Biography Leigh Hunt

1 biography

1.1 life
1.2 education
1.3 family
1.4 newspapers

1.4.1 examiner
1.4.2 reflector
1.4.3 indicator
1.4.4 companion


1.5 poetry

biography
early life

james henry leigh hunt born @ southgate, london, parents had settled after leaving united states. father isaac, lawyer philadelphia, , mother, mary shewell, merchant s daughter , devout quaker, had been forced come britain because of loyalist sympathies during american war of independence. hunt s father took holy orders , became popular preacher, unsuccessful in obtaining permanent living. hunt s father employed james brydges, 3rd duke of chandos, tutor nephew, james henry leigh (father of chandos leigh), after whom boy named.

leigh hunt, engraved h. meyer drawing j. hayter


education

leigh hunt educated @ christ s hospital 1791 1799, period detailed in autobiography. entered school shortly after samuel taylor coleridge , charles lamb had both left; thomas barnes, however, school friend of his. 1 of current boarding houses @ christ s hospital named after him. boy, ardent admirer of thomas gray , william collins, writing many verses in imitation of them. speech impediment, later cured, prevented going university. time after left school, says, did nothing visit school-fellows, haunt book-stalls , write verses. poems published in 1801 under title of juvenilia, , introduced him literary , theatrical society. began write newspapers, , published in 1807 volume of theatre criticism, , series of classic tales critical essays on authors.

hunt s essays published edward quin, editor , owner of traveller.

family

in 1809, leigh hunt married marianne kent (whose parents thomas , ann). on next 20 years had ten children: thornton leigh (1810–73), john horatio leigh (1812–46), mary florimel leigh (1813–49), swinburne percy leigh (1816–27), percy bysshe shelley leigh (1817–99), henry sylvan leigh (1819–76), vincent leigh (1823–52), julia trelawney leigh (1826–72), jacyntha leigh (1828–1914), , arabella leigh (1829–30).

marianne, had been in ill health of life, died 26 january 1857, aged sixty-nine. leigh hunt made little mention of family in autobiography. marianne s sister, elizabeth kent (hunt s sister-in-law), became amanuensis.

newspapers
the examiner

in 1808 left war office, had been working clerk, become editor of examiner, newspaper founded brother, john. brother robert hunt, among others, contributed columns; criticism earned enmity of william blake, described journal s office @ beaufort buildings, strand, london, containing nest of villains . blake s response included leigh hunt, aside publishing vitriolic reviews of 1808 , 1809 had added blake s name on list of quacks .

this journal acquired reputation unusual political independence; attack worthy target, principle of taste, john keats expressed it. in 1813, attack on prince regent, based on substantial truth, resulted in prosecution , sentence of 2 years imprisonment each of brothers — leigh hunt served term @ surrey county gaol. leigh hunt s visitors in prison included lord byron, thomas moore, lord brougham, charles lamb , others, acquaintance influenced later career. stoicism leigh hunt bore imprisonment attracted general attention , sympathy. imprisonment allowed him many luxuries , access friends , family, , lamb described decorations of cell not found outside fairy tale. when jeremy bentham called on him, found playing battledore.

a number of essays in examiner written hunt , william hazlitt between 1814 , 1817 under series title round table collected in book form in round table, published in 2 volumes in 1817. twelve of fifty-two essays hunt, rest hazlitt.

the reflector

in 1810–1811 edited quarterly magazine, reflector, brother john. wrote feast of poets this, satire, offended many contemporary poets, particularly william gifford of quarterly.

the indicator

in 1819–1821, hunt edited indicator, weekly literary periodical published joseph appleyard. hunt wrote of content well, included reviews, essays, stories, , poems.

the companion

in 1828 january july, hunt edited companion, weekly literary periodical published hunt , clarke. journal dealt books, theatrical productions , miscellaneous topics.

poetry

in 1816 made mark in english literature publication of story of rimini, based on tragic episode of francesca da rimini told in dante s inferno. hunt s preference decidedly chaucer s verse style, adapted modern english john dryden, in opposition epigrammatic couplet of alexander pope had superseded it. poem optimistic narrative runs contrary tragic nature of subject. hunt s flippancy , familiarity, degenerating ludicrous, subsequently made him target ridicule , parody.

in 1818 appeared collection of poems entitled foliage, followed in 1819 hero , leander, , bacchus , ariadne. in same year reprinted these 2 works story of rimini , descent of liberty title of poetical works, , started indicator, in of best work appeared. both keats , shelley belonged circle gathered around him @ hampstead, included william hazlitt, charles lamb, bryan procter, benjamin haydon, charles cowden clarke, c.w. dilke, walter coulson , john hamilton reynolds. group known hunt circle, or, pejoratively, cockney school.

some of hunt s popular poems jenny kiss d me , abou ben adhem , angel , night-rain in summer .