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Poet Laureate

2009-07-20T21:44:06Z

Frauke:

''laureate'' originates from Latin ''laureatus'' meaning "crowned with laurel" (Kahan, Jeffrey). The idea of the crown originates from a Greek myth: the nymph Daphne fled from Apollo and was therefore transformed into a bay tree (in Latin: "Laurus Nobilis"). Apollo who wanted to show that she still belonged to him created a crown out of the branches.
The title was adopted from the Greek and Roman custom of crowning successful men with a wreath of laurel. Nowadays, the British poet laureate is a member of the Royal household, expected (but not obliged) to write poems for official occasions, for example for Royal weddings, birthdays or funerals. The British Poet Laureate was originally awarded the position for life, however, since 1999 the post is limited to 10 years.

The British poet laureate developed from two strands of tradition. In the [[Renaissance]] it became customary to award the laurel to writers who not only wrote poems, but who were also well-versed in ancient (i.e. classical) traditions and authors. In other words: they embodied the ideal of a ''poeta doctus'', a learned poet. The poet laureate in this sense, had to pass an examination and afterwards was awarded the laurel and the title as an honorary university degree. The custom of crowning a poet laureate was not restricted to England (far from it). It originated in Italy (with [[Francesco Petrarca]] as most famous laureate) and spread all over (Renaissance) Europe. A completely different strand of tradition pertinent for the British laureate was the post of "court poet" (or ''versificator regis''). Medieval and Renaissance monarchs sometimes paid someone to write poetry. This could be a post held for life or only an occasional stipend plus "a degree of political protection" (Kahan, Jeffrey). In the Renaissance, there was a gradual institutionalisation of the office, and a host of writers are associated with it: e.g., John Skelton, [[Edmund Spenser]], [[Ben Jonson]] or William Davenant. There is no documentary evidence that they actually held the post, though.

The office of poet laureate proper (i.e. regular employment, orderly succession of laureates, legal basis and Royal patents) started in 1668 with John Dryden. Dryden lost the office after the [[Glorious Revolution]]. He had converted to [[Catholicism]] when [[James II]] came to the throne and this did not go down well with the new monarchs [[William III|William]] and [[Mary II|Mary]] and the [[Whigs]]. Therefore the office went to his Whig rival Thomas Shadwell. From then on until 2009, all poets laureate held the post for life.

== Duties ==
The patent for John Dryden remained vague about his duties. It merely stipulated him to “diligently attend [his] employment” (quoted in Broadus 61). Dating from Nicholas Rowe’s appointment in 1715, the laureates were obliged to write at least one birthday ode and one New Year’s ode for the monarch. During the 18th century this became a very mechanical exercise for the poets (in the bigger picture, the quality of the odes did not really matter, because they were performed to music). Hence satirists like Alexander Pope attacked the poets laureate as nonentities, idiots and sycophants. According to Pope, [[Nahum Tate]] wrote "prose run mad" (quoted in Hopkins 52). And ''The Dunciad'' of 1743 attacks “King Colley” (I, 321) as the most nonsensical dunce of them all. A bit later, Lord Byron also attacked both the office and the office holder. In "A Vision of Judgment" (1820), Robert Southey had lambasted the "Satanic school" (with Byron implicitly as chief member) as "men of diseased hearts and depraved imaginations" and praised [[George III]] as saint, Byron struck back in "The Vision of Judgment": George is represented as "an old man/With an old soul, and both extremely blind" and Southey as a boring, incompetent busybody. After regular laureate bashing by some of Britain's most talented poets and after some renowned authors were offered the post and declined it (most famous is Thomas Gray's refusal to become the "rat catcher" of the king), regular duties were abolished when William Wordsworth became poet laureate in 1843. Since then, the laureate does not have any official obligations connected with his (or her) office. Most of the laureates do write about official events, usually connected with the Royal family, sometimes also referring to political events (Andrew Motion, for example, wrote poems against the war in Iraq).

== Payment ==
It was customary to pay the Laureate a small fee, plus some material rewards. The patents specifically name “a butt of sack”, a barrel of sherry (=150 bottles or 572,796 litres). In the 18th century, this was seen as an anachronism and since 1790, at the behest of Henry James Pye, the sherry was turned into money. John Betjeman asked for the reintroduction of the “butt of sack” in 1972. Since then every laureate gets a delivery of sherry on top of the annual fee.

== List of Official Laureates ==
* [[John Dryden]] (1668-89)
* [[Thomas Shadwell]] (1689-92)
* [[Nahum Tate]] (1692-1715)
* Nicholas Rowe (1715-18)
* Laurence Eusden (1718-30)
* [[Colley Cibber]] (1730-57)
* William Whitehead (1757-85)
* Thomas Warton (1785-90)
* Henry James Pye (1790-1813)
* Robert Southey (1813-43)
* William Wordsworth (1843-50)
* Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1850-92)
* Alfred Austin (1896-1913)
* Robert Bridges (1913-1930)
* John Masefield (1930-67)
* Cecil Day-Lewis (1968-72)
* Sir John Betjeman (1972-84)
* Ted Hughes (1984-98)
* Andrew Motion (1999-2009)

Today's English poet laureate is Andrew Motion. This position is now given by the prime minister and a poet stays in office for ten years until the next one is nominated. The new laureate elect is the first woman ever: Carol Ann Duffy.

== Sources ==

Broadus, Edmund Kemper. ''The Laureateship. A Study of the Office of Poet Laureate in England. With some Account of the Poets'', 1921, repr. New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1969. <br />

Hopkins, Kenneth, ''The Poets Laureate'', New York: Harper & Row, 1973.

Kahan, Jeffrey. "Poet Laureate." ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature''. Ed. David Scott Kastan. Vol. IV. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2007.

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/about_laureate.html.

Poet Laureate

2009-07-20T21:42:20Z

Frauke:

''laureate'' originates from Latin ''laureatus'' meaning "crowned with laurel" (Kahan, Jeffrey). The idea of the crown originates from a Greek myth: the nymph Daphne was fleeing from Apollo and therefor was transformed into a bay tree (in Latin: "Laurus Nobilis"). Apollo who wanted to show that she still belonged to him created a crown out of the branches.
The title was adopted from the Greek and Roman custom of crowning successful men with a wreath of laurel. Nowadays, the British poet laureate is a member of the Royal household, expected (but not obliged) to write poems for official occasions, for example for Royal weddings, birthdays or funerals. The British Poet Laureate was originally awarded the position for life, however, since 1999 the post is limited to 10 years.

The British poet laureate developed from two strands of tradition. In the [[Renaissance]] it became customary to award the laurel to writers who not only wrote poems, but who were also well-versed in ancient (i.e. classical) traditions and authors. In other words: they embodied the ideal of a ''poeta doctus'', a learned poet. The poet laureate in this sense, had to pass an examination and afterwards was awarded the laurel and the title as an honorary university degree. The custom of crowning a poet laureate was not restricted to England (far from it). It originated in Italy (with [[Francesco Petrarca]] as most famous laureate) and spread all over (Renaissance) Europe. A completely different strand of tradition pertinent for the British laureate was the post of "court poet" (or ''versificator regis''). Medieval and Renaissance monarchs sometimes paid someone to write poetry. This could be a post held for life or only an occasional stipend plus "a degree of political protection" (Kahan, Jeffrey). In the Renaissance, there was a gradual institutionalisation of the office, and a host of writers are associated with it: e.g., John Skelton, [[Edmund Spenser]], [[Ben Jonson]] or William Davenant. There is no documentary evidence that they actually held the post, though.

The office of poet laureate proper (i.e. regular employment, orderly succession of laureates, legal basis and Royal patents) started in 1668 with John Dryden. Dryden lost the office after the [[Glorious Revolution]]. He had converted to [[Catholicism]] when [[James II]] came to the throne and this did not go down well with the new monarchs [[William III|William]] and [[Mary II|Mary]] and the [[Whigs]]. Therefore the office went to his Whig rival Thomas Shadwell. From then on until 2009, all poets laureate held the post for life.

== Duties ==
The patent for John Dryden remained vague about his duties. It merely stipulated him to “diligently attend [his] employment” (quoted in Broadus 61). Dating from Nicholas Rowe’s appointment in 1715, the laureates were obliged to write at least one birthday ode and one New Year’s ode for the monarch. During the 18th century this became a very mechanical exercise for the poets (in the bigger picture, the quality of the odes did not really matter, because they were performed to music). Hence satirists like Alexander Pope attacked the poets laureate as nonentities, idiots and sycophants. According to Pope, [[Nahum Tate]] wrote "prose run mad" (quoted in Hopkins 52). And ''The Dunciad'' of 1743 attacks “King Colley” (I, 321) as the most nonsensical dunce of them all. A bit later, Lord Byron also attacked both the office and the office holder. In "A Vision of Judgment" (1820), Robert Southey had lambasted the "Satanic school" (with Byron implicitly as chief member) as "men of diseased hearts and depraved imaginations" and praised [[George III]] as saint, Byron struck back in "The Vision of Judgment": George is represented as "an old man/With an old soul, and both extremely blind" and Southey as a boring, incompetent busybody. After regular laureate bashing by some of Britain's most talented poets and after some renowned authors were offered the post and declined it (most famous is Thomas Gray's refusal to become the "rat catcher" of the king), regular duties were abolished when William Wordsworth became poet laureate in 1843. Since then, the laureate does not have any official obligations connected with his (or her) office. Most of the laureates do write about official events, usually connected with the Royal family, sometimes also referring to political events (Andrew Motion, for example, wrote poems against the war in Iraq).

== Payment ==
It was customary to pay the Laureate a small fee, plus some material rewards. The patents specifically name “a butt of sack”, a barrel of sherry (=150 bottles or 572,796 litres). In the 18th century, this was seen as an anachronism and since 1790, at the behest of Henry James Pye, the sherry was turned into money. John Betjeman asked for the reintroduction of the “butt of sack” in 1972. Since then every laureate gets a delivery of sherry on top of the annual fee.

== List of Official Laureates ==
* [[John Dryden]] (1668-89)
* [[Thomas Shadwell]] (1689-92)
* [[Nahum Tate]] (1692-1715)
* Nicholas Rowe (1715-18)
* Laurence Eusden (1718-30)
* [[Colley Cibber]] (1730-57)
* William Whitehead (1757-85)
* Thomas Warton (1785-90)
* Henry James Pye (1790-1813)
* Robert Southey (1813-43)
* William Wordsworth (1843-50)
* Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1850-92)
* Alfred Austin (1896-1913)
* Robert Bridges (1913-1930)
* John Masefield (1930-67)
* Cecil Day-Lewis (1968-72)
* Sir John Betjeman (1972-84)
* Ted Hughes (1984-98)
* Andrew Motion (1999-2009)

Today's English poet laureate is Andrew Motion. This position is now given by the prime minister and a poet stays in office for ten years until the next one is nominated. The new laureate elect is the first woman ever: Carol Ann Duffy.

== Sources ==

Broadus, Edmund Kemper. ''The Laureateship. A Study of the Office of Poet Laureate in England. With some Account of the Poets'', 1921, repr. New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1969. <br />

Hopkins, Kenneth, ''The Poets Laureate'', New York: Harper & Row, 1973.

Kahan, Jeffrey. "Poet Laureate." ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature''. Ed. David Scott Kastan. Vol. IV. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2007.

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/about_laureate.html.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

2009-07-20T21:35:35Z

Frauke:

Anglo-Irish dramatist, theatre manager and politician. He was born on 30 October 1751 in Dublin and died in London on 7 July 1816. Sheridan was educated for 6 or 7 years at Harrow, a private school, and taught by his parents (Thomas Sheridan an actor and Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan a writer) or tutors in Dublin, Bath and London, but he never visited university. His first plays were ''The Rivals'' (1775), ''St. Patrick´s Day; or, The Scheming Lieutnant'' (1775) and ''The Duenna'' (1775). After he became the principal manager and owner of the Drury Lane Theatre in 1776, all his plays were produced at this theatre (''A trip to Scarborough'' (1777),''The School for Scandal'' (1777) and ''The Critic; or, A Tragedy Rehearsed'' (1779)). In addition to his own works he also wrote several entertainments together with other authors and created a pantomime for ''Robinson Crusoe'' in 1781. He is said to be the link between 17th-century comedy and the comedy of Oscar Wilde and his period. Also he lived later in the 18th century Sheridan created plays which represented the values and content of the Restoration Comedy of Manners.

Sheridan was elected to the English Parliament in 1780 and he had a long political career, but was often in opposition to the government.

Sources:

Stares, Susan. "Richard Brinsley Sheridan". In: ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature VI''. Ed. David Scott Kastan. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2006. [Pages??]

''Metzler Lexikon englischsprachiger Autorinnen und Autoren''. Ed. Eberhard Kreutzer and Ansgar Nünning. J.B. Metzler: Stuttgart, 2006.

''The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre''. Ed. Phyllis Hartnall and Peter Found. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1996.

Comedy of Manners

2009-07-20T21:31:10Z

Frauke:

(in the 18th century also called "Old Comedy") written and created by Restoration playwrights such as, amongst others, Congreve, Farquhar, Vanbrugh and Wycherley. Condemned as immoral and dirty. The "Comedy of Manners revived under Sheridan, with much wit and less indelicacy" [Hartnall, Found], [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]] was one of the most influencial dramatists of the 18th century.

Sources:
''The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre''. Ed. Phillis Hartnall and Peter Found. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1996.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

2009-07-10T18:10:47Z

Frauke:

an English dramatist, theatre manager and politician. He was born on 30.10.1751 in Dublin and died in London on 7.7.1816. Sheridan was educated for 6 or 7 years at Harrow, a private school, and taught by his parents (Thomas Sheridan an actor and Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan a writer) or tutors in Dublin, Bath and London, but he never visited university. His first plays were "The Rival" (1775), "St. Patrick´s Day; or, The Scheming Lieutnant" (1775) and "The Duenna" (1775). After he became the principal manager and owner of the Drury Lane Theatre in 1776, all his plays were produced at this theatre ("A trip to Scarborough" (1777),"The School for Scandal" (1777) and "The Critic; or, A Tragedy Rehearsed" (1779)). In addition to his own works he also wrote several entertainments together with other authors and createtd a pantomime for "Robinson Crusoe" in 1781. He is said to be the link between 17th century comedy and the comedy of Oscar Wild an his period.

Richard was elected to the English Parliament in 1780 and he had a long political career, but was often in oppasition to the government.

Source:
Stares, Susan. "Richard Brinsley Sheridan". In: "The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature VI". Ed. by David Scott Kastan. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2006.
"Metzler Lexikon englischsprachiger Autorinnen und Autoren". Ed. by Eberhard Kreutzer und Ansgar Nünning. J.B. Metzler: Stuttgart, 2006.
"The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre". Ed. by Phyllis Hartnall and Peter Found. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1996.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

2009-07-10T18:10:12Z

Frauke:

an English dramatist, theatre manager and politician. He was born on 30.10.1751 in Dublin and died in London on 7.7.1816. Sheridan was educated for 6 or 7 years at Harrow, a private school, and taught by his parents (Thomas Sheridan an actor and Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan a writer) or tutors in Dublin, Bath and London, but he never visited university. His first plays were "The Rival" (1775), "St. Patrick´s Day; or, The Scheming Lieutnant" (1775) and "The Duenna" (1775). After he became the principal manager and owner of the Drury Lane Theatre in 1776, all his plays were produced at this theatre ("A trip to Scarborough" (1777),"The School for Scandal" (1777) and "The Critic; or, A Tragedy Rehearsed" (1779)). In addition to his own works he also wrote several entertainments together with other authors and createtd a pantomime for "Robinson Crusoe" in 1781. He is said to be the link between 17th century comedy and the comedy of Oscar Wild an his period-
Richard was elected to the English Parliament in 1780 and he had a long political career, but was often in oppasition to the government.

Source:
Stares, Susan. "Richard Brinsley Sheridan". In: "The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature VI". Ed. by David Scott Kastan. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2006.
"Metzler Lexikon englischsprachiger Autorinnen und Autoren". Ed. by Eberhard Kreutzer und Ansgar Nünning. J.B. Metzler: Stuttgart, 2006.
"The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre". Ed. by Phyllis Hartnall and Peter Found. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1996.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

2009-07-10T17:51:35Z

Frauke: Created page with 'an English dramatist, theatre manager and politician. He was born on 30.10.1751 in Dublin and died in London on 7.7.1816. Sheridan was educated for 6 or 7 years at Harrow, a priv…'

an English dramatist, theatre manager and politician. He was born on 30.10.1751 in Dublin and died in London on 7.7.1816. Sheridan was educated for 6 or 7 years at Harrow, a private school, and taught by his parents (Thomas Sheridan an actor and Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan a writer) or tutors in Dublin, Bath and London, but he never visited university. His first plays were "The Rival" (1775), "St. Patrick´s Day; or, The Scheming Lieutnant" (1775) and "The Duenna" (1775). After he became the principal manager and owner of the Drury Lane Theatre in 1776, all his plays were produced at this theatre ("A trip to Scarborough" (1777),"The School for Scandal" (1777) and "The Critic; or, A Tragedy Rehearsed" (1779)). In addition to his own works he also wrote several entertainments together with other authors and createtd a pantomime for "Robinson Crusoe" in 1781.
Richard was elected to the English Parliament in 1780 and he had a long political career, but was often in oppasition to the government.

Source:
Stares, Susan. "Richard Brinsley Sheridan". In: "The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature VI". Ed. by David Scott Kastan. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2006.
"Metzler Lexikon englischsprachiger Autorinnen und Autoren". Ed. by Eberhard Kreutzer und Ansgar Nünning. J.B. Metzler: Stuttgart, 2006.
"The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre". Ed. by Phyllis Hartnall and Peter Found. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1996.

Comedy of Manners

2009-07-10T17:03:27Z

Frauke:

also called "Old Comedy" written and created by Congreve, Farquhar, Vanbrugh and Wycherley. The "Comedy of Manners revived under Sheridan, with much wit and less indelicacy", Richard Brinsley Sheridan was one of the most influencial dramatist of his time.

Sources:
"The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre". Ed. by Phillis Hartnall and Peter Found. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1996.

Comedy of Manners

2009-07-10T17:01:20Z

Frauke: Created page with 'also called "Old Comedy" written and created by Congreve, Farquhar, Vanbrugh and Wycherley. The "Comedy of Manners revived under Sheridan, with much wit and less indelicacy". So…'

also called "Old Comedy" written and created by Congreve, Farquhar, Vanbrugh and Wycherley. The "Comedy of Manners revived under Sheridan, with much wit and less indelicacy".

Sources:
The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Ed. by Phillis Hartnall and Peter Found. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1996.