Sir Francis Hastings Doyle
(1810-1888).
Sir Francis Hastings Doyle succeeded Matthew Arnold in the chair of poetry at Oxford. Doyle is distinguished for the spirit and the martial ring of the ballads in which he celebrates deeds of daring. The Red Thread of Honour, The Private of the Buffs, and Mehrab Khan are pieces that take high rank among poems inspired by sympathy with the heroism of the soldier.
Sir Samuel Ferguson
(1810-1886).
Sir Samuel Ferguson has been called the national poet of Ireland, on the score of Congal, an epic published in 1872. He is really more remarkable for his shorter pieces, some of the best of which deal with subjects not specially Irish. He was an active contributor to the Dublin University Magazine at the beginning of the period.
Adam Lindsay Gordon
(1833-1870).
Adam Lindsay Gordon divides with Charles Harpur and Alfred Domett (Browning’s ‘Waring’) the honour of being laureate of the Antipodes. Wildness in youth drove him to Australia. It is probably true that but for the stirring and adventurous life there he never would have written anything of note; nevertheless, what we find in his verse is rather the spirit of the English hunting field and of English adventure the world over, than much that is distinctively Australian.
David Gray
(1838-1861).
David Gray, author of The Luggie, a poem on a small stream which flowed near his home, was cut off too soon to do much in literature. His verse however is pleasant, and it might have acquired power. It retains a pathetic interest on account of the author’s fate. He was drawn by the hope of fame from his native village to London, caught a cold there, and died while his poem was in process of printing.
Dora Greenwell
(1821-1882).
Dora Greenwell is chiefly remarkable as a writer of religious verse, the best of which is to be found in Carmina Crucis. She also wrote prose of considerable merit.