Aubrey de Vere
Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814-1902) was an Irish poet and writer, known for his significant contributions to Romantic poetry and advocacy for the Irish people. Born in Adare, County Limerick, he was influenced by his father, Sir Aubrey de Vere, a baronet with strong ties to Romantic figures like William Wordsworth. De Vere studied at Trinity College in Dublin but left to pursue a grand tour, meeting prominent intellectuals such as Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton. His early works are characterized by their appreciation for nature and reflect the influence of Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but they also incorporate a distinct religious perspective.
De Vere's attention shifted towards social issues following personal tragedies and the Irish famine, leading to his 1848 work "English Misrule and Irish Misdeeds," which criticized British governance in Ireland. After converting to Catholicism in 1851, he focused on devotional poetry. In the later years of his career, he reinterpreted Irish legends, solidifying his legacy as both a defender of Irish identity and a religious poet within the Romantic tradition. His work remains significant for its themes of faith, nature, and social justice.
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Aubrey de Vere
Poet
- Born: January 10, 1814
- Birthplace: Curragh Chase, Adare, County Limerick, Ireland
- Died: January 21, 1902
Biography
Born January 10, 1814, in Adare, County Limerick, Ireland, Aubrey Thomas de Vere was the son of Sir Aubrey de Vere, a baronet whose interests in Romantic poetry and the people of Ireland, as well as friendship with the poet William Wordsworth, greatly influenced his son’s career. The younger de Vere attended Trinity College in Dublin for a time, but even though he was a capable student, his interests lay beyond the boundaries of the classroom. He left school to embark on his grand tour, traveling to meet the intellectual giants of the day, including Wordsworth, Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman, and astronomerWilliam Rowan Hamilton. He devoted the remainder of his life to writing and to championing the cause of the Irish people. De Vere died on January 21, 1902.
Aubrey de Vere’s early work reflects in its style and subject matter his reading of and admiration for Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Many of the sonnets and narrative poems of his first two books of verse focus on nature. However, de Vere’s work remains distinct from Wordsworth and other Romantic poets for its heavier emphasis on religion and inclusion of religious devotional poetry. Perhaps as influential as his father in these early works, and maybe more so in later works, were the literary friends de Vere made, especially Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Ruskin, and Cardinal Newman.
Not long after his first two books were published, his father’s death and the Irish famine of 1846 turned his attention outward. His English Misrule and Irish Misdeeds, published in 1848, takes the English government to task for its abuses of power and of Ireland. Additional essays published a year later address questions of the nature of life and the nature of poetry. Shortly thereafter, in 1851, de Vere converted to Catholicism and concentrated his writing on devotional poetry. The final stage of his writing career, beginning in the early 1870’s, was spent in reworking old Irish legends. De Vere is remembered as a defender of the Irish people, particularly through his polemic on the “Irish Question,” and as a religious poet in the Romantic tradition.