of Southey (1895), his Correspondence of See also:Sir See also:Henry See also:Taylor (1888), his edition of See also:Wordsworth's Poetical Works (1892) and of his Lyrical See also:Ballads (1890), his See also:French Revolution and English Literature (1897; lectures given at See also:Princeton University in 1896), See also:History of French Literature (1897), Puritan and See also:Anglican (1900), See also:Robert See also:Browning (1904) and See also:Michel de See also:Montaigne (1905) .

His devotion to See also:

Goethe led to his succeeding Max See also:Muller in 1888 as president of the English Goethe Society . In 1889 he became the first Taylorian lecturer at See also:Oxford, and from 1892 to 1896 was See also:Clark lecturer at Trinity College, See also:Cambridge . To his sagacity in See also:research are due, among other matters of literary See also:interest, the first See also:account of See also:Carlyle's "Lectures on periods of See also:European culture "; the See also:identification of Shelley as the author of a review (in The Critical Review of See also:December 1814) of a lost See also:romance by See also:Hogg; description of Shelley's " Philosophical View of Reform "; a MS. See also:diary of See also:Fabre D'See also:Eglantine; and a See also:record by Dr Wilhelm Weissenborn of Goethe's last days and See also:death . He also discovered a " Narrative of a Prisoner of See also:War under See also:Napoleon " (published in See also:Blackwood's See also:Magazine), an unknown pamphlet by Bishop See also:Berkeley, some unpublished writings of See also:Hayley See also:relating to See also:Cowper, and a unique copy of the Tales of Terror . His wide sympathies and scholarly methods made his See also:influence on criticism both See also:sound and stimulating, and his own ideals are well described in his See also:essay on " The See also:Interpretation of Literature " in his Transcripts and Studies . As See also:commissioner of education in See also:Ireland (1896-1901), trustee of the National Library of Ireland, secretary of the Irish Liberal See also:Union and vice-president of the Irish Unionist See also:Alliance, he enforced his view that literature should not be divorced from See also:practical life . He married twice, first (1866) See also:Mary See also:Clerke, and secondly (1895) See also:Elizabeth See also:Dickinson See also:West, daughter of the See also:dean of St See also:Patrick's .

End of Article: EDWARD DOWDEN (1843- )
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