Walter Pater
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Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, art critic and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of the Renaissance'' (1873), revised as ''The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry'' (1877), in which he outlined his approach to art and advocated an ideal of the intense inner life, was taken by many as a manifesto (whether stimulating or subversive) of Aestheticism.


Early life

Born in Stepney in London's
East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
, Walter Pater was the second son of Richard Glode Pater, a physician who had moved to London in the early 19th century to practise medicine among the poor. Dr Pater died while Walter was an infant and the family moved to Enfield. Walter attended Enfield Grammar School and was individually tutored by the headmaster. In 1853 he was sent to The King's School, Canterbury, where the beauty of the
cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...
made an impression that would remain with him all his life. He was fourteen when his mother, Maria Pater, died in 1854. As a schoolboy Pater read
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
's ''
Modern Painters ''Modern Painters'' (1843–1860) is a five-volume work by the Victorian art critic, John Ruskin, begun when he was 24 years old based on material collected in Switzerland in 1842. Ruskin argues that recent painters emerging from the tradition o ...
'', which helped inspire his lifelong attraction to the study of art and gave him a taste for well-crafted prose. He gained a school exhibition, with which he proceeded in 1858 to
Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
. As an undergraduate, Pater was a "reading man", with literary and philosophical interests beyond the prescribed texts. Flaubert, Gautier,
Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...
and
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 ...
were among his early favourites. Visiting his aunt and sisters in Germany during the vacations, he learned German and began to read
Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
and the German philosophers. The scholar Benjamin Jowett was struck by his potential and offered to give him private lessons. In Jowett's classes, however, Pater was a disappointment; he took a
Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...
in '' Literae Humaniores'' in 1862. As a boy Pater had cherished the idea of entering the Anglican clergy, but at
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
his faith in Christianity had been shaken. In spite of his inclination towards the ritual and aesthetic elements of the church, he had little interest in Christian doctrine and did not pursue ordination. After graduating, Pater remained in
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and taught Classics and Philosophy to private students. (His sister
Clara Pater Clara Ann Pater (''bap.'' 1841–1910) was an English scholar, a tutor, and a pioneer and early reformer of women's education. Pater contributed to the growing movement for educational equality among women of the Victorian era as they began to g ...
, a pioneer of women's education, later taught ancient Greek and Latin at
Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...
, of which she was one of the co-founders.Ostermark-Johansen, L. (ed.), ''The Collected Works Of Walter Pater: Imaginary Portraits'' (Oxford, 2019), p.xlii) Pater's years of study and reading now paid dividends: he was offered a classical fellowship in 1864 at Brasenose on the strength of his ability to teach modern German philosophy, and he settled down to a university career.


Career and writings


''The Renaissance''

The opportunities for wider study and teaching at Oxford, combined with formative visits to the Continent – in 1865 he visited
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
,
Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ci ...
and
Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...
– meant that Pater's preoccupations now multiplied. He became acutely interested in art and literature, and started to write articles and criticism. First to be printed was an essay on the
metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
of
Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...
, 'Coleridge's Writings', contributed anonymously in 1866 to the ''
Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal unt ...
''. A few months later his essay on Winckelmann (1867), an early expression of his intellectual and artistic
idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ...
, appeared in the same review, followed by 'The Poems of
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
' (1868), expressing his admiration for romanticism. In the following years the '' Fortnightly Review'' printed his essays on
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...
(1869),
Sandro Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...
(1870), and
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...
(1871). The last three, with other similar pieces, were collected in his ''Studies in the History of the Renaissance'' (1873), renamed in the second and later editions ''The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry''. The Leonardo essay contains Pater's celebrated reverie on the ''
Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best kno ...
'' ("probably still the most famous piece of writing about any picture in the world"); the Botticelli essay was the first in English on this painter, contributing to the revival of interest in him; while the Winckelmann essay explored a temperament with whom Pater felt a strong affinity. An essay on 'The School of
Giorgione Giorgione (, , ; born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco; 1477–78 or 1473–74 – 17 September 1510) was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic quali ...
' (''Fortnightly Review'', 1877), added to the third edition (1888), contains Pater's much-quoted maxim "All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music" (i.e. the arts seek to unify subject-matter and form, and music is the only art in which subject and form are seemingly one). The final paragraphs of the 1868 William Morris essay were reworked as the book's 'Conclusion'. This brief 'Conclusion' was to be Pater's most influential – and controversial – publication. It asserts that our physical lives are made up of scientific processes and elemental forces in perpetual motion, "renewed from moment to moment but parting sooner or later on their ways". In the mind "the whirlpool is still more rapid": a drift of perceptions, feelings, thoughts and memories, reduced to impressions "unstable, flickering, inconstant", "ringed round for each one of us by that thick wall of personality"; and "with the passage and dissolution of impressions...
here is a Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a T ...
continual vanishing away, that strange, perpetual weaving and unweaving of ourselves". Because all is in flux, to get the most from life, we must learn to discriminate through "sharp and eager observation": for Through such discrimination we may "get as many pulsations as possible into the given time": "To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life." Forming habits means failure on our part, for habit connotes the stereotypical. "While all melts under our feet," Pater wrote, "we may well catch at any exquisite passion, or any contribution to knowledge that seems by a lifted horizon to set the spirit free for a moment, or any stirring of the senses, or work of the artist's hands. Not to discriminate every moment some passionate attitude in those about us in the brilliancy of their gifts is, on this short day of frost and sun, to sleep before evening." The resulting "quickened, multiplied consciousness" counters our insecurity in the face of the flux. Moments of vision may come from simple natural effects, as Pater notes elsewhere in the book: "A sudden light transfigures a trivial thing, a weathervane, a windmill, a winnowing flail, the dust in the barn door; a moment – and the thing has vanished, because it was pure effect; but it leaves a relish behind it, a longing that the accident may happen again." Or they may come from "intellectual excitement", from philosophy, science and the arts. Here we should "be for ever testing new opinions, never acquiescing in a facile orthodoxy"; and of these, a passion for the arts, "a desire of beauty", has (in the summary of one of Pater's editors) "the greatest potential for staving off the sense of transience, because in the arts the perceptions of highly sensitive minds are already ordered; we are confronted with a reality already refined and we are able to reach the personality behind the work". ''The Renaissance'', which appeared to some to endorse amorality and "hedonism", provoked criticism from conservative quarters, including disapproval from Pater's former tutor at Queen's College, from the college chaplain at Brasenose College and from the Bishop of Oxford. Margaret Oliphant, reviewing the book in '' Blackwood's Magazine'', dismissed it as "
rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
Epicureanism Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by ...
", while
George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...
condemned it as "quite poisonous in its false principles of criticism and false conceptions of life". In 1874 Pater was turned down at the last moment by his erstwhile mentor Benjamin Jowett, Master of
Balliol Balliol may refer to: * House of Balliol, Lords of Baliol and their fief * Balliol College, Oxford ** Balliol rhyme, a doggerel verse form with a distinctive meter, associated with Balliol College * John Balliol (King John of Scotland) (1249–1314 ...
, for a previously-promised proctorship. In the 1980s, letters emerged documenting a "romance" with a nineteen-year-old Balliol undergraduate, William Money Hardinge, who had attracted unfavorable attention as a result of his outspoken homosexuality and blasphemous verse, and who later became a novelist. Many of Pater's works focus on male beauty, friendship and love, either in a Platonic way or, obliquely, in a more physical way. Another undergraduate, W. H. Mallock, had passed the Pater-Hardinge letters to Jowett, who summoned Pater: In 1876 Mallock parodied Pater's message in a satirical novel ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'', depicting Pater as a typically effete English aesthete. The satire appeared during the competition for the Oxford Professorship of Poetry and played a role in convincing Pater to remove himself from consideration. A few months later Pater published what may have been a subtle riposte: 'A Study of
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...
' the outsider-god, persecuted for his new religion of ecstasy, who vanquishes the forces of reaction (''The Fortnightly Review'', Dec. 1876).


''Marius the Epicurean'' and ''Imaginary Portraits''

Pater was now at the centre of a small but gifted circle in Oxford – he had tutored
Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innova ...
in 1866 and the two remained friends till September 1879 when Hopkins left Oxford – and he was gaining respect in the London literary world and beyond. Through
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 ...
he met figures like
Edmund Gosse 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, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
,
William Bell Scott William Bell Scott (1811–1890) was a Scottish artist in oils and watercolour and occasionally printmaking. He was also a poet and art teacher, and his posthumously published reminiscences give a chatty and often vivid picture of life in the ...
, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He was an early friend and supporter of the young pre-Raphaelite painter Simeon Solomon. Conscious of his growing influence and aware that the 'Conclusion' to his ''Renaissance'' could be misconstrued as amoral, he withdrew the essay from the second edition in 1877 (he was to reinstate it with minor modifications in the third in 1888) and now set about clarifying and exemplifying his ideas through fiction. To this end he published in 1878 in ''Macmillan's Magazine'' an evocative semi-autobiographical sketch titled 'Imaginary Portraits 1. The Child in the House', about some of the formative experiences of his childhood – "a work", as Pater's earliest biographer put it, "which can be recommended to anyone unacquainted with Pater's writings, as exhibiting most fully his characteristic charm." This was to be the first of a dozen or so "Imaginary Portraits", a genre and term Pater could be said to have invented and in which he came to specialise. These are not so much stories – plotting is limited and dialogue absent – as psychological studies of fictional characters in historical settings, often personifications of new concepts at turning-points in the history of ideas or emotion. Some look forward, dealing with innovation in the visual arts and philosophy; others look back, dramatising neo-pagan themes. Many are veiled self-portraits exploring dark personal preoccupations. Planning a major work, Pater now resigned his teaching duties in 1882, though he retained his Fellowship and the college rooms he had occupied since 1864, and made a research visit to Rome. In his philosophical novel '' Marius the Epicurean'' (1885), an extended imaginary portrait set in the Rome of the Antonines, which Pater believed had parallels with his own century, he examines the "sensations and ideas" of a young Roman of integrity, who pursues an ideal of the "aesthetic" life – a life based on αἴσθησις, sensation, perception – tempered by
asceticism Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
. Leaving behind the religion of his childhood, sampling one philosophy after another, becoming secretary to the Stoic emperor
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good E ...
, Marius tests his author's theory of the stimulating effect of the pursuit of sensation and insight as an ideal in itself. The novel's opening and closing episodes betray Pater's continuing nostalgia for the atmosphere, ritual and community of the religious faith he had lost. ''Marius'' was favourably reviewed and sold well; a second edition came out in the same year. For the third edition (1892) Pater made extensive stylistic revisions. In 1885, on the resignation of John Ruskin, Pater became a candidate for the
Slade Professorship of Fine Art The Slade Professorship of Fine Art is the oldest professorship of art and art history at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and University College, London. History The chairs were founded concurrently in 1869 by a bequest from the art collecto ...
at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, but though in many ways the strongest of the field, he withdrew from the competition, discouraged by continuing hostility in official quarters. In the wake of this disappointment but buoyed by the success of ''Marius'', he moved with his sisters from North Oxford (2
Bradmore Road Bradmore Road is a residential road in North Oxford, England. At the northern end of the road is a junction with Norham Road and at the southern end is a junction with Norham Gardens, with the University Parks opposite. Halfway along the r ...
), their home since 1869, to London (12 Earls Terrace, Kensington), where he was to live (outside term-time) till 1893. From 1885 to 1887, Pater published four new imaginary portraits in '' Macmillan's Magazine'', each a study of misfits, men born out of their time, who bring disaster upon themselves – 'A Prince of Court Painters' (1885) (on Watteau and
Jean-Baptiste Pater Jean-Baptiste Pater (December 29, 1695 – July 25, 1736) was a French rococo painter. Born in Valenciennes, Pater was the son of sculptor Antoine Pater and studied under him before becoming a student of painter Jean-Baptiste Guide. Pater then m ...
), 'Sebastian van Storck' (March 1886) (17th-century Dutch society and painting, and the philosophy of Spinoza), 'Denys L'Auxerrois' (October 1886) (Dionysus and the medieval cathedral-builders), and 'Duke Carl of Rosenmold' (1887) (the German Enlightenment). These were collected in the volume ''Imaginary Portraits'' (1887). Here Pater's examination of the tensions between tradition and innovation, intellect and sensation, asceticism and aestheticism, social mores and amorality, becomes increasingly complex. Implied warnings against the pursuit of extremes in matters intellectual, aesthetic or sensual are unmistakable. The second portrait, 'Sebastian van Storck', a powerful critique of philosophical solipsism, has been described as Pater's most subtle psychological study.


''Appreciations'' and ''Plato and Platonism''

In 1889 Pater published ''Appreciations, with an Essay on Style'', a collection of previously-printed essays on literature. It was well received. 'Style' (reprinted from the ''Fortnightly Review'', 1888) is a statement of his creed and methodology as a prose-writer, ending with the paradox "If style be the man, it will be in a real sense 'impersonal' ". The volume also includes an appraisal of the poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, first printed in 1883, a few months after Rossetti's death; 'Aesthetic Poetry', a revised version of the William Morris essay of 1868 minus its final paragraphs; and an essay on
Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne (; 19 October 160519 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 deep curi ...
, whose mystical, Baroque style Pater admired. The essay on Coleridge reprints 'Coleridge's Writings' (1866) but omits its explicitly anti-Christian passages; it adds paragraphs on Coleridge's poetry that Pater had contributed to T.H. Ward's ''The English Poets'' (1880). When he reworked his 1876 essay 'Romanticism' as the 'Postscript' to ''Appreciations'', Pater removed its references to Baudelaire (now associated with the Decadent Movement), substituting Hugo's name in their place. In the second edition of ''Appreciations'' (1890) he suppressed the essay 'Aesthetic Poetry' – further evidence of his growing cautiousness in response to establishment criticism. All subsequent reprints of ''Appreciations'' ("to the dismay of every reader since 1890", as Gerald Monsman put it) have followed the second edition. In 1893 Pater and his sisters returned to Oxford (64 St Giles, now the site of Blackfriars Hall, a permanent private hall of the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
). He was now in demand as a lecturer. In this year appeared his book ''Plato and Platonism''. Here and in other essays on ancient Greece Pater relates to Greek culture the romanticism-classicism dialectic which he had first explored in his essay 'Romanticism' (1876), reprinted as the 'Postscript' to ''Appreciations''. "All through Greek history," he writes, "we may trace, in every sphere of activity of the Greek mind, the action of these two opposing tendencies, the centrifugal and centripetal. The centrifugal – the Ionian, the Asiatic tendency – flying from the centre, throwing itself forth in endless play of imagination, delighting in brightness and colour, in beautiful material, in changeful form everywhere, its restless versatility driving it towards the development of the individual": and "the centripetal tendency", drawing towards the centre, "maintaining the Dorian influence of a severe simplification everywhere, in society, in culture".
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...
noted that "Pater praises Plato for Classic correctness, for a conservative centripetal impulse, against his ater'sown Heraclitean Romanticism," but "we do not believe him when he presents himself as a centripetal man".. The volume, which also includes a sympathetic study of ancient Sparta ('Lacedaemon', 1892), was praised by Jowett. "The change that occurs between ''Marius'' and ''Plato and Platonism''," writes Anthony Ward, "is one from a sense of defeat in scepticism to a sense of triumph in it." On 30 July 1894, Pater died suddenly in his Oxford home of heart failure brought on by
rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful ...
, at the age of 54. He was buried at
Holywell Cemetery Holywell Cemetery is next to St Cross Church in Oxford, England. The cemetery is behind the church in St Cross Road, south of Holywell Manor on Manor Road and north of Longwall Street, in the parish of Holywell. History In the mid 19th cen ...
, Oxford.


''Greek Studies'', ''Miscellaneous Studies'', ''Gaston de Latour'' and other posthumous volumes

In 1895, a friend and former student of Pater's,
Charles Lancelot Shadwell Charles Lancelot Shadwell (16 December 1840, London – 13 February 1919, Oxford) was Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, from 1905 until 1914. Shadwell was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes ...
, a Fellow and later Provost of Oriel, collected and published as ''Greek Studies'' Pater's essays on Greek mythology, religion, art and literature. This volume contains a reverie on the boyhood of Hippolytus, 'Hippolytus Veiled' (first published in ''Macmillan's Magazine'' in 1889), which has been called "the finest prose ever inspired by
Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars ...
". In genre another "imaginary portrait", the sketch illustrates a paradox central to Pater's sensibility and writings: a leaning towards ''ascetic'' beauty apprehended sensuously. The volume also reprints Pater's 1876 'Study of Dionysus'. In the same year Shadwell assembled other uncollected pieces and published them as ''Miscellaneous Studies''. This volume contains 'The Child in the House' and another two obliquely self-revelatory Imaginary Portraits, 'Emerald Uthwart' (first published in ''The New Review'' in 1892) and 'Apollo in Picardy' (from ''Harper's Magazine'', 1893) – the latter, like 'Denys L'Auxerrois', centering on a peculiarly Paterian preoccupation: the survival or reincarnation of pagan deities in the Christian era. Also included were Pater's last (unfinished) essay, on
Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Frenc ...
, and two pieces that point to a revival in Pater's final years of his earlier interest in Gothic cathedrals, sparked by regular visits to northern Europe with his sisters. Charles Shadwell "in his younger days" had been "strikingly handsome, both in figure and feature", "with a face like those to be seen on the finer Attic coins"; he had been the unnamed inspiration of an unpublished early paper of Pater's, 'Diaphaneitè' (1864), a tribute to youthful beauty and intellect, the manuscript of which Pater gave to Shadwell. This piece Shadwell also included in ''Miscellaneous Studies''. Shadwell had accompanied Pater on his 1865 visit to Italy, and Pater was to dedicate ''The Renaissance'' to him and to write a preface to Shadwell's edition of '' The Purgatory of Dante Alighieri'' (1892). In 1896 Shadwell edited and published seven chapters of Pater's unfinished novel ''Gaston de Latour'', set in turbulent late 16th-century France, the product of the author's interest in French history, philosophy, literature, and art. Pater had conceived ''Marius'' as the first novel of "a trilogy of works of similar character dealing with the same problems, under altered historical conditions"; ''Gaston'' was to have been the second, while the third was to have been set in England in the late 18th century. In 1995 Gerald Monsman published ''Gaston de Latour: The Revised Text'', re-editing the seven chapters and editing the remaining six which Shadwell and Clara Pater had withheld as too unfinished. "Through the imaginary portrait of Gaston and Gaston's historical contemporaries – Ronsard,
Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a lit ...
,
Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...
, Queen Marguerite, King Henry III – Pater's fantasia confronts and admonishes the Yellow Nineties, Oscar Wilde not least." In an 1891 review of ''
The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical '' Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''The Picture of Dorian G ...
'' in ''The Bookman'', Pater had disapproved of Wilde's distortion of Epicureanism: "A true Epicureanism aims at a complete though harmonious development of man's entire organism. To lose the moral sense therefore, for instance the sense of sin and righteousness, as Mr. Wilde's heroes are bent on doing so speedily, as completely as they can, is ... to become less complex, to pass from a higher to a lower degree of development." ''Essays from
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' (a selection of Pater's book-reviews) and an ''Uncollected Essays'' were privately printed in 1896 and 1903 respectively (the latter was republished as ''Sketches and Reviews'' in 1919). An ''Édition de luxe'' ten-volume ''Works of Walter Pater'', with two volumes for ''Marius'' and including all but the pieces in ''Uncollected Essays'', was issued in 1901; it was reissued, in plainer form, as the Library Edition in 1910. Pater's works were frequently reprinted until the late 1920s.


Influence

Toward the end of his life Pater's writings were exercising a considerable influence. The principles of what would be known as the
Aesthetic Movement Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be pro ...
were partly traceable to him, and his effect was particularly felt on one of the movement's leading proponents,
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 ...
, who paid tribute to him in ''The Critic as Artist'' (1891). Among art critics influenced by Pater were Bernard Berenson, Roger Fry, Kenneth Clark and
Richard Wollheim Richard Arthur Wollheim (5 May 1923 − 4 November 2003) was a British philosopher noted for original work on mind and emotions, especially as related to the visual arts, specifically, painting. Wollheim served as the president of the British S ...
: among early literary Modernists,
Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...
,
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
,
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 ...
, Paul Valéry,
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
, T. S. Eliot and
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
; and Pater's influence can be traced in the subjective, stream-of-consciousness novels of the early 20th century. In literary criticism, Pater's emphasis on subjectivity and on the autonomy of the reader helped prepare the way for the revolutionary approaches to literary studies of the modern era. The Paterian sensibility is also apparent in the political philosophy of
Michael Oakeshott Michael Joseph Oakeshott FBA (; 11 December 1901 – 19 December 1990) was an English philosopher and political theorist who wrote about philosophy of history, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of ...
. Among ordinary readers, idealists have found, and always will find inspiration in his desire "to burn always with this hard, gemlike flame", in his pursuit of the "highest quality" in "moments as they pass".


Critical method

Pater's critical method was outlined in the 'Preface' to ''The Renaissance'' (1873) and refined in his later writings. In the 'Preface', he argues initially for a subjective, relativist response to life, ideas, art, as opposed to the drier, more objective, somewhat moralistic criticism practised by
Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...
and others. "The first step towards seeing one's object as it really is," Pater wrote, "is to know one's own impression, to discriminate it, to realise it distinctly. What is this song or picture, this engaging personality in life or in a book, to ''me''?" When we have formed our impressions we proceed to find "the power or forces" which produced them, the work's "virtue". "Pater moves, in other words, from effects to causes, which are his real interest," noted
Richard Wollheim Richard Arthur Wollheim (5 May 1923 − 4 November 2003) was a British philosopher noted for original work on mind and emotions, especially as related to the visual arts, specifically, painting. Wollheim served as the president of the British S ...
.. Among these causes are, pre-eminently, original temperaments and types of mind; but Pater "did not confine himself to pairing off a work of art with a particular temperament. Having a particular temperament under review, he would ask what was the range of forms in which it might find expression. Some of the forms will be metaphysical doctrines, ethical systems, literary theories, religions, myths. Pater's scepticism led him to think that in themselves all such systems lack sense or meaning – until meaning is conferred upon them by their capacity to give expression to a particular temperament."


Style

Pater was much admired for his prose style, which he strove to make worthy of his aesthetic ideals, taking great pains and fastidiously correcting his work. He kept on his desk little squares of paper, each with its ideas, and shuffled them about attempting to form a sequence and pattern. "I have known writers of every degree, but never one to whom the act of composition was such a travail and an agony as it was to Pater," wrote
Edmund Gosse 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, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
, who also described Pater's method of composition: "So conscious was he of the modifications and additions which would supervene that he always wrote on ruled paper, leaving each alternate line blank." He would then make a fair copy and repeat the process, sometimes paying to have drafts printed, to judge their effect. "Unlike those who were caught by Flaubert's theory of the unique word and the only epithet," wrote Osbert Burdett, "Pater sought the sentence, and the sentence in relation to the paragraph, and the paragraph as a movement in the chapter. The numerous parentheses deliberately exchanged a quick flow of rhythm for pauses, for charming little eddies by the way." At the height of his powers as a writer, Pater discussed his principles of composition in the 1888 essay 'Style'. A. C. Benson called Pater's style "absolutely distinctive and entirely new", adding, however, that "it appeals, perhaps, more to the craftsman than to the ordinary reader." To G. K. Chesterton, Pater's prose, serene and contemplative in tone, suggested a "vast attempt at impartiality."


Modern editions

* . Contains . * . * . Includes several essays in their original periodical form. * . An annotated edition of Pater's revised text. * . * . * . * . * . * , . An annotated edition of the 1873 text.


The 'Oxford' Pater

From 2019 the
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
began publishing its ten-volume ''Collected Works of Walter Pater'', the first complete annotated edition. It prints Pater's latest revisions as the 'copy text', with earlier variants recorded in notes (the editors consider Pater a judicious reviser of his own work); and it includes periodical and academic articles left out of the 1901 and 1910 ''Works'', Pater's Letters, and unpublished manuscript material. * Vol. I. ''The Renaissance'' ( — ) * Vol II. ''Marius the Epicurean'' ( — ) * Vol. III. ''Imaginary Portraits'' ed. Ostermark-Johansen, Lene (2019) ine Portraits* Vol. IV. ''Gaston de Latour'' ed. Monsman, Gerald (2019) * Vol. V. Studies and Reviews, 1864–1889 ( — ) * Vol. VI. ''Appreciations''; Studies and Reviews 1890–1895 * Vol. VII. ''Plato and Platonism'' ( — ) * Vol. VIII. Classical Studies, ed. Potolsky, Matthew (2020) * Vol. IX. Correspondence ( — ) * Vol. X. Manuscripts ( — )


In literature

* W. Somerset Maugham “The Magician” (1908) Pater’s essay on the Mona Lisa is quoted by Oliver Haddo in his seduction of Margaret. (Penguin 1967 edition, pp 85–86) * Wilde's Lord Henry Wotton in ''
The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical '' Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''The Picture of Dorian G ...
'' (1890) incessantly and willfully misquotes Pater's ''Renaissance'' and ''Marius''. * Pater's ''The Renaissance'' is praised as a "wonderful new volume" in
Edith Wharton Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...
's 1920 novel ''
The Age of Innocence ''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine '' Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. App ...
'', set in the 1870s. * Pater is referred to in
W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
's ''Of Human Bondage'' at the end of Chapter 41. * In Sinclair Lewis's ''Arrowsmith'' (chap. 1), Professor Gottlieb tells his medical students (in his accented English), "Before the next lab hour I shall be glad if you will read Pater's ''Marius the Epicurean,'' to derife 'sic''from it the calmness which iss 'sic''the secret of laboratory skill." * Lines from the "Conclusion" to Pater's ''Renaissance'' are quoted among the sixth formers in Julian Mitchell's 1982 play '' Another Country''. * Pater, with several of his colleagues, appears as a minor character in
Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and polit ...
's play ''
The Invention of Love ''The Invention of Love'' is a 1997 play by Tom Stoppard portraying the life of poet A. E. Housman, focusing specifically on his personal life and love for a college classmate. The play is written from the viewpoint of Housman, dealing with his ...
''. * Pater is the subject of a poem by Billy Collins titled "The Great Walter Pater". * Citations from Pater's ''The Renaissance'' are sprinkled throughout
Frederic Tuten Frederic Tuten (born December 2, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He has written five novels – ''The Adventures of Mao on the Long March'' (1971), ''Tallien: A Brief Romance'' (1988), ''Tintin in the New World: A ...
's novel ''The Adventures of Mao on the Long March''. *
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
uses Pater as a cultural marker in his 1898 novel ''The Tragedy of the Korosko''. Discussing one of a party steaming up the Nile, he says “Mr. Cecil Brown...was a young diplomatist from a Continental Embassy, a man slightly tainted with the Oxford manner, and erring upon the side of unnatural and inhuman refinement, but full of interesting talk and cultured thought...He chose Walter Pater for his travelling author, and sat all day, reserved but affable, under the awning, with his novel and his sketch-book upon a camp-stool beside him.” * H. L Mencken in his work
The American Language ''The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States'', first published in 1919, is H. L. Mencken's book about the English language as spoken in the United States. Origins and concept Mencken was inspired by ...
mentions Pater twice as a contrast to common English usage in Britain. * R. P. Lister poked gentle fun at Pater's ideas in his poem "The Gemlike Flame".


References


Sources

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Further reading

. Abstract: discusses six letters of Walter Pater at the
Pierpont Morgan Library The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th ...
in New York City, addressed to George Moore, Arthur Symons, John Lane and others.


External links

* . * . * * * * * , a 500 pp scholarly volume situating Pater among the Victorian writers of
Uranian poetry The Uranians were a 19th-century clandestine group of up to several dozen male homosexual poets and prose writers who principally wrote on the subject of the love of (or by) adolescent boys. In a strict definition they were an English literary an ...
and prose (the author has made this volume available in a free, open-access, PDF version). * . * . * * * Archival material at * Literary Architecture by Ellen Eve Frank, pp. 15–49 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pater, Walter 1839 births 1894 deaths People from Shadwell People from Stepney People educated at The King's School, Canterbury People educated at Enfield Grammar School 19th-century English novelists 19th-century British journalists Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford British male journalists English art critics English essayists English literary critics English male novelists Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford English LGBT novelists LGBT Protestants Male essayists Victorian novelists Writers from London Burials at Holywell Cemetery Founders of colleges of the University of Oxford People associated with Somerville College, Oxford