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George Crabbe
George Crabbe (/kræb/ KRAB; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people.
Aged 14, Crabbe was apprenticed to a farmer–apothecary at Wickhambrook, which he resented, spending more time as a farm-hand than training as an apothecary. He returned to work in his father's warehouse, and was then sent to John Page, a surgeon in Woodbridge, who employed him in filling prescriptions and compounding medicines.
At the end of four years with Page, Crabbe returned to Aldeburgh. After serving as his assistant, he took over the apothecary of James Maskill. Crabbe read, studied, and learnt anatomy by dissecting dogs. A year later, he put his apothecary shop in the hands of a neighbouring surgeon and went to London to acquire medical knowledge, where he heard the lectures of the Scottish midwives Orme and Lowder, who followed Dr William Smellie's obstetrical tradition.
In 1780, Crabbe abandoned his unsuccessful labours as an apothecary. He travelled to London to make a living as a poet. After encountering serious financial difficulty and being unable to have his work published, he wrote to the statesman and author Edmund Burke for assistance. Burke was impressed enough by Crabbe's poems to promise to help him in any way he could. The two became close friends and Burke helped Crabbe greatly, both in his literary career and in building a role within the church.
Burke introduced Crabbe to the literary and artistic society of London, including Sir Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Johnson, who read The Village before its publication and made some minor changes. Burke secured Crabbe the important position of Chaplain to the Duke of Rutland. Crabbe served as a clergyman in various capacities for the rest of his life, with Burke's continued help in securing these positions. He developed friendships with many of the great literary men of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, whom he visited in Edinburgh, and William Wordsworth and some of his fellow Lake Poets, who frequently visited Crabbe as his guests.
Lord Byron described him as "nature's sternest painter, yet the best." Crabbe's poetry was predominantly in the form of heroic couplets, and has been described as unsentimental in its depiction of provincial life and society. The modern critic Frank Whitehead wrote that "Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important—indeed, a major—poet whose work has been and still is seriously undervalued." Crabbe's works include The Village (1783), Poems (1807), The Borough (1810), and his poetry collections Tales (1812) and Tales of the Hall (1819).
Crabbe was born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, the eldest child of George Crabbe Sr. The elder George Crabbe had been a schoolmaster at a village school in Orford, Suffolk, and later in Norton, near Loddon, Norfolk. Later, he had become a tax collector for salt duties, a position his own father had held. As a young man, he had married an older widow named Craddock, who became the mother of his six children: George Jr; Robert; John; William; Mary; and a sister who died in infancy.
George Jr. spent his first 25 years close to his birthplace. He showed an aptitude for books and learning at an early age. He was sent to school while still very young, and developed an interest in the stories and ballads that were popular among his neighbours. His father owned a few books, and used to read passages from John Milton and from various 18th-century poets to his family. He also subscribed to Benjamin Martin's Philosophical Magazine, giving the "poet's corner" section to George. The senior Crabbe had interests in the local fishing industry, and owned a fishing boat; he had contemplated raising his son George to be a seaman, but soon found that the boy was unsuited to such a career.
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George Crabbe
George Crabbe (/kræb/ KRAB; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people.
Aged 14, Crabbe was apprenticed to a farmer–apothecary at Wickhambrook, which he resented, spending more time as a farm-hand than training as an apothecary. He returned to work in his father's warehouse, and was then sent to John Page, a surgeon in Woodbridge, who employed him in filling prescriptions and compounding medicines.
At the end of four years with Page, Crabbe returned to Aldeburgh. After serving as his assistant, he took over the apothecary of James Maskill. Crabbe read, studied, and learnt anatomy by dissecting dogs. A year later, he put his apothecary shop in the hands of a neighbouring surgeon and went to London to acquire medical knowledge, where he heard the lectures of the Scottish midwives Orme and Lowder, who followed Dr William Smellie's obstetrical tradition.
In 1780, Crabbe abandoned his unsuccessful labours as an apothecary. He travelled to London to make a living as a poet. After encountering serious financial difficulty and being unable to have his work published, he wrote to the statesman and author Edmund Burke for assistance. Burke was impressed enough by Crabbe's poems to promise to help him in any way he could. The two became close friends and Burke helped Crabbe greatly, both in his literary career and in building a role within the church.
Burke introduced Crabbe to the literary and artistic society of London, including Sir Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Johnson, who read The Village before its publication and made some minor changes. Burke secured Crabbe the important position of Chaplain to the Duke of Rutland. Crabbe served as a clergyman in various capacities for the rest of his life, with Burke's continued help in securing these positions. He developed friendships with many of the great literary men of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, whom he visited in Edinburgh, and William Wordsworth and some of his fellow Lake Poets, who frequently visited Crabbe as his guests.
Lord Byron described him as "nature's sternest painter, yet the best." Crabbe's poetry was predominantly in the form of heroic couplets, and has been described as unsentimental in its depiction of provincial life and society. The modern critic Frank Whitehead wrote that "Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important—indeed, a major—poet whose work has been and still is seriously undervalued." Crabbe's works include The Village (1783), Poems (1807), The Borough (1810), and his poetry collections Tales (1812) and Tales of the Hall (1819).
Crabbe was born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, the eldest child of George Crabbe Sr. The elder George Crabbe had been a schoolmaster at a village school in Orford, Suffolk, and later in Norton, near Loddon, Norfolk. Later, he had become a tax collector for salt duties, a position his own father had held. As a young man, he had married an older widow named Craddock, who became the mother of his six children: George Jr; Robert; John; William; Mary; and a sister who died in infancy.
George Jr. spent his first 25 years close to his birthplace. He showed an aptitude for books and learning at an early age. He was sent to school while still very young, and developed an interest in the stories and ballads that were popular among his neighbours. His father owned a few books, and used to read passages from John Milton and from various 18th-century poets to his family. He also subscribed to Benjamin Martin's Philosophical Magazine, giving the "poet's corner" section to George. The senior Crabbe had interests in the local fishing industry, and owned a fishing boat; he had contemplated raising his son George to be a seaman, but soon found that the boy was unsuited to such a career.