Philip James Bailey (22 April 1816 – 6 September 1902) was an English spasmodic poet, best known as the author of ''Festus''.

Life

Bailey was born on 22 April 1816 in Nottingham, the only son of

Thomas Bailey Thomas or Tom Bailey may refer to: Sports * Tom Bailey (footballer) (1888–?), English footballer * Thomas Bailey (footballer, born 1904) (1904–1983), Welsh footballer * Tom Bailey (American football) (1949–2005), American football player * ...

by his first wife, Mary Taylor. He was brought up on the poetry of Lord Byron. Educated in Nottingham, he was tutored in classics by Benjamin Carpenter, a Unitarian minister. Aged 15, he matriculated at Glasgow University. Dropping the idea of becoming a Presbyterian minister, he began in 1833 to study law in a solicitor's office in London. On 26 April 1834 he entered

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 7 May 1840, but never practised law. In 1836 Bailey retired to his father's house at Old Basford, near Nottingham, to write. In 1856 he received a civil list pension in recognition of his literary work. In 1864 he moved to Jersey, and travelled. In 1876 he returned to England, settling first at Lee near Ilfracombe, and in 1885 at

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

. Finally he retired to Nottingham. In June 1901, he received the honorary Doctor of Laws (DLL) from the University of Glasgow. Bailey died after an attack of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

on 6 September 1902. He was buried in Nottingham Rock (aka Church) Cemetery after a service at

St Andrew's Church, Nottingham St. Andrew's Church Nottingham is a parish church in the Church of England. History The church was built as a daughter church to St. Ann's Church, Nottingham between 1869 and 1871 by William Knight, and extended by Sidney Roberts Stevenson in ...

Works

Bailey is known almost exclusively by his one voluminous poem, ''Festus'', first published anonymously in 1839, and then expanded with a second edition in 1845. A vast pageant of theology and philosophy, it comprised in some twelve divisions an attempt to represent the relation of God to man, and to postulate "a gospel of faith and reason combined." Among the admirers of ''Festus'' was Tennyson. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow imitated it in ''The Golden Legend'' (1851). Bailey himself described his approach with the neologism "omnist".

Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...

was an enthusiast for the work, if with critical reservations. The subsequent poems of Bailey, ''The Angel World'' (1850), ''The Mystic'' (1855), ''The Age'' (1858), and ''The Universal Hymn'' (1867), were failures. The author then incorporated large extracts of these into the later editions of ''Festus'', which ultimately extended to over 40,000 lines when the final edition was published in 1889. At one time his work was immensely popular, admired for its 'fire of imagination' (

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabet ...

), but, like the other works of the

Spasmodic school The spasmodic poets were a group of British poets of the Victorian era. The term was coined by William Edmonstoune Aytoun with some derogatory as well as humorous intention. The epithet itself is attributed, by Thomas Carlyle, to Lord Byron. Spa ...

of which Bailey was considered the father, it is now little read. In 2021,

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

published a critical edition of ''Festus'', edited by

Mischa Willett Mischa Willett is an American poet and essayist best known for his work in the poetic elegy and for his academic championship of the Spasmodic poets. Biography Willett was born in Phoenix, Arizona, to a family associated with People's Church, a ...

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External links

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Festus poem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Philip James 1816 births 1902 deaths People from Nottingham English male poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers

Life

Works

See also

Notes

References

External links