William Shenstone (18 November 1714 – 11 February 1763) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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...
and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate,
The LeasowesThe Leasowes is a 57 hectare estate in Halesowen, England, comprising house and gardens.Developed between 1743 and 1763 by poet William Shenstone as a ferme ornée, the gardens are one of the earliest examples of the the English garden...
.
Son of Thomas Shenstone and Anne Penn, daughter of William Penn of Harborough Hall, then in
HagleyHagley is a village and civil parish on the northern boundary of Worcestershire, England, near to the towns of Kidderminster and Stourbridge. The parish had a population of 4,283 in 2001, but the whole village had a population of perhaps 5,600, including the part in Clent parish...
(now
BlakedownBlakedown is a village in the Wyre Forest District in the north of the county of Worcestershire, England. Due to its road and rail links it serves mainly as a dormitory village for Kidderminster, and the cities of Birmingham and Worcester...
), Shenstone was born at the Leasowes,
HalesowenHalesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
. At that time this was an enclave of
ShropshireShropshire , alternatively known as Salop or abbreviated, in print only, Shrops, is a county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Wales to the west. Shropshire is one of England's most rural and sparsely populated counties with a population density of 91/km²...
within the ancient county of
WorcestershireWorcestershire or ; abbreviated Worcs) is a historic and administrative county located in the West Midlands region of central England. In 1974 it was merged with the county of Herefordshire to form the single administrative county of Hereford and Worcester; which was divided in 1998,...
.
Shenstone received part of his formal education at Halesowen Grammar School (now The
Earls High SchoolThe Earls High School is a secondary school on near the A458 in Halesowen, West Midlands.-Admissions:The has 1170 pupils. It does have a sixth form, opening in 2009 unsimilar to the vast majority of schools in Dudley LEA...
).
Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow,Emblem right meet of decency does yield.
The Schoolmistress (1737-48), st. 6.
Whoe'er has traveled life's dull round,Where'er his stages may have been,May sigh to think he still has foundThe warmest welcome, at an inn.
Written at an Inn at Henley (1758), st. 6. Compare: " From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,— Path, motive, guide, original, and end", Samuel Johnson, Motto to the Rambler, No. 7.
Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold.
On Writing and Books.
A fool and his words are soon parted.
On Reserve.
Love is a pleasing but a various clime.
Elegies, no. 5, st. 3.
So sweetly she bade me adieu,I thought that she bade me return.
A Pastoral, part i.
I have found out a gift for my fair;I have found where the wood-pigeons breed.
A Pastoral, part i.
My banks they are furnish’d with bees,Whose murmur invites one to sleep.
A Pastoral, part ii, "Hope".
For seldom shall she hear a taleSo sad, so tender, and so true.
Jemmy Dawson (c. 1745), st. 20.
Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow,Emblems right meet of decency does yield.
The Schoolmistress, stanza 6.
William Shenstone (18 November 1714 – 11 February 1763) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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...
and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate,
The LeasowesThe Leasowes is a 57 hectare estate in Halesowen, England, comprising house and gardens.Developed between 1743 and 1763 by poet William Shenstone as a ferme ornée, the gardens are one of the earliest examples of the the English garden...
.
Life
Son of Thomas Shenstone and Anne Penn, daughter of William Penn of Harborough Hall, then in
HagleyHagley is a village and civil parish on the northern boundary of Worcestershire, England, near to the towns of Kidderminster and Stourbridge. The parish had a population of 4,283 in 2001, but the whole village had a population of perhaps 5,600, including the part in Clent parish...
(now
BlakedownBlakedown is a village in the Wyre Forest District in the north of the county of Worcestershire, England. Due to its road and rail links it serves mainly as a dormitory village for Kidderminster, and the cities of Birmingham and Worcester...
), Shenstone was born at the Leasowes,
HalesowenHalesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
. At that time this was an enclave of
ShropshireShropshire , alternatively known as Salop or abbreviated, in print only, Shrops, is a county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Wales to the west. Shropshire is one of England's most rural and sparsely populated counties with a population density of 91/km²...
within the ancient county of
WorcestershireWorcestershire or ; abbreviated Worcs) is a historic and administrative county located in the West Midlands region of central England. In 1974 it was merged with the county of Herefordshire to form the single administrative county of Hereford and Worcester; which was divided in 1998,...
.
Shenstone received part of his formal education at Halesowen Grammar School (now The
Earls High SchoolThe Earls High School is a secondary school on near the A458 in Halesowen, West Midlands.-Admissions:The has 1170 pupils. It does have a sixth form, opening in 2009 unsimilar to the vast majority of schools in Dudley LEA...
). In 1741, Shenstone became bailiff to the feoffees of Halesowen Grammar School.
While attending
Solihull SchoolSolihull School is a British Independent school situated near the centre of Solihull, West Midlands, England.2010 sees Solihull School celebrate its 450th anniversary since its foundation in 1560....
, he began a lifelong friendship with
Richard JagoRichard Jago , was an English poet. He was the third son of Richard Jago, Rector of Beaudesert, Warwickshire.-Education:Jago was educated at Solihull School in the West Midlands. One of the school's five houses bears his name...
. He went up to
Pembroke College, OxfordPembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2007, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £45.5 million.-History:...
in 1732 and made another firm friend there in
Richard GravesRichard Graves was an English minister, poet, and novelist.Born at Mickleton Manor, Mickleton, Gloucestershire, to Richard Graves, gentleman, and his wife, Elizabeth, Graves was a student at Abingdon School and Pembroke College, Oxford...
, the author of
The Spiritual Quixote.
Shenstone took no degree, but, while still at Oxford, he published
Poems on various occasions, written for the entertainment of the author (1737). This edition was intended for private circulation only but, containing the first draft of
The Schoolmistress, it attracted some wider attention. Shenstone tried hard to suppress it but in 1742 he published anonymously a revised draft of
The Schoolmistress, a Poem in imitation of Spenser. The inspiration of the poem was Sarah Lloyd, teacher of the village school where Shenstone received his first education.
Isaac D'IsraeliIsaac D'Israeli was a British writer, scholar and man of letters. He is best known for his essays, his associations with other men of letters, and for being the father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli....
contended that
Robert DodsleyRobert Dodsley was an English bookseller and miscellaneous writer.He was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school....
had been misled in publishing it as one of a sequence of
Moral Poems, its intention having been
satiricalSatire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods,...
, as evidenced by the
ludicrous index appended to its original publication.
In 1741 he published
The Judgment of Hercules. He inherited the Leasowes estate, and retired there in 1745 to undertake what proved the chief work of his life, the beautifying of his property. He embarked on elaborate schemes of landscape gardening which gave the Leasowes a wide celebrity, but sadly impoverished the owner. Shenstone was not a contented recluse. He desired constant admiration of his gardens, and he never ceased to lament his lack of fame as a poet.
Shenstone died unmarried.
Critical appraisal
Shenstone's poems of nature were written in praise of her most artificial aspects, but the emotions they express were obviously genuine. His
Schoolmistress was admired by
Oliver GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
, with whom Shenstone had much in common, and his
Elegies written at various times and to some extent biographical in character won the praise of
Robert BurnsRobert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
who, in the preface to
Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), called him
... that celebrated poet whose divine elegies do honor to our language, our nation and our species. The best example of purely technical skill in his works is perhaps his success in the management of the
anapaestAn anapaest, anapæst, or anapest, also called antidactylus, is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one ; in accentual stress meters it consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. It...
ic
trimeterIn poetry, a trimeter is a metre of three metrical feet per line—example:...
in his
Pastoral Ballad in Four Parts (written in 1743), but first printed in
Dodsley's Collection of Poems (vol. iv., 1755).
Memorials
- One of the five houses of Solihull School
Solihull School is a British Independent school situated near the centre of Solihull, West Midlands, England.2010 sees Solihull School celebrate its 450th anniversary since its foundation in 1560....
is named after him.
- One of the four houses of The Earls High School
The Earls High School is a secondary school on near the A458 in Halesowen, West Midlands.-Admissions:The has 1170 pupils. It does have a sixth form, opening in 2009 unsimilar to the vast majority of schools in Dudley LEA...
(formerly Halesowen Grammar School) is named after him.
- Solihull School
Solihull School is a British Independent school situated near the centre of Solihull, West Midlands, England.2010 sees Solihull School celebrate its 450th anniversary since its foundation in 1560....
's annual publication is named after him - The Shenstonian.
- Louis-René Girardin built a memorial in the French
France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
town of ErmenonvilleErmenonville is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.Ermenonville is notable for its park named for Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose tomb designed by the painter Hubert Robert is on the Isle of Poplars in its lake.-Park:...
.
- A prominent public house (pub) in Halesowen (Queensway) is named "The William Shenstone". The walls are adorned with engravings of The Leasowes in Shenstones time.
Works
His works were first published by his friend Robert Dodsley (3 vols., 1764-1769). The second volume contains Dodsley's description of the Leasowes. The last, consisting of correspondence with Graves, Jago and others, appeared after Dodsley's death. Other letters of Shenstone's are included in Select Letters (ed. Thomas Hill 1778). The letters of Lady Luxborough (née Henrietta St John) to Shenstone were printed by T. Dodsley in 1775; much additional correspondence is preserved in the British Museumletters to Lady Luxborough (Add. MS. 28958), Dodsley's letters to Shenstone (Add. MS. 28959), and correspondence between Shenstone and Bishop Percy from 1757 to 1763 the last being of especial interest; To Shenstone was due the original suggestion of Percy's Reliques, a service which would alone entitle him to a place among the precursors of the romantic movement in English literature.
See also
- Richard Graves, Recollections of some particulars in the Life of the Late William Shenstone (1788);
- H. Sydney Grazebrook, The Family of Shenstone the Poet (1890); Lennox Morison,
- " Shenstone," in the Gentleman't Magazine (vol. 289, 1900, pp. 196–205);
- A. Chalmers, English Poets (1810, vol. xiii.), with " Life " by Samuel Johnson;
- "The Poetical Works of William Shenstone" (in Library Edition of the British Poets
The Library Edition of the British Poets was the title given to a 48-volume edition of the works of British poets, published between 1853 and 1860 by James Nichol of Edinburgh, edited, with lives of the authors, critical dissertations and explanatory notes, by the Rev. George Gilfillan. All the...
, 1854), with " Life " by George GilfillanGeorge Gilfillan was a Scottish author and poet. He was one of the spasmodic poets, and an editor and commentator of earlier British poetry. He is also remembered as the subject of An Address to the Rev. George Gilfillan, the first of William McGonagall's poetic productions.He was born at Comrie,...
;
- T. D'lsraeli, " The Domestic Life of a Poet: Shenstone vindicated," in Curiosities of Literature;
- " Burns and Shenstone," in Furth in Field (1894), by " Hugh Haliburton " (J. L. Robertson).
In a letter written in 1741 Shenstone became the first person to record the use of "floccinaucinihilipilification". In the first edition of the
Oxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language...
this was recognized as the longest word in the English language.
Schopenhauer mentions Shenstone in his discussion of equivocation. “[C]oncepts,” Schopenhauer asserted, “which in and by themselves contain nothing improper, yet the actual case brought under them leads to an improper conception “ are called equivocations. He continued:
This poem about the passing of wind, entitled
Inscription, can be read at
Inscription.
External links