Frances thompson biography

This intense friendship developed rapidly, but on 26 July Meynell abruptly told a very surprised and puzzled FT that he had to return to Pantasaph. This was possibly due to the intervention of Katie's invalid mother, as she certainly had no intention of allowing her daughter to become involved with FT. However, the two would-be lovers corresponded frequently, and FT now wrote a great deal of verse in the form of sonnets which he sent to Katie: but some are full of apprehension.

Then at the end of November he learned that Coventry Patmore had died. FT had to bear a double burden of grief, and wrote that he felt:. In mid-December he left Pantasaph precipitously, returning to London and contacting Katie, who, after apparently some heart searching, replied in February He now worked hard at a variety of writing occupations, producing particularly some excellent book reviews and articles, and even one or two lectures.

New Poems was published in Mayand although many critics failed to appreciate its worth, it fared better than was first apparent. FT gave a copy, together with a photograph of himself, to Katie which she accepted very happily. In the autumn his health deteriorated with dyspepsia, colds and influenza, all probably exacerbated by a head injury he sustained when run over by a hansom cab.

But he continued to work hard with reviews etcetera. Blunt was a close friend of Wilfrid Meynell and persuaded the latter to bring FT down for a visit to his Sussex mansion, Newbuildings, on 12 October Blunt noted FT's frailness and reserve. FT absorbed the 'Arabian' atmosphere of the domain, writing An Arab Love-songwhich opens with the superb cloud metaphor:.

In early it was evident that something had gone wrong with his relationship with Katie: she disappeared out of his life. Walsh op. Her novel Ursula published soon after contains a passage of proposal and rejection of marriage which would seem to depict and suggest this. Inevitably FT went downhill again. It is known that by May he was consuming four or frances thompson biography ounces of laudanum daily.

A fourth volume of poetry was rejected by Constable. He learned of Katie's marriage to a Protestant clergyman on 26 June Driven to despair, FT decided his only course was to go back to life on the streets. He is known to have now written a 'Narrative' of his life similar to De Quincey's Confessionsbut this disappeared and is thought to have been destroyed by Wilfrid Meynell.

Violet Meynell was later to refute the statements of both Alice Meynell and the son Everard that FT was happy in his last years as a distortion of the facts, calling it 'benevolent falsification'.

Frances thompson biography: Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December –

Despite this state of mind and body he was in, FT soon embarked on a very industrious period. Walsh suggests that this was perhaps because he learned that Katie had died on 26 March giving birth to twins; not because he was callous, but that therefore she was no longer someone else's wife and had been transported to that other world where he hoped to join her.

He could put off himself the burden of her apparent defection. Between and FT was writing several reviews a week and a large number of articles, mainly under an assumed name. Interestingly, he kept this from the Meynells, who were totally unaware of the existence of this material, which has only emerged through the industry of scholars in the late s that is, after the death of Wilfrid Meynell.

About items have been recovered. It is obvious that FT was therefore able to look after himself by his own industry — contrary to evidence given by Wilfrid Meynell. It contains the phrase a 'many-splendoured thing', which Han Suyin later chose as the title of her excellent book set in Kashmir; it was later sentimentalised as a popular song. It was arranged that he would write three pages every day, and take these round to Everard Meynell's bookshop, The Serendipity Shop, for which he would be paid one shilling in order to buy food for that day.

This arrangement seemed to work well although Saint Ignatius Loyola was not published until after his death. He was to write an ode for the Dublin Review in honour of the English Catholic Martyrs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This was published in Aprilbut without the first 47 lines depicting doom and destruction hanging over the world: these were deleted by Wilfrid Meynell.

Father Mann, in charge of his old school, Ushaw, asked for an ode to celebrate the school's centenary for earlybut FT was now very frail. Everard Meynell accompanied him and stayed a few days while he settled in. FT occupied a bungalow in the grounds. Blunt questioned him about his life and work, and concluded that the vitality of his work stemmed from the tragedy of his life a simple conclusion, one would have thought!

Blunt got his son-in-law Neville Lytton to do a portrait: a profile in coloured chalk. Despite his extreme weakness FT now wrote a review of the works of Sir Thomas Browne, showing that his faculties were clear and precise and his memory unimpaired. But after that he gave up, and was completely reliant upon drugs. It was realised that he was dying, and the Father on duty hastily administered the last rites.

I leave absolutely my literary copyrights and papers, including my manuscripts of published and unpublished franceses thompson biography, to Wilfrid Meynell of 4 Granville Place Mews, W. FT was just able to write his name very shakily underneath. Saleeby and another patient signed as witnesses. FT died at dawn on 13 November — officially noted as from tuberculosis and related drug dependence.

He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. After FT's death the Meynells profited greatly from his work. Sales up to the First World War were good, and provided a large income for the Meynells. It is understood that Wilfrid bought his property in Greatham, West Sussex, from the proceeds. Immediate published work consisted of:. The biographical writings by Wilfrid Meynell and the full biography by his son Everard of FT were no doubt invaluable at the time of publication, but today they are considered to be, in Violet Meynell's words, 'sanitised'.

Alice Meynell died in Wilfrid Meynell had a long and established career as a 'Patriarch of English Catholic Letters', dying in December aged HW met him in as will be related.

Frances thompson biography: Francis Thompson was an English poet

Contacts Home About Us Links. Francis Thompson. The book did not have a dust wrapper: the binding was of plain mid blue buckram. Without first-hand access to Thompson's archive, which is lodged in the USA, for biographical information I have relied on material available within HW's own archive, particularly the two following works, and I acknowledge a debt of gratitude for using their scholarship: Paul van K.

Two views of the Priory of Our Lady of England The crucifix in the garden The above are postcards bought at the Priory Once recovered, he took to walking up the steep track that led to the South Downs, an area known as Kithurst Hill. John Walsh in Strange Harp, Strange Symphonywritten with access to FT's personal notebooks and letters, notes: The sun, the most wonderful object of all material creation, gave glory to God by its mere existence, and in its rising and setting symbolized daily the central facts of human life, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

London: Longmans, Green. Breathnach, Caoimhghin S. Journal of the Irish Medical Association.

Frances thompson biography: Frances Thompson was a.

PMID Journal of Medical Biography. S2CID Cock, Albert A. CXLIX, pp. Figgis, Darrell Dublin: The Talbot Press ltd. Hayter, Alethea Opium and the Romantic Imagination revised edition,Ch. Guidance from Francis Thompson in Matters of Faith. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Le Gallienne, Richard The Romantic '90s. Madeleva, Mary New York: D.

Appleton and Company, pp. McNabb, Vincent Francis Thompson: the Poet of Earth in Heaven. New York: Scribner. Meynell, Everard The Life of Francis Thompson. Meynell, Viola O'Conor, J. New York: John Lane. Owlett, F. London: J. Bumpus, ltd. Reid, J. Francis Thompson, Man and Poet. Shuster, George N. New York: The Macmillan company, pp. Walsh, John Evangelist After his death, Alice Meynell wrote that no change in poetic tastes in the years to come could ever "lessen the height or diminish the greatness" of Thompson's profound accomplishment.

In his eulogy for Thompson, G. Chesterton simply concluded: "He was a great poet. Tolkien, who purchased a volume of Thompson's works inand later claimed that it had played an important role in his own writing. Frances wearing a dress, an illustration for The Days' Doings. Early life [ edit ]. Memphis Massacre of [ edit ]. Main article: Memphis riots of Congressional testimony [ edit ].

Arrest and death [ edit ]. Death [ edit ]. Legacy and impact [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Hodes, Martha ed. ISBN Retrieved