The Rhymers' Club was a group of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based male poets, founded in 1890 by W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys. Originally not much more than a

dining club A dining club (UK) or eating club (US) is a Social club, 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 g ...

, 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’ in Fleet Street and in the 'Domino Room' of the '' Café Royal''. Those who took part also included Ernest Dowson, Lionel Johnson, Francis Thompson, Richard Le Gallienne, John Gray, John Davidson, Edwin J. Ellis, Victor Plarr, Selwyn Image, Lord Alfred Douglas, Arthur Cecil Hillier, John Todhunter, G.A. Greene, Arthur Symons, Ernest Radford, and Thomas William Rolleston.

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

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 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, W. B. Yeats, Richard Le Gallienne, Lionel Johnson, Arthur Cecil Hillier, Ernest Dowson, Victor Plarr, 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
/ref> 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).

References

Further reading