Warton, Thomas (1728-1790), was an English poet and literary scholar who was appointed poet laureate of the United Kingdom in 1785. He succeeded William Whitehead in the position.
Warton is best known as the author of the first history of English poetry, The History of English Poetry from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century. Warton completed three volumes of the work from 1774 to 1781 but left it unfinished at his death. The history covers poetry to the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the early 1600’s.
Warton wrote romantic poetry, often with medieval themes. He composed most of his best verse before the age of 23. His blank verse poem The Pleasures of Melancholy (1747) is typical of his work. Warton established his reputation as a critic with Observations on the Faerie Queene of Spenser (1754). He also edited an edition of the works of the Greek poet Theocritus.
Warton was born on Jan. 9, 1728, in Basingstoke. His father, also named Thomas Warton, was a poet and professor of poetry at Oxford University. The younger Thomas Warton studied at Oxford and became a professor of poetry there in 1757. He died on May 21, 1790. Joseph Warton, his brother, was a noted literary critic and scholar.
