Edward Young (1638-1765) was one of the most influential British writers of the eighteenth century. Although primarily known as a poet on the back of his monumental
Night Thoughts(1742-46), a religious consolation in blank verse which established his place as a proto-Romantic writer and as a member of the “graveyard school”, Young was also a satirist, a tragedian, and an important contributor to literary criticism. Although biographer Harold Forster suggests Young was “a poet born in the wrong age” (Forster, 1986, 1), tracking Young’s literary career is a useful way to trace changing literary tastes from the early to mid-century, exemplifying the paradigmatic shift from neoclassical ideals of imitation and formal restraint to those of originality and imaginative spontaneity.…
2172 words
Citation: Parisot, Eric. "Edward Young". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 February 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4840, accessed 24 November 2024.]
