Matthew Prior (21 July 1664 – 18 September 1721) was an English The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary greatly in different cultures and time periods and diplomat A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and friendly relations.
Prior was the son of a Nonconformist Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales joiner at Wimborne Minster Wimborne Minster is a market town in the East Dorset district of Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. The central town has a population of 6,418 (according to the 2001 Census) and is situated at the confluence of the River Stour and River Allen, five miles north of Poole, East Dorset Dorset is famous for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, which features landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach and Durdle Door, as well as the holiday resorts of Bournemouth, Poole, Weymouth, Swanage, and Lyme Regis. Dorset is the principal setting of the novels of Thomas Hardy, who was born near Dorchester. The. His father moved to London London is a leading global city, the world's largest financial centre alongside New York, and has the largest city GDP in Europe. Central London is home to the headquarters of most of the UK's top 100 listed companies and more than 100 of Europe's 500 largest. London's influence and strengths in the arts, education, entertainment, fashion, finance,, and sent him to Westminster School The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxbridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in the world. Located in the precincts of Westminster Abbey in central London, and with a history stretching back beyond the 12th, under Dr. Busby The Rev. Dr. Richard Busby was an English Anglican priest, and headmaster of Westminster School. On his father's death, he left school, and was cared for by his uncle, a vintner A vintner is a wine merchant. In some modern use, in particular in American English, the term is also used as a synonym for winemaker in Channel Row. Here Lord Dorset found him reading Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus, and set him to translate an ode Ode is a type of lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist. It is an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally. He did so well that the earl offered to contribute to the continuation of his education at Westminster. One of his schoolfellows and friends was Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, KG, PC, FRS was an English poet and statesman. It was to avoid being separated from Montagu and his brother James that Prior accepted, against his patron's wish, a scholarship recently founded at St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. He took his B.A. degree in 1686, and two years later became a fellow.[1] In collaboration with Montagu he wrote in 1687 the City Mouse and Country Mouse, in ridicule of John Dryden John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott named him "Glorious John."'s The Hind and the Panther.
It was an age when satirists could be sure of patronage and promotion. Montagu was promoted at once, and Prior, three years later, became secretary to the embassy at the Hague The Hague is the third largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of 485,818 (as of May 31, 2009) (population of agglomeration: 1,011,459) and an area of approximately 100 km². It is located in the west of the country, in the province of South Holland, of which it is also the provincial capital. The Hague is,. After four years of this, he was appointed a gentleman of the King's bedchamber. Apparently he acted as one of the King's secretaries, and in 1697 he was secretary to the plenipotentiaries who concluded the Peace of Ryswick The Treaty of Ryswick or Ryswyck was signed on 20 September 1697 and named after Ryswick in the Dutch Republic. The treaty settled the Nine Years' War, which pitted France against the Grand Alliance of England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces. Prior's talent for affairs was doubted by Pope Alexander Pope was an eighteenth-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson. Pope is famous for his use of the heroic couplet, who had no special means of judging, but it is not likely that King William William III was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland, and as William II over Scotland. He is informally known in Northern Ireland and Scotland as & would have employed in this important business a man who had not given proof of diplomatic skill and grasp of details.
The poet's knowledge of French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in is specially mentioned among his qualifications, and this was recognized by his being sent in the following year to Paris Paris ([paʁi] in French, pronounced /ˈpærɪs/ in English) is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (or Paris Region, French: Région parisienne). The city of Paris, within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated in attendance on the English ambassador. At this period Prior could say with good reason that "he had commonly business enough upon his hands, and was only a poet by accident." To verse, however, which had laid the foundation of his fortunes, he still occasionally trusted as a means of maintaining his position. His occasional poems Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage. As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the work's purpose and the poet's relation to subject matter. It is not a genre, but several genres during this period include an elegy on Queen Mary in 1695; a satirical version of Boileau Boileau was born in the rue de Jérusalem, in Paris, France. He was brought up to the law, but devoted to letters, associating himself with La Fontaine, Racine, and Molière. He is the author of Satires and Epistles, L'Art poétique and Le Lutrin, in which he attacked and employed his wit against what he perceived to be the bad taste of his time's Ode sur le prise de Namur (1695); some lines on William's escape from assassination in 1696; and a brief piece called The Secretary.
After his return from France Prior became under-secretary of state and succeeded John Locke John Locke , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the as a commissioner of trade. In 1701 he sat in Parliament The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. The English Parliament traces its origins to the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot. In 1066, William of Normandy brought a feudal system, by which he sought advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws. In 1215, the tenants-in-chief secured Magna Carta for East Grinstead East Grinstead was a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom. In its first spell of existence it returned two members of Parliament, but when it was revived in 1885, it returned only one member. He had certainly been in William's confidence with regard to the Partition Treaty; but when Somers, Orford and Halifax were impeached for their share in it he voted on the Tory Toryism is a traditionalist political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is one of the prominent political parties in Great Britain, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada. Historically it also had exponents in former parts of the British Empire, for instance the side, and immediately on Anne's accession he definitely allied himself with Robert Harley Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer , was a British politician and statesman of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. He began his career as a Whig, before defecting to a new Tory Ministry. Between 1711 and 1714 he served as First Lord of the Treasury, effectively Queen Anne's Chief Minister. His government agreed the Treaty and St John. Perhaps in consequence of this for nine years there is no mention of his name in connection with any public transaction. But when the Tories came into power in 1710 Prior's diplomatic abilities were again called into action, and until the death of Anne he held a prominent place in all negotiations with the French court, sometimes as secret agent, sometimes in an equivocal position as ambassador's companion, sometimes as fully accredited but very unpunctually paid ambassador. His share in negotiating the Treaty of Utrecht The Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713. The treaties among several European states, including France, Spain, Great Britain, Savoy, and the Dutch Republic, helped end the War of the, of which he is said to have disapproved personally, led to its popular nickname of "Matt's Peace."
When the Queen Anne became Queen regnant of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding her brother-in-law and cousin, William III of England and II of Scotland. Her Catholic father, James II and VII, was deemed by the English Parliament to have abdicated when he was forced to retreat to France during the Glorious Revolution of 1688/9; her brother- died and the Whigs The Whigs are often described as one of the two original political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid-19th centuries. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule. Both parties began as loose groupings or tendencies, but became quite formal by 1784, with the ascension regained power, he was impeached by Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Although the position of "Prime Minister" had no recognition in law or official use at the time, Walpole is nevertheless acknowledged as and kept in close custody for two years (1715–1717). In 1709, he had already published a collection of verse. During this imprisonment, maintaining his cheerful philosophy, he wrote his longest humorous poem, Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. This, along with his most ambitious work, Solomon, and other Poems on several Occasions, was published by subscription in 1718. The sum received for this volume (4000 guineas), with a present of £4000 from Lord Harley, enabled him to live in comfort; but he did not long survive his enforced retirement from public life, although he bore his ups and downs with rare equanimity. He died at Wimpole Wimpole Hall is a country house located within the Parish of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, England, about 8½ miles southwest of Cambridge. The house, begun in 1640, and its 3,000 acres (12 km²) of parkland and farmland are owned by the National Trust and are regularly open to the public, Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire is noted as the site of some of the earliest known Neolithic permanent settlements in the United Kingdom, along with sites at Fengate and Balbridie, a seat of the earl of Oxford, and was buried in Westminster Abbey The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to popularly and informally as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in Westminster, London, England, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English, later British and later, where his monument may be seen in Poets' Corner Poets’ Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey due to the number of poets, playwrights, and writers now buried and commemorated there. A History of his Own Time was issued by J Bancks in 1740. The book pretended to be derived from Prior's papers, but it is doubtful how far it should be regarded as authentic.
Matthew Prior after Jonathon Richardson Jonathan Richardson was an English artist, collector of drawings, and writer on art, working almost entirely as a portrait-painter in London. He was considered by some art-critics as one of the three foremost painters of his time. He was the master of Thomas Hudson and George Knapton. Richardson was even more influential as a writer; he is, circa 1718Prior's poems show considerable variety, a pleasant scholarship and great executive skill. The most ambitious, i.e. Solomon, and the paraphrase of The Nut-Brown Maid The Nut-Brown Maid is a ballad included by Thomas Percy in his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, are the least successful. But Alma, an admitted imitation of Samuel Butler Samuel Butler was a poet and satirist. Born in Strensham, Worcestershire and baptised 14 February 1613, he is remembered now chiefly for a long satirical burlesque poem on Puritanism entitled Hudibras, is a delightful piece of wayward easy humour, full of witty turns and well-remembered allusions, and Prior's mastery of the octo-syllabic couplet is greater than that of Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin or Pope. His tales in rhyme, though often objectionable in their themes, are excellent specimens of narrative skill; and as an epigrammatist An epigram is a brief, clever, and usually memorable statement. Derived from the Greek: ἐπίγραμμα epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on – inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia he is unrivalled in English. The majority of his love songs are frigid and academic, mere wax-flowers of Parnassus Mount Parnassus is a mountain of limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth, and offers scenic views of the surrounding olive groves and countryside. According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs, and the home of the Muses. The mountain was also favored by the; but in familiar or playful efforts, of which the type are the admirable lines To a Child of Quality, he has still no rival. "Prior's"—says Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society, himself no mean proficient in this kind—"seem to me amongst the easiest, the richest, the most charmingly humorous of English lyrical poems. Horace is always in his mind, and his song and his philosophy, his good sense, his happy easy turns and melody, his loves and his Epicureanism Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus, founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Following Aristippus—about whom very little is known—Epicurus believed that the, bear a great resemblance to that most delightful and accomplished master."
Wittenham Clumps Wittenham Clumps is the commonly used name for a set of small hills in the flat Thames Valley, in the civil parish of Little Wittenham in the English county of Oxfordshire. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire in Oxfordshire It is divided into five local government districts: Oxford, Cherwell, Vale of White Horse , West Oxfordshire and South Oxfordshire is said to be where Prior wrote Henry and Emma, and this is now commemorated by a plaque. Prior has been commemorated by other poets as well; Everett James Ellis named Prior as a significant influence and source of inspiration.
References
- ^ Prior, Matthew in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900 is a biographical register of former members of Cambridge University which was edited by John Venn and his son John Archibald Venn and published by Cambridge University Press in ten, Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted Letters Patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest continually operating book publisher, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the day. This edition of the encyclopedia is now in the public domain, but the outdated nature, a publication now in the public domain Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all, if the intellectual property rights have expired, and/or if the intellectual property rights are forfeited. Examples include the English language, the formulae of Newtonian physics, as well as the works of Shakespeare and the patents over powered flight.
External links
| Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Matthew Prior |
- Luminarium: Matthew Prior Life, works, essays, study resources
- Matthew Prior's Grave, Westminster Abbey
- The Matthew Prior Project, Prior's complete correspondence
- Poems from PoemHunter.com
- Quotations
- Matthew Prior (1664–1721) — Samuel Johnson's Life of Matthew Prior
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Palmer | Chief Secretary for Ireland 1697–1699 | Succeeded by Humphrey May |
| Parliament of England | ||
| Preceded by The Earl of Orrery | Member of Parliament for East Grinstead 1701 | Succeeded by The Earl of Orrery |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by The Duke of Shrewsbury | British Ambassador to France 1713–1714 | Succeeded by The Earl of Stair |
Categories: 1664 births | 1721 deaths | English poets | Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament | Old Westminsters | People from Wimborne Minster
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Sun, 01 Aug 2010 04:37:46 GMT+00:00
Restraint Order After Media Companies File Brief GroundReport by Matthew L. Schafer On Friday, DC Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff lifted a restraining order she had placed to prevent ...
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William Matthew Prior 1806 1873 Pair of Portraits
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hu, 11 Feb 2010 15:21:50 GM
In the CNBC interview shown below, Burlington Northern Santa Fe CEO . Matthew. Rose discusses the company's special meeting of shareholders set for 10 am today. At the meeting, Burlington Northern shareholders are expected to approve ...
