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Arthur Hugh Clough ( ; 1 January 181913 November 1861) was an English poet, an educationalist, and the devoted assistant to
Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...
. He was the brother of suffragist
Anne Clough Anne Jemima Clough (20 January 182027 February 1892) was an early English suffragist and a promoter of higher education for women. She was the first principal of Newnham College. Life Clough was born at Liverpool, Lancashire, the daughter of c ...
and father of
Blanche Athena Clough Blanche Athena Clough (1861–1960) was a British classicist and educational administrator who was the Principal of Newnham College (1920–1923). Biography Clough came up to Newnham College in 1884 to read Classics, some 13 years after its foun ...
who both became principals of
Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millic ...
.


Life

Arthur Clough was born in
Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
to James Butler Clough, a cotton merchant of
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
descent, and Anne Perfect, from
Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wak ...
in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
. James Butler Clough was a younger son of a landed gentry family that had been living at Plas Clough in
Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
since 1567. In 1822 the family moved to the United States, and Clough's early childhood was spent mainly in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
. In 1828 Clough and his older brother Charles Butler Clough (later head of the Clough family of Llwyn Offa, Flintshire and Boughton House,
Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
, a
magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
and Deputy Lieutenant) returned to England to attend school in
Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
. Holidays were often spent at Beaumaris. In 1829 Clough began attending
Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...
, then under Thomas Arnold, whose belief in rigorous education and lifestyles he accepted. (See Muscular Christianity.) Cut off to a large degree from his family, he passed a somewhat solitary boyhood, devoted to the school and to early literary efforts in the ''Rugby Magazine''. In 1836 his parents returned to Liverpool, and in 1837 he won a scholarship to
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
. Here his contemporaries included Benjamin Jowett,
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, (13 December 1815 – 18 July 1881), known as Dean Stanley, was an English Anglican priest and ecclesiastical historian. He was Dean of Westminster from 1864 to 1881. His position was that of a Broad Churchman and he wa ...
,
John Campbell Shairp John Campbell Shairp (30 July 1819 – 18 September 1885) was a Scottish critic and man of letters. Life He was born at Houstoun House, Linlithgowshire, the third son of Major Norman Shairp of Houstoun, and was educated at Edinburgh Acade ...
, William George Ward and
Frederick Temple Frederick Temple (30 November 1821 – 23 December 1902) was an English academic, teacher and churchman, who served as Bishop of Exeter (1869–1885), Bishop of London (1885–1896) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902). Early life T ...
. Matthew Arnold, four years his junior, arrived the term after Clough had graduated. Clough and Arnold enjoyed an intense friendship in Oxford. Oxford, in 1837, was in the full swirl of the High Church movement led by
John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican priest and later as a Catholic priest and ...
. Clough was for a time influenced by this movement, but eventually rejected it. He surprised everyone by graduating from Oxford with only Second Class Honours, but won a fellowship with a tutorship at Oriel College. He became unwilling to teach the doctrines of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
, as his tutorship required of him, and in 1848 he resigned the position and travelled to Paris, where he witnessed the revolution of 1848.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a cham ...
was also in Paris at that time, and Clough saw him daily in May and June, and months later after his return to England. As Edward Everett Hale tells the story: :Clough accompanied mersonto Liverpool to see him off on his return to the United States, saying sadly, "What shall we do without you? Think where we are. Carlyle has led us all out into the desert and he has left us there" a remark which was exactly true. Emerson said in reply that very many of the fine young men in England had said this to him as he went up and down in his journeyings there. "And I put my hand upon his head as we walked, and I said, 'Clough, I consecrate you Bishop of All England. It shall be your part to go up and down through the desert to find out these wanderers and to lead them into the promised land'." In the summer of 1848, Clough wrote his long poem ''
The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich ''The Bothie of Toper-na-fuosich'', subtitled "A Long-Vacation Pastoral" is a lengthy narrative poem by the Victorian poet Arthur Hugh Clough, which was critically well received at the time. The work was written in the summer of 1848. The poem ...
'', a farewell to the academic life, following it up with poems from his time as student and tutor, in the shared publication ''
Ambarvalia Ambarvalia was a Roman agricultural fertility rite held on 29 May in honor of Ceres and Dea Dia. At these festivals they sacrificed a bull, a sow, and a sheep, which, before the sacrifice, were led in procession thrice around the fields; whence ...
''. In 1849, he witnessed another revolution, the siege of the Roman Republic, which inspired another long poem, ''Amours de Voyage'' (reprinted by
Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. The ...
in 2009). ''Easter Day'', written in Naples, was a passionate denial of the
Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...
and the forerunner of the unfinished poem ''Dipsychus''. Since 1846, Clough had been financially responsible for his mother and sister (following the death of his father and younger brother and the marriage of his elder brother). In the autumn of 1849, to provide for them, he became principal of University Hall, a hostel for Unitarian students at University College, London, but found its ideology as oppressive as that which he had left behind in Oxford. He soon found that he disliked London, in spite of the friendship of
Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, ...
and his wife Jane Welsh Carlyle. A prospect of a post in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
led him to engage himself to Blanche Mary Shore Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith, of Combe Hurst, SurreyA Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, fifth edition, vol. I, Sir Bernard Burke, 1871, p. 251 and Mary Shore (sister to
William Nightingale William Edward Nightingale ( Shore; 15 February 1794 – 5 January 1874) was a noted English Unitarian and the father of Florence Nightingale, "the lady with the lamp". Biography William Nightingale (known also as W.E.N.) was born William Edw ...
) but when that failed to materialize, he travelled in 1852 to
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, encouraged by
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a cham ...
. There he remained for several months, lecturing and editing
Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
for the booksellers, until in 1853 the offer of an examinership in the Education Office brought him to London once more. He married Miss Shore Smith and pursued a steady official career, diversified only by an appointment in 1856 as secretary to a commission sent to study foreign military education. He devoted enormous energy to working as an unpaid secretarial assistant to his wife's cousin
Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...
. He wrote virtually no poetry for six years. In 1860, his health began to fail. He visited first
Great Malvern Great Malvern is an area of the spa town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern flanks of the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, and ...
and
Freshwater, Isle of Wight Freshwater is a large village and civil parish at the western end of the Isle of Wight, England. The southern, coastal part of the village is Freshwater Bay, named for the adjacent small cove. Freshwater sits at the western end of ...
. From April 1861, he travelled strenuously in
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
and France, where he met up with the Tennyson family. Despite his fragile health, this Continental tour renewed a state of euphoria like that of 1848–49, and he quickly wrote the elements of his last long poem, ''Mari Magno''. His wife joined him on a voyage from
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
to
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, where he contracted
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
. He died in
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
on 13 November 1861. He is buried in the English Cemetery there, in a tomb that his wife and sister had Susan Horner design from
Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 17904 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in t ...
's book on
Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1, ...
. Matthew Arnold wrote the elegy of '' Thyrsis'' to his memory. Clough and his wife had three children: Arthur, Florence, and Blanche Athena. The youngest child,
Blanche Athena Clough Blanche Athena Clough (1861–1960) was a British classicist and educational administrator who was the Principal of Newnham College (1920–1923). Biography Clough came up to Newnham College in 1884 to read Classics, some 13 years after its foun ...
(1861–1960), devoted her life to
Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millic ...
, where her aunt (his sister Anne) was principal.


Writings

Shortly before he left Oxford, during the Great Famine of Ireland of 1845–1849, Clough wrote an ethical pamphlet addressed to the undergraduates, with the title, ''A Consideration of Objections against the Retrenchment Association at Oxford'' (1847). His
Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
ic pastoral ''The Bothie of Toper-na-fuosich'', afterwards renamed ''Tober-na-Vuolich'' (1848), and written in hexameter is full of
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...
, reading-party humours and Scottish scenery. ''Ambarvalia'' (1849), published jointly with his friend Thomas Burbidge, contains shorter poems of various dates from circa 1840 onwards. ''Amours de Voyage'', a novel in verse, was written at
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
in 1849; ''Dipsychus'', a rather amorphous satire, at
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
in 1850; and the idylls which make up ''Mari Magno, or Tales on Board'', in 1861. A few lyric and elegiac pieces, later in date than the ''Ambarvalia'', complete Clough's poetic output. His only considerable enterprise in prose was a revision of a 17th-century translation of
Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
(called the " Dryden Translation," but actually the product of translators other than Dryden) which occupied him from 1852, and was published as ''Plutarch's Lives'' (1859). Clough's output is small and much of it appeared posthumously.
Anthony Kenny Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny (born 16 March 1931) is a British philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of Wittgenstein of whose literary ...
notes that the editions prepared by Clough's widow, Blanche, have "been criticized ... for omitting, in the interests of propriety, significant passages in ''Dipsychus'' and other poems." But editing Clough's literary remains has proven a challenging task even for later editors. Kenny goes on to state that "it was no mean feat to have placed almost all of Clough's poetry in the public domain within a decade, and to have secured for it general critical and popular acclaim." His long poems have a certain narrative and psychological penetration, and some of his lyrics have a strength of melody to match their depth of thought. He has been regarded as one of the most forward-looking English poets of the 19th century, in part due to a sexual frankness that shocked his contemporaries. He often went against the popular religious and social ideals of his day, and his verse is said to have the melancholy and the perplexity of an age of transition, although ''Through a Glass Darkly'' suggests that he did not lack certain
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
beliefs of his own, and in particular a belief in the afterlife where the struggle for virtue will be rewarded. His work is interesting to students of meter, owing to the experiments which he made, in the ''Bothie'' and elsewhere, with English hexameters and other types of verse formed upon classical models. Clough wrote the short poem " Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth", a rousing call invoking military metaphors to keep up the good fight; which fight is unspecified, but it was written in the wake of the defeat of
Chartism Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, ...
in 1848. Other short poems include "Through a Glass Darkly", an exploration of Christian faith and doubt, and "The Latest Decalogue", a satirical take on the Ten Commandments. "The Latest Decalogue's" couplet on murder, "Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive officiously to keep alive:" is often quoted – usually out of context – in debates on medical ethics in the sense that it is not right to struggle to keep terminally ill people alive, especially if they are suffering. Further, this couplet influenced
Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
's Three Laws of Robotics (in particular, the First Law's "or through inaction" clause).Asimov, Isaac (1979). ''In Memory Yet Green''. Doubleday. Chapters 21 through 26 . Broadcaster Geoffrey Robertson QC used the phrase in an episode of his television series, Geoffrey Robertson's Hypotheticals ("Affairs of the Heart," ABC, 1989), illustrating this point of view; it is unclear whether Robertson was aware Clough's version of the Fifth Commandment had nothing to do with the alleviation of suffering but was instead referring to those who do not afford—in any circumstances—due respect to the sanctity of human life. Clough himself gives no indication that the couplet on murder might refer to the medical profession in general or to the treatment of the terminally ill in particular; indeed, the entire text of "The Latest Decalogue" satirizes the hypocrisy, materialism, the selective ethics and self-interest common to all of mankind. This bitter judgement of humanity should be balanced against the more compassionate view he displays in other poems such as "Through A Glass Darkly": "Ah yet when all is thought and said, the heart still overrules the head; still what we hope we must believe, and what is given us receive". In the novel '' The French Lieutenant's Woman'' by John Fowles, several chapters have epigraphs from poems by Clough: "Duty" (1841), ''
The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich ''The Bothie of Toper-na-fuosich'', subtitled "A Long-Vacation Pastoral" is a lengthy narrative poem by the Victorian poet Arthur Hugh Clough, which was critically well received at the time. The work was written in the summer of 1848. The poem ...
'' (1848) and "Poems" (1841–1852).


Notes

Attribution: *


References

* * * Clough's ''Poems'' (1862) edited, with a short memoir, by F. T. Palgrave, *''Letters and Remains'', with a longer memoir, privately printed in 1865. *Both volumes published together in 1869, and reprinted *Robindra Biswas, ''Arthur Hugh Clough: Towards a Reconsideration''(1972) * Samuel Waddington, ''Arthur Hugh Clough: A Monograph'' (1883) *
Anthony Kenny Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny (born 16 March 1931) is a British philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of Wittgenstein of whose literary ...
, ''Arthur Hugh Clough, a Poet's Life'' (2005) *Howard F. Lowry and Ralph Leslie Rusk (editors), ''Emerson–Clough Letters'', Hamden: Archon Books, 1968. *Stefano Paolucci
''Emerson Writes to Clough: A Lost Letter Found in Italy''
in ''Emerson Society Papers'', vol. 19, n. 1, Spring 2008. *Selections from the poems were made by Mrs Clough for the ''Golden Treasury'' series in 1894, and by E. Rhys in 1896. *"The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1969), by John Fowles.


External links

* * *
The Poetry of Arthur Hugh Clough''Poem Hunter''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clough, Arthur Hugh 1819 births 1861 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford Academics of University College London 19th-century English poets Writers from Charleston, South Carolina People educated at Rugby School Victorian poets Poets from Liverpool English male poets