William Gifford

Mary O'Connell (University College Cork)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University), Emily Rohrbach (University of Durham)

Dates

Born Apr 1756
Died Dec 1826
Activity 1776-1826

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Editor
Literary Critic/ Historian
Poet
Satirist
Translator

Resources

Gifford's Works

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William Gifford was an English Conservative satirist, critic, and editor. He is chiefly remembered for his editorship of the

Anti-Jacobin

and the

Quarterly Review

and his scathing satiric attacks on the Della Cruscan school of poetry. He also edited the important volume

The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin

(1799). Born in Ashburton, Devon, in 1756, the story of Gifford’s early life is one of triumph over adversity, as recounted by the author himself in the preface to his popular translation of Juvenal (1802). His father Edward Gifford was a glazier and house painter but “fell a martyr” to drink and, according to Gifford, died of a “decayed and ruined constitution” (Keen, 62). His mother, Elizabeth Cain died a year later, “exhausted with anxiety”, leaving the thirteen-year old…

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1123 words

Citation: O'Connell, Mary. "William Gifford". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 July 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1735, accessed 25 November 2024.]