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A B C D ... Z by birthday from the calendar Credits and feedback Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866) English novelist and poet who satirized the political and cultural scene of his time. Although he ridiculed well-known figures of the Romantic movement - William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron and others - his verbal attacks did not arouse open hostility. Usually Peacock assembles his characters in a country house, where they exchange opinions over a dinner table in a merry atmosphere. The 'Socratic dialogues' are leavened by songs, hilarious and extravagant episodes, and romantic love-plots. Beyond the sea, beyond the sea,
My heart is gone, far, far from me;
And ever on its track will flee
My thoughts, my dreams, beyond the sea
(from Crotchet Castle Thomas Love Peacock was born at Weymouth, in Dorset, the only son of a London glass merchant who died in 1788. Peacock's grandfather was a master in the Royal Navy, and the young Thomas Love was brought up by his mother at Chertsey in his grandfather's house. Peacock was educated at a private school in Englefield Green. His formal schooling in Greek, Latin, and French ended before he was 13, but throughout his life he read omnivorously in five languages. With the help of a modest inheritance form his father, Peacock was able to live as a man of letters. In 1812 Peacock met Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), who greatly inspired his writing. Later they were friendly antagonists. Peacock also became Shelley's literary executor after his death. Peacock was drawn through Shelley into a wider literary circle, but his knowledge of classical literature also helped the younger poet. Peacock's satirical essay on the value of poetry | |
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