About Thomas Lovell Beddoes
Thomas Lovell Beddoes was born in Clifton, England, the son of the naturalist Thomas Beddoes (1760–1808). He first attended school in Bath, later Charter House in London, and in 1820 entered Pembroke College, Oxford, as a student of literature. There he soon attracted attention with his later suppressed collection of poems, "The Improvisatore" (1821), and the dramatic composition "The Bride's Tragedy" (1822). In the latter, in particular, he demonstrated, despite some eccentricities, dramatic power, passion, and intellectual depth that justified great hopes; but inwardly unhappy and driven by a restless wanderlust, Beddoes only imperfectly lived up to them. To devote himself entirely to his favorite sciences, physiology and anatomy, he went to Göttingen in 1825, and later to Würzburg, where he received his doctorate in medicine in 1832. In the same year, Beddoes appeared at the Gaibach Festival and presented a satire on aristocracy. He then led a nomadic life, possessing a considerable fortune, residing sometimes in Strasbourg and Zurich, sometimes in Frankfurt or Berlin.In 1846, he returned to England. By 1847, however, he was back in Frankfurt, where he practiced as a general practitioner for a year and actively participated in the liberal movements of 1848. As a result of a fall from his horse, in which he broke both legs, he had to have them amputated in Basel, where he had moved for a change of air. Depressed, he committed suicide in the hospital on January 26, 1849.
Of poetic works, Beddoes left behind only one dramatic poem: "Death’s Jestbook, or the Fool’s Tragedy", even more whimsical than his earlier works, yet at the same time even more full of surprising flashes of brilliance. His posthumous poetry was published under the title "Poems, with a memoir", in 1851, (2 Volumes), and in addition to the aforementioned "Death’s jestbook", it contains a number of melancholy lyric poems and several dramatic fragments.
Browse all poems and texts published on Thomas Lovell Beddoes
There is some secret stirring in the world, A thought that seeks impatiently its word.
