The Shenstone Circle, also known as the Warwickshire Coterie, was a
literary circle of
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 wri ...
s living in and around
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
from the 1740s to the 1760s.
At its heart lay the poet and landscape gardener
William Shenstone
William Shenstone (18 November 171411 February 1763) was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, '' The Leasowes''.
Biography
Son of Thomas Shenstone and Anne Penn, ...
, who lived at ''
The Leasowes
The Leasowes is a 57-hectare (around 141 acre) estate in Halesowen, historically in the county of Shropshire, England, comprising house and gardens. The parkland is now listed Grade I on English Heritage's Register of Parks and Gardens and the ...
'' in
Halesowen
Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England.
Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and fro ...
to the west of Birmingham, and whose role as patron and mentor to Midlands poets saw him compared to the Roman patron of the arts
Gaius Maecenas
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. During the rei ...
. Members of the group included Shenstone's near neighbour in Halesowen
John Scott Hylton;
John Pixell of
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
;
William Somervile
William Somervile or Somerville (2 September 167517 July 1742) was an English poet who wrote in many genres and is especially remembered for "The Chace", in which he pioneered an early English georgic.
Life
Somervile, the eldest son of a long e ...
of
Edstone
The "EdStone" was a large stone tablet which was commissioned by the Labour Party during the 2015 United Kingdom general election. The stone was tall and featured six election pledges carved into it, together with the Labour logo, and a cop ...
in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
;
Lady Luxborough of
Barrells Hall near
Henley-in-Arden
Henley-in-Arden (also known as simply Henley) is a town in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. The name is a reference to the former Forest of Arden. Henley is known for its variety of historic buildings, some of which date ...
;
Richard Jago of
Snitterfield
Snitterfield is a village and civil parish in the Stratford on Avon district of Warwickshire, England, less than to the north of the A46 road, from Stratford upon Avon, from Warwick and from Coventry. The population of the civil parish at t ...
, whom Shenstone knew from their time together at
Solihull School
Solihull School is a coeducational Independent school (UK), independent day school in Solihull, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Founded in 1560, it is the oldest school in the town and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmi ...
and
John Perry of
Clent
Clent is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, southwest of Birmingham and close to the edge of the West Midlands conurbation. At the 2001 census it had a population of 2,600.
Parish history
The pari ...
.
References
Bibliography
*{{Citation, last=Suarez, first=Michael F. , year=1997, contribution=Who's Who in Robert Dodsley's Collection of Poems by Several Hands, contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TpsY5nmRPr0C&pg=PA120, editor1-last=Suarez, editor1-first=Michael F., editor2-last=Dodsley, editor2-first=Robert, title=Collection of Poems by Several Hands
, publication-place=London, publisher=Routledge, volume=I, pages=120–226, isbn=0415143829, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TpsY5nmRPr0C, accessdate=2012-10-24
Literary circles
History of Birmingham, West Midlands