When once the mind has raised itself to grasp and to delight in excellence, those who love most will be found to love most wisely.
Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics (1861) Summary of Book Fourth
The azure lake is argent now Beneath the pale moonshine: I seek a sign of hope in heaven: Fair Polestar! thou are mine. A thousand other beacons blaze; I follow thee alone...
"Midnight At Geneva"
In the season of white wild roses We two went hand in hand: But now in the ruddy autumn Together already we stand.
"A Song of Spring and Autumn"
Time's corrosive dewdrop eats The giant warrior to a crust Of earth in earth and rust in rust.
"A Danish Barrow"
Let the children play And sit like flowers upon thy grave And crown with flowers,—that hardly have A briefer blooming-tide than they.
"A Danish Barrow"
Sleep puts out silent fingers, And leads me back to the roar Of the dead salt sea that vomits Wrecks of the past ashore.
I see the lost Love in beauty Go gliding over the main: I feel the ancient sweetness, The worm and the wormwood again.
Earth all one tomb lies round me, Domed with an iron sky: And God Himself in His power, God cannot save me! I cry.
With the cry I wake;—and around me The mother and child at her feet Breathe peace in even whispers; And the night falls heavy and sweet.
In the hollow Silver voices ripple and cry Follow, O follow!
Francis Turner Palgrave was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
criticA critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
and
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
He was born at
Great YarmouthGreat Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
, the eldest son of
Sir Francis PalgraveSir Francis Palgrave FRS, born Francis Ephraim Cohen, was an English historian.- Early life :He was born in London, the son of Meyer Cohen, a Jewish stockbroker by his wife Rachel Levien Cohen . He was initially articled as a clerk to a London solicitor's firm, and remained there as chief clerk...
, the
historianA historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and his wife Elizabeth Turner, daughter of the banker
Dawson TurnerDawson Turner was an English banker, botanist and antiquary.-Life:Turner was the son of James Turner, head of the Gurney and Turner's Yarmouth Bank and Elizabeth Cotman, the only daughter of the mayor of Yarmouth, John Cotman. He was educated at North Walsham Grammar School, Norfolk and at Barton...
. His brothers were
William Gifford PalgraveWilliam Gifford Palgrave was an Arabic scholar, born at Westminster, England. He was the son of Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. and Elizabeth Turner....
,
Inglis PalgraveSir Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave FRS FSS was a British economist.He was educated at Charterhouse School and the University of Cambridge. In 1843, at the age of 16, he joined the bank of Deacon, Williams and Co. He then in 1845 joined Dawson Turner Turner and Gurney in Yarmouth, the banking firm of...
and
Reginald PalgraveSir Reginald Francis Douce Palgrave KCB was Clerk of the British House of Commons, a position also known as 'Under Clerk of the Parliaments'....
. His childhood was spent at Yarmouth and at his father's house in
HampsteadHampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
. At fourteen he was sent as a day-boy to
CharterhouseCharterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
; and in 1843, having in the meanwhile travelled extensively in Italy and other parts of the continent, he won a scholarship at
Balliol College, OxfordBalliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
. In 1846 he interrupted his university career to serve as assistant private secretary to
GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, but returned, to Oxford the next year, and took a first class in
Literae HumanioresLiterae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
. From 1847 to 1862 he was fellow of
Exeter CollegeExeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
, and in 1849 entered the Education Department at
WhitehallWhitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
. In 1850 he accepted the vice-principalship of Kneller Hall Training College at
TwickenhamTwickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
. There he came into contact with Alfred Tennyson, and laid the foundation of a lifelong friendship.
When the training college was abandoned, Palgrave returned to Whitehall in 1855, becoming examiner in the Education Department, and eventually assistant secretary. He married, in 1862, Cecil Grenville Milnes, daughter of James Milnes-Gaskell. In 1884 he resigned his position at the Education Department, and in the following year succeeded
John Campbell ShairpJohn Campbell Shairp was a Scottish critic and man of letters.He was born at Houstoun House, Linlithgowshire, the third son of Major Norman Shairp of Houstoun, and was educated at Edinburgh Academy and the University of Glasgow.He gained a Shell exhibition to Balliol College, Oxford in 1840...
as professor of poetry at Oxford. He died in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and was buried in the cemetery on Barnes Common.
There was a minor scandal in 1862 when Palgrave was commissioned to write a catalogue for the
1862 International ExhibitionThe International of 1862, or Great London Exposition, was a world's fair. It was held from 1 May to 1 November 1862, beside the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, London, England, on a site that now houses museums including the Natural History Museum and the Science...
, in which he praised his friend the sculptor
Thomas WoolnerThomas Woolner RA was an English sculptor and poet who was one of the founder-members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was the only sculptor among the original members....
and denigrated other sculptors, especially Woolner's main rival
Carlo MarochettiBaron Carlo Marochetti was a sculptor, born in Turin but raised in Paris as a French citizen.-Life:Carlo Marochetti was born on 4 January 1805. His first teachers were François Joseph Bosio and Antoine-Jean Gros in Paris. Here his statue of A Young Girl playing with a Dog won a medal in 1829, and...
. The well known controversialist
Jacob OmniumMatthew James Higgins was a British writer who used the nom-de-plume Jacob Omnium, which was the title of his first magazine article. He was born in County Meath, Ireland to a landed family. He owned an estate in British Guiana, which he visited twice.Higgins became well known for his aggressive,...
pointed out in a series of letters to the press that the two lived together.
William Holman HuntWilliam Holman Hunt OM was an English painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Biography:...
wrote a reply supporting Palgrave and Woolner, but Palgrave was forced to withdraw the catalogue.
Palgrave published both criticism and poetry, but his work as a critic was by far the more important. His
Visions of England (1880–1881) has dignity and lucidity, but little of the "natural magic" which the greatest of his predecessors in the Oxford chair considered rightly to be the test of inspiration. His last volume of poetry,
Amenophis, appeared in 1892. His criticism is considered to demonstrate fine and sensitive tact, quick intuitive perception, and generally sound judgment. His Handbook to the Fine Arts Collection,
International Exhibition, 1862, and his
Essays on Art (1866), though flawed, were full of striking judgments strikingly expressed.
His
Landscape in Poetry (1897) showed wide knowledge and critical appreciation of one of the most attractive aspects of poetic interpretation. But Palgrave's principal contribution to the development of literary taste was contained in his
Golden Treasury of English Songs and LyricsThe Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics is a popular anthology of English poetry, originally selected for publication by Francis Turner Palgrave in 1861. It was considerably revised, with input from Tennyson, about three decades later...
(1861), an anthology of the best poetry in the language constructed upon a plan sound and spacious, and followed out with a delicacy of feeling which could scarcely be surpassed. Palgrave followed it with a
Treasury of Sacred Song (1889), and a second series of the
Golden Treasury (1897), including the work of later poets, but in neither of these was quite the same exquisiteness of judgment preserved. Among his other works were
The Passionate Pilgrim (1858), a volume of selections from
Robert HerrickRobert Herrick was a 17th-century English poet.-Early life:Born in Cheapside, London, he was the seventh child and fourth son of Julia Stone and Nicholas Herrick, a prosperous goldsmith....
entitled
Chrysomela (1877), a memoir of
Arthur Hugh CloughArthur Hugh Clough was an English poet, an educationalist, and the devoted assistant to ground-breaking nurse Florence Nightingale...
(1862) and a critical essay on Sir
Walter ScottSir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
(1866) prefixed to an edition of his poems. He published a small collection of hymns in 1867 which ran to three editions, each slightly enlarged.
See Gwenllian F Palgrave,
F. T. Palgrave (1899).
External links