10. Thomas Hood (1799–1845). Hood was a native of London, and became a partner in a book-selling firm. He took to a literary career, and contributed to many periodicals, including The London Magazine. For a time he edited The New Monthly Magazine, but he was much troubled by illness, and died prematurely.
Hood first gained notoriety with some humorous poems, published under the title of Whims and Oddities (1826). To modern taste the humor is rather cheap, for it consists largely of verbal quibblings, such as the free use of the pun. It seemed to be acceptable to the public of the time, for the book had much success. Other volumes in the same vein were The Comic Annual, Up the Rhine (1839), and Whimsicalities (1843). Hood, in spite of his smartness, could not keep free of vulgarity, and his wit often jars. As a kind of tragic relief Hood sometimes produced poems of a tearful intensity, such as The Death-bed and The Bridge of Sighs. One could believe that his grief was genuine if he did not dwell so much upon it. His Song of the Shirt, first published in Punch in 1845, is rather a versified political pamphlet than a real poem, but it is powerful verse, and one can forgive much on account of the motive, which was to help the sweated sempstress. His Dream of Eugene Aram (1829) was an attempt at the horrible, and was long a bravura piece for aspiring elocutionists. It is a middling specimen of poetical rhetoric.
11. John Clare (1793–1864) was a true peasant poet, and in his day he had a great popularity. After his death his works fell into neglect, but recently (1920) a reissue of his poems, some of them new to the public, has recalled attention to the considerable value of much that he wrote. He was born near Peterborough, his father being a cripple and a pauper. At the age of thirteen he saved sufficient money to buy a copy of The Seasons, which fired his poetic ability. His Collection of Original Trifles (1817) attracted notice, and his Poems (1820) was much praised. The patronage of rich admirers put him above poverty, but a tendency to insanity developed, and, like Christopher Smart, he died in a madhouse.
Clare’s poems are seen at their best when they deal with simple rustic themes, and then they are quite charming. He rejoices in the ways of animals and insects. He is not a great poet, but there are many poets with flaunting credentials who have less claims to consideration than he.
12. James Smith (1775–1837) and Horace Smith (1779–1849), two brothers, collaborated in the production of a work that was one of the “hits” of the period. This book was Rejected Addresses (1812). When the Drury Lane Theatre was burned down and rebuilt the management offered a prize for the best poem to be recited on the opening night. The Smiths hit on the idea of making parodies of the notable poets of the time and pretending that they were the rejected poems of the writers mentioned. The result is the classical collection of parodies in English. Scott, Wordsworth, and other well-known authors are imitated, usually with much cleverness. The Wordsworth poem is recited by Nancy Lake, a girl of eight, who is drawn upon the stage in a perambulator:
My brother Jack was nine in May,
And I was eight on New Year’s Day;
So in Kate Williams’ shop
Papa (he’s my papa and Jack’s)
Bought me, last week, a doll of wax,