Matthew Green (1696–1737) was a British

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

born of

Nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

parents. For many years he held a post in the

custom house A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

. The few anecdotes that have been preserved show him to have been as witty as his poems would lead one to expect: on one occasion, when the government was about to cut off funds that paid for milk for the custom house cats, Green submitted a petition in their name, winning a reprieve. He died unmarried at his lodging in Nag's Head Court, Gracechurch Street,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in 1737. His ''Grotto'', a poem on Queen Caroline's grotto at

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

was printed in

1732 Events January–March * January 21 – Russia and Persia sign the Treaty of Riascha at Resht. Based on the terms of the agreement, Russia will no longer establish claims over Persian territories. * February 9 – The Swedish ...

; and his chief poem, ''The Spleen'', in

1737 Events January–March * January 5 – Spain and the Holy Roman Empire sign instruments of cession at Pontremoli in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in Italy, with the Empire receiving control of Tuscany and the Grand Duchy of Parma a ...

with a preface by his friend Richard Glover. These and some other short poems were printed in Robert Dodsley's collection (

1748 Events January–March * January 12 – Ahmad Shah Durrani captures Lahore. * January 27 – A fire at the prison and barracks at Kinsale, in Ireland, kills 54 of the prisoners of war housed there. An estimated 500 prison ...

), and subsequently in various editions of the British poets. They were edited in

1796 Events January–March * January 16 – The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic. (The next Dutch general elections are held in 1888.) * February 1 – The capital ...

with a preface by

John Aikin John Aikin (15 January 1747 – 7 December 1822) was an English medical doctor and surgeon. Later in life he devoted himself wholly to biography and writing in periodicals. Life He was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England, son o ...

and in

1854 Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The Teut ...

Robert Aris Willmott Robert Aris Willmott (30 January 1809 – 27 May 1863) was an English cleric and author. Christened Robert Eldridge Aris Willmott, he never used his second Christian name. Life Willmott -- the son of a solicitor, who married, about 1803, to Mar ...

with the poems of

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classics, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his ''Elegy Written in a Country ...

and others. ''The Spleen'', which was not originally intended for publication, is an epistle to

Cuthbert Jackson Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nort ...

, advocating cheerfulness, exercise and a quiet content as remedies. It is full of witty sayings. Thomas Gray said of it: "There is a profusion of wit everywhere; reading would have formed his judgment, and harmonized his verse, for even his wood-notes often break out into strains of real poetry and music". Despite this praise, Green is thought of as a "one-poem" poet, to the point that he became known as "Spleen-Green." In an age of orthodoxy, Green had an original turn of mind. His idiosyncratic conversation 'occasioned one of the commissioners of the Customs, a very dull man, to observe that he did not know how it was, but Green always expressed himself in a different manner from other people'. Alexander Chalmers, ''The Works of the English Poets'', 21 Vols. (London: J. Johnson, 1810) xv. p 158. Green is perhaps best remembered (if at all) for witty aphorisms, such as: * "By happy alchemy of mind / They turn to pleasure all they find." * "Laugh and be well." * "Fling but a stone, the giant dies." (''The Spleen'') * "Though pleased to see the dolphins play / I mind my compass and my way." (''The Spleen'')

References

External links

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Matthew Green
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
1696 births 1737 deaths 18th-century English poets 18th-century English writers 18th-century English male writers English male poets {{England-poet-stub