- Robert Lowth
Robert Lowth FRS (
27 November ,1710 –3 November ,1787 ) was a Bishop of theChurch of England , a professor ofpoetry at Oxford University and the author of one of the most influential textbooks of Englishgrammar .Lowth was born in
Hampshire ,England , the son of Dr William Lowth. He was educated atWinchester College and became a scholar ofNew College, Oxford in 1729. Lowth obtained his BA in 1733 and his Master of Arts degree in 1737. In 1735, while still at Oxford, Lowth took orders in the Anglican Church and was appointed vicar ofOvington, Hampshire , a position he retained until 1741, when he was appointed professor of poetry at Oxford.Bishop Lowth made a translation of the
Bible . E.J. Waggoner said in 1899 that his translation included "without doubt, as a whole, the best English translation of the prophecy ofIsaiah ."In 1750 he was appointed archdeacon of Winchester. In 1752 he resigned the professorship at Oxford and married Mary Jackson. Shortly afterwards, in 1753, Lowth was appointed
rector ofEast Woodhay . In 1754 he was awarded a Doctorate in Divinity by Oxford University, for his treatise on Hebrew poetry entitled "Praelectiones Academicae de Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum" ("On the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews"). This derives from a series of lectures and was originally published in Latin. An English translation was published by George Gregory in 1787 as "Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews". This, and subsequent editions include the life of Bishop Lowth as a preface There was a further edition issued in 1815. This was republished in North America in 1829 with some additional notes. However, apart from those notes, the 1829 edition is less useful to a modern reader. This is because the editor of that edition chose to revert to citing many of the scriptural passages that Lowth uses as examples, and some of the annotations by Michaelis (Johann David Michaelis ) and others in Latin.Lowth seems to have been the first person to have noticed or drawn attention to the poetic structure of the
Psalms and much of the prophetic literature of theOld Testament . In Lecture 19 he sets out the classic statement ofparallelism . He identifies three forms of parallelism, the synonymous, antithetic and synthetic (i.e. balance only in the manner of expression without eithersynonymy orantithesis ). Much commentary on the Psalms since, therefore, derives either consciously or implicitly, directly or indirectly to some extent from these lectures.Lowth is also remembered for his publication in 1762 of "A Short Introduction to English Grammar". Prompted by the absence of simple and pedagogical
grammar textbooks in his day, Lowth set out to remedy the situation. Lowth's grammar is the source of many of the prescriptiveshibboleth s that are studied in schools, and established him as the first of a long line of usage commentators who judge theEnglish language in addition to describing it. An example of both is one of his footnotes: "Whose" is by some authors made thePossessive Case of "which", and applied to things as well as persons; I think, improperly." His most famous contribution to the study of grammar may have been his tentative suggestion that sentences ending with apreposition —such as "what did you ask for?"—are inappropriate in formal writing. In what may have been intentionalself-reference , Lowth used that very construction in discussing it. "This is an Idiom which our language is strongly inclined to; it prevails in common conversation, and suits very well with the familiar style in writing; but the placing of the Preposition before the Relative is more graceful, as well as more perspicuous; and agrees much better with the solemn and elevated Style." 2Lowth's method included criticising "false syntax"; his examples of false syntax were culled from Shakespeare, the King James Bible,
John Donne ,John Milton ,Jonathan Swift ,Alexander Pope , and other famous writers. His understanding of grammar, like that of all linguists of his period, was based largely on the study ofLatin , a misapplication according to critics of a later generation (and his own stated principles; he condemned "forcing the English under the rules of a foreign Language"1). Thus Lowth condemns Addison's sentence "Who should I meet the other night, but my old friend?" on the grounds that the thing acted upon should be in the "Objective Case" (corresponding, as he says earlier, to anoblique case in Latin), rather than taking this example and others as evidence from noted writers that "who" can refer to direct objects.Lowth's "ipse dixits" appealed to those who wished for certainty and authority in their language. Lowth's grammar was not written for children; however, within a decade after it appeared, versions of it adapted for the use of schools had appeared, and Lowth's stylistic opinions acquired the force of law in the schoolroom. The textbook remained in standard usage throughout educational institutions until the early 20th century.
Lowth was appointed a fellow of the Royal Societies of
London andGöttingen in 1765. He was consecrated bishop ofSt David's in 1766; however, before the end of the year he was transferred to the see ofOxford . He remained Bishop of Oxford until 1777 when he was appointedBishop of London as well as dean of the chapel royal and privy councillor. In 1783 he was offered the chance to becomeArchbishop of Canterbury , but declined due to failing health.Lowth wrote a Latin epitaph, "Cara, Vale" on the death of his daughter Maria. It was much admired in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was [http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/b/bd/Cal-car.pdf set to music] by the English composer
John Wall Callcott .Lowth died in 1787, and is buried in the churchyard of
All Saints Church, Fulham .Notes
1 "A Short Introduction to English Grammar", p. 107, condemning
Richard Bentley 's "corrections" of some of Milton's constructions.2"Ibid"., pp. 127–128.
Literature
* Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, 'The anonymity of Lowth’s grammar'. In: "Ontheven aan de tijd. Linguïstisch-historische studies voor Jan Noordegraaf bij zijn zestigste verjaardag". Ed. by Lo van Driel & Theo Janssen. Amsterdam: Stichting Neerlandistiek VU, Amsterdam & Münster: Nodus Publikationen 2008, 125-134.
ee also
*
Linguistic prescription
*Lindley Murray External links
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=V0AAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR1&dq=editions:ISBN0766188558#PPR1,M1 1815 Edition of "Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews"]
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