Patmore, Coventry (1823-1896), was an English poet associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The brotherhood was a short-lived but influential group of painters and writers in England during the mid 1800’s. In 1854, Patmore published The Bethrothal, the first of four long poems. It was followed by The Espousals (1856), Faithful for Ever (1860), and The Victories of Love (1862). These poems made up Patmore’s great theme on married love, which he called The Angel in the House. The poems became his most popular work.
Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore was born on July 23, 1823, in Woodford, Essex. He worked in the library of the British Museum in London from 1846 to 1865. In 1864, Patmore converted to the Roman Catholic Church, which influenced his subsequent writing in such verse collections as The Unknown Eros (1877) and Amelia (1878). Patmore wrote many stimulating essays on art, literature, philosophy, and politics. They were published originally in the St. James’s Gazette and later collected in such volumes as Principle in Art (1889), Religio Poetae (1893), and The Rod, the Root and the Flower (1895). Patmore died on Nov. 26, 1896.
