The Rhymers' Club was a group of

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 ...

-based male poets, founded in 1890 by

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

and

Ernest Rhys Ernest Percival Rhys ( ; 17 July 1859 – 25 May 1946) was a Welsh-English writer, best known for his role as founding editor of the Everyman's Library series of affordable classics. He wrote essays, stories, poetry, novels and plays. Early life ...

. Originally not much more than a

dining club A dining club (UK) or eating club (US) is a social group, usually requiring membership (which may, or may not be available only to certain people), which meets for dinners and discussion on a regular basis. They may also often have guest speakers. ...

, it produced anthologies of poetry in 1892 and 1894.''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (2010) They met at the London pub ‘

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a Grade II listed public house at 145 Fleet Street, on Wine Office Court, City of London. Rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire of 1666, the pub is known for its literary associations, with its regular patrons havi ...

’ in Fleet Street and in the 'Domino Room' of the ''

Café Royal A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

''. Those who took part also included

Ernest Dowson Ernest Christopher Dowson (2 August 186723 February 1900) was an English poet, novelist, and short-story writer who is often associated with the Decadent movement. Biography Ernest Dowson was born in Lee, then in Kent, in 1867. His great-uncle ...

Lionel Johnson Lionel Pigot Johnson (15 March 1867 – 4 October 1902) was an English poet, essayist, and critic (although he claimed Irish descent and wrote on Celtic themes). Life Johnson was born in Broadstairs, Kent, England in 1867 and educated at Win ...

Francis Thompson Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...

Richard Le Gallienne Richard Le Gallienne (20 January 1866 – 15 September 1947) was an English author and poet. The British-American actress Eva Le Gallienne (1899–1991) was his daughter by his second marriage to Danish journalist Julie Nørregaard (1863–1942) ...

, John Gray, John Davidson, Edwin J. Ellis,

Victor Plarr Victor Gustave Plarr (21 June 1863 – 28 January 1929) was an English poet; he is probably best known for the poem ''Epitaphium Citharistriae''. Life He was born near Strasbourg, France, of a French father from Alsace, Gustave Plarr, and an En ...

Selwyn Image Selwyn Image (17 February 1849, Bodiam, Sussex – 21 August 1930, London) was an important British artist, designer, writer and poet associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. He designed stained-glass windows, furniture, embroidery, and w ...

Lord Alfred Douglas Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carried a homoer ...

, Arthur Cecil Hillier,

John Todhunter John Todhunter (30 December 1839 – 25 October 1916) was an Irish poet and playwright who wrote seven volumes of poetry, and several plays. Life Todhunter was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Thomas Harvey Todhunter, a Quaker merchant ...

, G.A. Greene,

Arthur Symons Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic and magazine editor. Life Born in Milford Haven, Wales, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy. In 1884 ...

Ernest Radford Ernest William Radford (1857–1919) was an English poet, critic and socialist. He was a follower of William Morris, and one of the organisers in the Arts and Crafts Movement; he acted as secretary to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. He w ...

, and Thomas William Rolleston.

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

attended some meetings that were held in private homes. The group as a whole matched quite closely Yeats' retrospective idea of 'the tragic generation', destined for failure and in many cases early death. Along with the social element of the Rhymers' Club, they published two volumes of verse. The first, entitled ''The Book of the Rhymers' Club'' was published by

Elkin Mathews Charles Elkin Mathews (1851 – 10 November 1921) was a British publisher and bookseller who played an important role in the literary life of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mathews was born in Gravesend, and learned his tr ...

in 1892. ''The Second Book of the Rhymers' Club'' appeared two years later in 1894, published by the recently merged Elkin Mathews and John Lane. They had print runs of 450 and 650 respectively. Those of the group appearing in these two volumes were: T.W. Rolleston,

, W.B. Yeats,

, Arthur Cecil Hillier,

, G.A. Greene, Edwin J. Ellis, and

. This seemingly dualistic existence of the club (i.e. on one hand meeting informally at the Cheshire Cheese or in private homes; on the other hand producing anthologies of verse) makes determining the club's members rather tricky at times. There are certain poets who were known to have attended meetings but never had their verse appear in either of the books. Also, certain poets feature in one book without featuring in the other. What is certain is that all the members were men. Jad Adams, ‘Rhymers' Club (act. 1890–1895)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
accessed 26 Jan 2017
/ref> By the time

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

wrote his ''Bohemia in London'' in 1907, the group had already passed into legend: "... the Rhymer's Club used to meet, to drink from tankards, smoke clay pipes, and recite their own poetry". In fact, Ransome's research was less than thorough; the group continued to meet in some form until about 1904.

References

* Jeffares, A. Norman, ''W.B. Yeats: A New Biography'', (Hutchinson 1988).

References

Further reading