WILLIAM

See also:

• WATSON, RICHARD (1737-1816)
• WATSON, THOMAS (c. 1557–1592)
• WILLIAM WATSON (1858- )
• WATSON, WILLIAM (c. 1559-1603)

WATSON (1858- )  , English poet, was born on the 2nd of August 1858 at Burley-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire, and was brought up at Liverpool, whither his father moved for business . In 188o he published his first book The Prince's Quest, a poem showing the influence of Keats and Tennyson, but giving little indication of the author's mature style . It attracted no attention until it was republished in 1893 after Mr Watson had made a name by other work . In 1884 appeared Epigrams of Art, Life and Nature, a remarkable little•volume, which already showed the change to Mr Watson's characteristic restraint and concision of manner . But it passed unnoted . Recognition came with the publication of Wordsworth's Grave in 189o; and fame with the publication of the second edition in 1891, and the appearance in the Fortnightly Review, August 1891, of an article by Grant Allen entitled " A New Poet." Wordsworth's Grave, which marked a reversion from the current Tennysonian and Swinburnian fashion to the meditative note of Matthew Arnold, exhibited in full maturity Mr Watson's poetical qualities; his stately diction, his fastidious taste, his epigrammatic turn, his restrained yet eloquent utterance, his remarkable gift of literary criticism in poetic form . Besides Wordsworth's Grave the volume contained Ver tenebrosum (originally published in the national Review for June 1885), a series of political sonnetsindicating a fervour of political conviction which was later to find still more impassioned expression; also a selection with additions from the Epigrams of 1884, and among other miscellaneous pieces his tribute to Arnold, " In Laleham Churchyard." During the years 189o-189z he contributed articles to the National Review, Spectator, Illustrated London News, Academy, Bookman and Atalanta, which were collected and republished in 1893 as Excursions ,in Criticism . In 1893 he also published Lacrymae Musaram, the poem which gave the title to the volume being a fine elegy on the death of Tennyson; and it included the poem on " Shelley's Centenary " (both of these printed privately in 1892), and " The Dream of Man," the earliest of his philosophical poems . The same year, too, saw the publication of The Eloping Angels, a serio-comic trifle of small merit, dedicated to Grant Allen . During this year Mr Gladstone bestowed on him the Civil List pension of £200 available on the death of Tennyson . In 1894 followed Odes and Other Poems, and in 1895 The Father. of the Forest, which contained also the fine " Hymn to the Sea " in English elegiacs (originally contributed to the Yellow Book), " The Tomb of Burns," and " Apologia," a piece of candid and just self-criticism . The volume contained also a sonnet " To the Turk in Armenia," a prelude to the series of sonnets about Armenia contributed to the Westminster Gazette and republished in a brochure called The Purple East in 1896 .

These sonnets were republished with revision and considerable additions, and a

preface by the bishop of Hereford, in The Year of Shame in 1897 . Whatever view was taken of the poet's incursion into politics, no one doubted his passionate sincerity, or the excellence of the poetical rhetoric it inspired . In 1898 were published his Collected Poems and a volume of new poetry The Hope of the World, which opened' with his three chief philosophical poems, the title piece, " The Unknown God," and " Ode in May." In 1902 he printed privately 5o copies of New Poems, and published his " Ode on the Coronation of King Edward VII.," a favourable specimen of its class; and in 1903 besides a volume of Selected Poems a collection of poems contributed to various periodicals and called For England: Poems Written During Estrangement, a poetical defence of his impugned patriotism during the Boer War . In 1909 appeared an important volume of New Poems . Mr Watson's poetry falls chiefly into the classes above indicated—critical, philosophical and political -to which may be added a further class of Horatian epistles to his friends . This classification indicates the high character and also the limitations of his poetry . It is contemplative, not dramatic, and only occasionally lyrical in impulse . In spite of the poet's plea in his " Apologia " that there is an ardour and a fire other than that of Eros or Aphrodite, ardour and fire are not conspicuous qualities of his verse . Except in his political verse there is more thought than passion . Bearing trace enough of the influence of the romantic epoch, his poetry recalls the earlier classical period in its epigrammatic phrasing and Latinized diction . By the distinction and clarity of his style and the dignity of his movement William Watson stands in the true classical tradition of great English verse, in a generation rather given over to lawlessness and experiment . See also section on William Watson in Poets of the Younger Generation, by William Archer (1902) ; and for bibliography up to Aug .

1903, English Illustrated

Magazine, vol. xxix . (N.S.), pp . 542 and 548 . (W . P .