Ebenezer Jones (20 January 1820 – 1860) wrote a good deal of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

of very unequal merit, but at his best shows a true poetic vein. He was befriended by Browning and

Rossetti The House of Rossetti is an Italian noble, and Boyar Princely family appearing in the 14th-15th century, originating among the patrician families, during the Republic of Genoa, with branches of the family establishing themselves in the Kingdom o ...

Life

He was born in Canonbury Square,

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

on 20 January 1820. His father was of Welsh background; his mother, Hannah Sumner, was of an Essex family. They were strict Calvinists. His father died, and at 17 he was a clerk in a city firm connected with the tea-trade. Jones was for a short time a follower of

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. He strove to improve factory working conditions, promoted e ...

. He assisted his friend W. J. Linton with political journalism, and worked for the radical publishers

John Cleave John Cleave (born circa 1790) was a British, London based Chartist leader, a printer and newspaper publisher. Early career Born of Irish stock, as a young boy John Cleave went to sea and is first documented for his political activities as lat ...

and

Henry Hetherington Henry Hetherington (June 1792 – 24 August 1849) was an English printer, bookseller, publisher and newspaper proprietor who campaigned for social justice, a free press, universal suffrage and religious freethought. Together with his close asso ...

. He went down with

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

, and died on 14 September 1860.

Works

Jones as a poet was influenced by

Percy Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

and

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, Dum ...

, and wrote in an exaggerated style. ''Studies of Sensation and Event'' (1843) was a critical failure, though not with

Bryan Waller Procter Bryan Waller Procter (pseud. Barry Cornwall) (21 November 17875 October 1874) was an English poet who served as a Commissioner in Lunacy. Life and career Born at Leeds, Yorkshire, he was educated at Harrow School, where he had for contemporarie ...

and Richard Hengist Horne. Three late poems, "To the Snow," "To Death," and "When the World is Burning", attracted attention. Jones also wrote a short book entitled ''The Land Monopoly: The Suffering and Demoralization Caused by It; and the Justice and Expediency of its Abolition'', published in 1849.

Posthumous reputation

For a while Jones was forgotten. In 1870, however,

Dante Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

wrote in ''

Notes and Queries ''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...

'' commented that he would some day be disinterred.

William Bell Scott William Bell Scott (1811–1890) was a Scottish artist in oils and watercolour and occasionally printmaking. He was also a poet and art teacher, and his posthumously published reminiscences give a chatty and often vivid picture of life in the ...

agreed, and in 1878 Richard Herne Shepherd wrote a brief account of Ebenezer Jones. There were biographical papers in the '' Athenæum'' of September and October 1878, by Theodore Watts; and in 1879 Shepherd published a nearly complete edition of ''Studies of Sensation and Event'' (with author's corrections), additional pieces, a memoir by Ebenezer's brother Sumner, and reminiscences by Linton. A proposed second volume, containing prose writings and additional poems, preserved by his friend Horace Harral (1817–1905), never appeared.

Family

Jones married Caroline Atherstone, niece of

Edwin Atherstone Edwin Atherstone (1788–1872) was a poet and novelist. His works, which were planned on an imposing scale, attracted some temporary attention and applause, but are now forgotten. His chief poem, ''The Fall of Nineveh'', consisting of thirty boo ...

, but they separated.

References

;Attribution 1820 births 1860 deaths English male poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers {{England-poet-stub