I lived from 1844-1930. I was from England, and am in the English category.
Robert Seymour Bridges was an English poet noted for his technical mastery of prosody and for his sponsorship of the poetry of his friend Gerard Manley Hopkins. Born into a prosperous family, Bridges went to Eton College and then to Oxford, where he met Hopkins. His edition of Hopkins' poetry that appeared in 1916 rescued it from obscurity. From 1869 until 1882 Bridges worked as a medical student and physician in London hospitals. In 1884 he married Mary Monica Waterhouse, and he spent the rest of his life in virtually unbroken domestic seclusion, first at Yattendon, Berkshire, then at Boar's Hill, devoting himself almost religiously to poetry, contemplation, and the study of prosody. Although he published several long poems and poetic dramas, his reputation rests upon the lyrics collected in Shorter Poems (1890, 1894). New Verse (1925) contains experiments using a metre based on syllables rather than accents. He used this form for his long philosophical poem The Testament of Beauty, published on his 85th birthday. Bridges was poet laureate from 1913 until his death in 1930.
Popular poetry
- When men were all asleep the snow came flying, In large white flakes falling on the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,36 lines - For beauty being the best of all we know
Sums up the unsearchable and secret aims14 lines - 'Twas at that hour of beauty when the setting sun
squandereth his cloudy bed with rosy hues, to flood176 lines - Whither, O splendid ship, thy white sails crowding,
Leaning across the bosom of the urgent West,26 lines
