- Roden Noel
Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel, also known as "Noël" (
August 27 ,1834 -May 26 ,1894 ), was an Englishpoet .The son of Charles Noel, Lord Barham, afterwards 1st
Earl of Gainsborough , he was educated atTrinity College, Cambridge , where he obtained his M.A. in 1858. He then spent two years travelling in the East. In 1863, he married Alice de Broë, daughter of the director of the Ottoman Bank inBeirut . Their third child, Eric, who died aged five, is commemorated in Roden Noel's best-known book of verse, "A Little Child's Monument" (1881).His other volumes are:
*"Behind the Veil, and other Poems" (1863), not included in his collected works
*"Beatrice, and other Poems" (1868)
*"The Red Flag" (1872)
*"Livingstone in Africa" (1874)
*"Songs of the Heights and Deeps" (1885)
*"A Modern Faust, and other Poems" (1888)
*"Poor People's Christmas" (1890)
*"My Sea, and other Poems" (1896).The latter part of his life was spent at
Brighton , but he died in the train station ofMainz in Germany. His sonConrad Noel became a Christian Socialist, famous as the "turbulent priest of Thaxted".Roden Noel's versification was unequal and sometimes harsh, but he has a genuine feeling for nature, and the work is permeated by philosophic thought.
His other works include a drama in verse, "The House of Ravensburg" (1877), an epic on David Livingstone's expedition in Africa, a "Life of Byron" (1890, Great Writers series), an edition of
Edmund Spenser 's poems, a selection ofThomas Otway 's plays (1888) for theMermaid series , and critical papers on literature andphilosophy .His "Collected Poems" were edited (1902) by his sister,
Victoria Buxton , with a notice byJohn Addington Symonds , which had originally appeared in the "Academy" (January 19 ,1899 ) as a review of "The Modern Faust". The selection (1892) in the series of Canterbury Poets has an introduction by Robert Buchanan.His poem "
Sea Slumber Song " as set to music by Sir Edward Elgar as the first song of his song-cycle "Sea Pictures ".References
*1911
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