The Rhymers' Club was a group of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
-based male poets, founded in 1890 by
W. B. Yeats and
Ernest Rhys. Originally not much more than a
dining club, 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,
Lionel Johnson,
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,
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, 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,
Ernest Radford, and
Thomas William Rolleston.
Oscar Wilde 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,
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 ...
,
W.B. Yeats,
Richard Le Gallienne,
Lionel Johnson, Arthur Cecil Hillier,
Ernest Dowson,
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 ...
,
Ernest Radford,
Arthur Symons, G.A. Greene,
Edwin J. Ellis, and
Ernest Rhys.
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
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By the time Arthur Ransome 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).
Further reading
* Norman Alford (1994) ''The Rhymers' Club: Poets of the Tragic Generation'', Palgrave Macmilla
* Murray Pittock (1986) ''Decadence and the English tradition'', Oxford Research Archiv
{{Schools of poetry
1890 establishments in England
English literary movements
English poetry
Culture in London
Cultural organisations based in London
Literary societies
Social history of London
Organizations established in 1890
Poetry organizations