William Mason (poet)

William Mason (1724 – 1797) was an English poet, editor and gardener.

He was born in Hull and studied at St John's College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1754 and held a number of posts in the church.

In 1747, his poem "Musaeus, a Monody on the Death of Mr. Pope" was published to acclaim and quickly went through several editions.cite book
last = Singer
first = S.W.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Life of William Mason, M.A. (in "The British Poets including Translations. In One Hundred Volumes")
publisher = C. Whittingham, College House
date = 1822
location = Chiswick
pages = Vol. LXXVII, p. 5
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=GrIDAAAAQAAJ
doi =
isbn = ] Summarizing this poem, William Lyon Phelps writes:

cquote|"Musaeus" was a monody on the death of Pope, and written in imitation of Milton's "Lycidas." Different poets in "Musaeus" bewail Pope's death; Chaucer speaks in an imitation of old English, and Spenser speaks two stanzas after the metre of the "Shepherd's Calendar" and three stanzas in the style of the "Fairy Queen." There is nothing remarkable about these imitations....cite book
last = Phelps
first = William Lyon
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement
publisher = Ginn and Co.
date = 1904
location = Boston
pages = p. 69
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=lbc4AAAAIAAJ
doi =
isbn = ]

Among his other works, none of them highly regarded today, are the historical tragedies "Elfrida" (1752) and "Caractacus" (1759) and a long poem on gardening, "The English Garden" (three volumes, 1772-82). His garden designs included one for the 2nd Earl of Harcourt. He published the "Poems of Mr Gray", a friend who was a great influence on his own work, in 1775. In 1785 he was William Pitt the Younger's choice to succeed William Whitehead as Poet Laureate but refused the honour.

References