Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...

, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhood in the book '' Father and Son'' has been described as the first psychological biography. His friendship with the sculptor

Hamo Thornycroft Sir William Hamo Thornycroft (9 March 185018 December 1925) was an English sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues, including the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Palace of Westminster. He was a keen student of classi ...

inspired a successful career as a historian of late-Victorian sculpture. His translations of

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

helped to promote that playwright in England, and he encouraged the careers of

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

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

. He also lectured in English literature at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Early life

Gosse was the son of Philip Henry Gosse and

Emily Bowes Emily Bowes Gosse (10 November 1806 – 10 February 1857) was a prolific religious tract writer and author of evangelical Christian poems and articles.1755-9383 * Gosse, Edmund, '' Father and Son; a study of two temperaments'' (William Heinem ...

. His father was a naturalist and his mother an illustrator who published a number of books of poetry. Both were deeply committed to a small Protestant sect, the

. His childhood was initially happy as they spent their summers in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

where his father was developing the ideas which gave rise to the craze for the

marine aquarium A marine aquarium is an aquarium that keeps ocean, marine plants and animals in a contained environment. Marine aquaria are further subdivided by hobbyists into fish only (FO), fish only with live rock (FOWLR), and reef aquarium, reef aquaria. Fi ...

. After his mother died of breast cancer when he was eight and they moved to Devon, his life with his father became increasingly strained by his father's expectations that he should follow in his religious tradition. Gosse was sent to a boarding school where he began to develop his own interests in literature. His father re-married in 1860 the deeply religious Quaker spinster Eliza Brightwen (1813–1900), whose brother Thomas tried to encourage Edmund to become a banker. He later gave an account of his childhood in the book '' Father and Son'' which has been described as the first psychological biography. At the age of 18 and working in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London, he broke away from his father's influence in a dramatic

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

. Nearly a century after Gosse's death, a study based on his published remarks and writings about his father concluded that in varying degrees, they are "riddled with error, distortion, contradictions, unwarranted claims, misrepresentation, abuse of the written record, and unfamiliarity with the subject." Eliza Gosse's brother George was the husband of Eliza Elder Brightwen (1830–1906), a naturalist and author, whose first book was published in 1890. After Eliza Elder Brightwen's death, Edmund Gosse arranged for the publication of her two posthumous works ''Last Hours with Nature'' (1908) and ''Eliza Brightwen, the Life and Thoughts of a Naturalist'' (1909), both edited by W. H. Chesson, and the latter book with an introduction and epilogue by Gosse. Gosse was second cousin of Annie Morgan, also of strict Plymouth Brethren upbringing, who married physician Alexander Waugh (1840–1906) and was mother of

Arthur Waugh Arthur Waugh (27 August 1866 – 26 June 1943) was an English author, literary critic, and publisher. He was the father of the authors Alec Waugh and Evelyn Waugh. Early life Waugh was born in Midsomer Norton, Somerset in 1866, elder son ...

and grandmother to the writers

Alec Waugh Alexander Raban Waugh (8 July 1898 – 3 September 1981) was a British novelist, the elder brother of the better-known Evelyn Waugh, uncle of Auberon Waugh and son of Arthur Waugh, author, literary critic, and publisher. His first wife was Bar ...

and Evelyn Waugh.

Career

Gosse started his career as assistant librarian at the

from 1867 alongside the songwriter

Theo Marzials Théophile-Jules-Henri "Theo" Marzials (20 December 1850 – 2 February 1920) was a British composer, singer and poet.Howse, Christopher. ''The Daily Telegraph''. 18 October 2006. Did this man really write the worst poem ever?. Retrieved 16 Augu ...

, a post which

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working ...

helped his father obtain for him. An early book of poetry published with a friend

John Arthur Blaikie John Arthur Blaikie (1849 – 25 December 1917) was an English poet and journalist, born in Poplar, Middlesex, and died in Kensington. Works *''Madrigals, Songs, and Sonnets'' (1870), co-author Edmund Gosse *''Love's Victory'' (1890) *''A Sextet ...

gave him an introduction to the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

. Trips to Denmark and Norway in 1872–74, where he visited

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

and Frederik Paludan-Müller, led to publishing success with reviews of

and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in the '' Cornhill Magazine''. He was soon reviewing Scandinavian literature in a variety of publications. He became acquainted with

Alfred, Lord 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 ...

and friends with

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

and

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

. In the meantime, he published his first solo volume of poetry, ''On Viol and Flute'' (1873) and a work of criticism, ''Studies in the Literature of Northern Europe'' (1879). Gosse and

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

first met while teenagers, and after 1879, when Stevenson came to London on occasion, he would stay with Gosse and his family. In 1875 Gosse became a translator at the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

, a post which he held until 1904 and gave him time for his writing and enabled him to marry and start a family. From 1884 to 1890, Gosse lectured in English literature at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, despite his own lack of academic qualifications. Cambridge University gave him an honorary MA in 1886, and Trinity College formally admitted him as a member, 'by order of the Council', in 1889. He made a successful American lecture tour in 1884 and was much in demand as a speaker and on committees as well as publishing a string of critical works as well as poetry and histories. He became, in the 1880s, one of the most important art critics dealing with sculpture (writing mainly for the ''Saturday Review'') with an interest spurred on by his intimate friendship with the sculptor

. Gosse would eventually write the first history of the renaissance of late-Victorian sculpture in 1894 in a four-part series for '' The Art Journal'', dubbing the movement the

New Sculpture New Sculpture was a movement in late 19th-century British sculpture with an emphasis on naturalistic poses and spiritual subjects. The movement was characterised by the production of free-standing statues and statuettes of 'ideal' figures from poe ...

. In 1904, he became the librarian of the

House of Lords Library The House of Lords Library is the library and information resource of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provides Members of the House and their staff with books, Parliamentary material and reference ...

, where he exercised considerable influence till he retired in 1914. He wrote for the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', and was an expert on

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classics, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his ''Elegy Written in a Country ...

, William Congreve,

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

, Jeremy Taylor, and

Coventry Patmore Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore (23 July 1823 – 26 November 1896) was an English poet and literary critic. He is best known for his book of poetry ''The Angel in the House'', a narrative poem about the Victorian ideal of a happy marriage. A ...

. He can also take credit for introducing

's work to the British public. Gosse and

William Archer William or Bill Archer may refer to: * William Archer (British politician) (1677–1739), British politician * William S. Archer (1789–1855), U.S. Senator and Representative from Virginia * William Beatty Archer (1793–1870), Illinois politician ...

collaborated in translating '' Hedda Gabler'' and ''

The Master Builder ''The Master Builder'' ( no, Bygmester Solness) is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's more significant and revealing works. Performance The play was published ...

''; those two translations were performed throughout the 20th century. Gosse and Archer, along with

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, were perhaps the literary critics most responsible for popularising Ibsen's plays among English-speaking audiences. Gosse was instrumental in getting official financial support for two struggling Irish writers, WB Yeats in 1910 and James Joyce in 1915. This enabled both writers to continue their chosen careers. His most famous book is the autobiographical '' Father and Son'', about his troubled relationship with his

father, Philip, which was dramatised for television by

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...

. Published anonymously in 1907, this followed a biography he had written of his father as naturalist, when he was urged by George Moore among others to write more about his own past. Historians caution, though, that notwithstanding its psychological insight and literary excellence, Gosse's narrative is often at odds with the verifiable facts of his own and his parents' lives. In later life, he became a formative influence on

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...

, the nephew of his lifelong friend, Hamo Thornycroft. Sassoon's mother was a friend of Gosse's wife, Ellen. Gosse was also closely tied to figures such as

John Addington Symonds John Addington Symonds, Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although m ...

, and André Gide. Another work of his is ''The Autumn Garden'', which was published in 1908 by the London publisher

William Heinemann William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London. Early life On 18 May 1863, Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, England. Heine ...

. This book includes: Proem, Lyrics in the Mood of Reflection, Sonnets, Songs of Roses, Commemorations and Inscriptions, Verses of Occasion, Paraphrases and a final Epilogue in the Autumn Garden. It contains more than 50 individual pieces within it. He was the literary editor for the 1911 edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.

Personal life

Gosse married Ellen Epps (23 March 1850 – 29 August 1929), a young painter in the Pre-Raphaelite circle, who was the daughter of

George Napoleon Epps George Napoleon Epps (22 July 181528 May 1874) was an English homœopathic practitioner and author. Life Epps was the half-brother of physician and homeopath John Epps, and was born on 22 July 1815. He was educated at Mill Hill School in London Af ...

. Though she was initially determined to pursue her art, she succumbed to his determined courting and they married in August 1875, with a reception at the house of Lawrence Alma-Tadema (her brother-in-law) and visiting Gosse's father and step-mother (who did not attend the registry office wedding) at the end of their honeymoon in Devon and Cornwall. She continued to paint and wrote stories and reviews for various publications. In 1907, she inherited a sizeable fortune from her uncle, James Epps (the brother of

John Epps Dr John Epps (15 February 1805 – 12 February 1869) was an English physician, phrenologist and homeopath. He was also a political activist, known as a champion of radical causes on which he preached, lectured and wrote in periodicals. Life Ear ...

and who had made his fortune in cocoa). They were married more than 53 years and they had three children: Emily Teresa ("Tessa") (1877-1951), Philip Henry George (1879–1959) who became a physician (but is probably best known as the author of ''The Pirates' Who's Who'' (1924)) and Laura Sylvia (1881-1968), who became a well-known painter. Despite a reportedly happy marriage Gosse had consistent, if deeply closeted, homosexual desires. Although initially reluctant to acknowledge these desires, in 1890 Gosse did acknowledge to

, around the time the latter was working on ''A Problem in Modern Ethics'', that indeed he (Gosse) was attracted to men, thus confirming suspicions Symonds had voiced earlier. "Either way, I entirely deeply sympathize with you. Years ago I wanted to write to you about all this," Gosse wrote to Symonds, "and withdrew through cowardice. I have had a very fortunate life, but there has been this obstinate twist in it! I have reached a quieter time—some beginnings of that Sophoclean period when the wild beast dies. He is not dead, but tamer; I understand him & the trick of his claws."

Honours

Gosse was named a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in 1912. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1925.

In popular culture

*His book ''Father and Son'' partially inspired ''

Oscar and Lucinda ''Oscar and Lucinda'' is a novel by Australian author Peter Carey which won the 1988 Booker Prize and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award. It was shortlisted for The Best of the Booker. Plot introduction It tells the story of Oscar Hopkins, the D ...

'', a novel by Peter Carey which won the 1988

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

, and the 1989

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

. *''Father and Son'' was also the basis for

's television play ''

Where Adam Stood ''Where Adam Stood'' is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast on BBC 2 in 1976. It is a free adaptation, wholly shot on film, of Edmund Gosse's autobiographical book ''Father and Son'' (1907). Synopsis Philip Gosse, naturalist ...

''. *Julian Barnes has an academic called Ed Winterton devoted to writing a biography of Gosse in his 1984 novel ''

Flaubert's Parrot ''Flaubert's Parrot'' is a novel by Julian Barnes that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984 and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize the following year. The novel recites amateur Gustave Flaubert expert Geoffrey Braithwaite's musings o ...

''.

Works

Published verse

*''Madrigals, Songs, and Sonnets'' (1870), co-author

*''On Viol and Flute'' (1873) *''King Erik'' (1876) *''New Poems'' (1879) *''Firdausi in Exile'' (1885) *''In Russet and Silver'' (1894) *''Collected Poems'' (1896) *''Hypolympia, or the Gods on the Island'' (1901), an "ironic phantasy", the scene of which is laid in the 20th century, though the personages are Greek gods, is written in prose, with some blank verse. *''The Autumn Garden'' (1908)

Critical works

*''English Odes'' (1881) *''Seventeenth Century Studies'' (1883) *''Life'' of Thomas Gray, whose works he edited (4 vols., 1884) *''Life of William Congreve'' (1888)
''A History of Eighteenth Century Literature''
(1889) *''Gossip in a Library'' (essays about books, 1892)
''The Jacobean Poets''
(1894)
''Critical Kit-kats''
(1896)
''A Short History of Modern English Literature''
(1897) *''Life and Letters of Dr

, Dean of St Paul's'' (1899) * ''Illustrated Record of English Literature'', with Richard Garnett (vols. iii and iv, 1903–1904) *'' Jeremy Taylor'' (1903, "

English Men of Letters English Men of Letters was a series of literary biographies written by leading literary figures of the day and published by Macmillan, under the general editorship of John Morley. The original series was launched in 1878, with Leslie Stephen's bio ...

") *''Life'' of

Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne (; 19 October 1605 – 19 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His writings display a ...

(1905)
''French Profiles''
(1905) *''Portraits and Studies'' (1912) *''Collected Essays'' (1912)
''Three French Moralists''
(1918)
''Malherbe and the Classical Reaction in the Seventeenth Century''
(1920) * ''More Books on the Table'' (1923)

Biography

''Gray''
(1882) * ''The Life of Philip Henry Gosse'', F.R.S. (1890
online text
* '' Father and Son'' (1907) * ''The Life of

'' (1917
online text

Other

* ''The Secret of Narcisse. A Romance'' (1892)
''Two Visits to Denmark, 1872, 1874''
(1911) * ''Inter Arma'' (1916)
''Some Diversions of a Man of Letters''
(1919)

References

Citations

Sources

* and its supplement:

External links

* * * * Archival material at * Edmund Gosse Collection. General Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
House of Lords Library by Benjamin Stone - Living Heritage UK Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gosse, Edmund 1849 births 1928 deaths English librarians English literary critics Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge LGBT people from England People from De Beauvoir Town Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Bath English people of American descent English male poets English male non-fiction writers