Philip James Bailey (22 April 1816 – 6 September 1902) was an English
spasmodic poet 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.
Sp ...
, best known as the author of ''Festus''.
Life
Bailey was born on 22 April 1816 in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, the only son of
Thomas Bailey by his first wife, Mary Taylor. He was brought up on the poetry of
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
. Educated in Nottingham, he was tutored in classics by Benjamin Carpenter, a Unitarian minister. Aged 15, he matriculated at
Glasgow University
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, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
. 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
Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions - state, occupational and personal pensions.
The state pension is based on ...
in recognition of his literary work. In 1864 he moved to
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
, and travelled. In 1876 he returned to England, settling first at Lee near
Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs.
The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and along the ...
, 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
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...
(DLL) from the
University of Glasgow
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, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
.
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.
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
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
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.
See also
*
Panarchy Panarchy may refer to:
* Panarchy (Dartmouth), student society at Dartmouth College
* Panarchy (ecology)
A social-ecological system consists of 'a bio-geo-physical' unit and its associated social actors and institutions. Social-ecological system ...
*
Spasmodism
Notes
References
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
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