Coventry Patmore - The Angel in the House

Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore was born on July 23rd 1823 at Woodford in Essex. Although he is still relatively unknown his stature as a Victorian Poet continues to increase. After some uneven success at writing poetry in 1846 Coventry came to the post of printed book supernumary assistant at the British Museum, a post he occupied for nineteen years, devoting his spare time to poetry. In 1853 he was to republish Tamerton Church Tower, the more successful of his pieces from Poems of 1844, adding several new poems which showed the great strides he had made in both concept and execution. In 1854 the first part of his much loved The Angel in the House appeared. In 1877 he published The Unknown Eros, which contains his perhaps finest poetic work, and in the following year Amelia, his own favourite among his poems. It is at this time that he also began to write essays beginning with English Metrical Law. Following this in 1879 with a volume of papers entitled Principle in Art, and in 1893 with Religio Poetae. This volume, the first of two on his poems contains Books I & II of The Angel In The House.