John Pomfret
Overview
Poet
A 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...
and clergyman.
John Pomfret was the son of Thomas Pomfret, vicar of Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
, and went to school in Bedford. After graduating from Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...
he was appointed rector of Maulden
Maulden
Maulden is a small village and civil parish located in the county of Bedfordshire, in the administrative area of Central Bedfordshire, in the newly created Maulden And Houghton Conquest Ward. An active Parish Council meets monthly- the clerk is Lynda Galler . The village is located 1.5 miles east...
in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
in 1695.
He published a number of poems, and was regarded as significant enough in his time to be included by Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
in his Lives of the Poets. 'The Choice' is the poem for which Pomfret is now probably most remembered, especially as it was chosen by Roger Lonsdale
Roger Lonsdale
Roger Lonsdale is a British Author, and has been a Fellow and Tutor at Balliol College Oxford.-Bibliography:* Dr Charles Burney: A literary Biography * The Poems of Gray, Collins and Goldsmith *William Beckford's Vathek...
as the first poem in The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse.
Quotations
Wine whets the wit, improves its native force…
"s:The Choice|The Choice"
We bear it calmly, though a ponderous woe,And still adore the hand that gives the blow.
Verses to his Friend under Affliction. Compare: " Bless the hand that gave the blow", John Dryden, The Spanish Friar, Act ii. Sc. 1.
Heaven is not always angry when he strikes,But most chastises those whom most he likes.
Verses to his Friend under Affliction.