James Montgomery (4 November 1771 - 30 April 1854) was a British editor and poet.
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Life and Career
Montgomery, poet, son of a pastor and missionary of the Moravian Brethren, was born at Irvine in Ayrshire on 4 November 1771, and educated at the Moravian School at Fulneck, near Pudsey in Leeds. He failed school, became an apprentice baker[1], before settling in Sheffield in March 1792 as clerk to Joseph Gales on the 'Sheffield Register' newspaper. On July 4th 1794 he launched and edited the Sheffield Iris, and was twice imprisoned (in 1795, and again in 1796) for political articles for which he was held responsible. In 1797 he published Prison Amusements; but his first work to attract notice was The Wanderer of Switzerland (1806). It was followed by The West Indies (1809), The World before the Flood (1812), Greenland (1819), and The Pelican Island (1828), all of which contain passages of considerable imaginative and descriptive power, but, according to literary analysts, are lacking in strength and fire. He himself expected that his name would live, if at all, in his hymns, and in this his judgment has proved true. Some of these, such as "For ever with the Lord", "Hail to the Lord's Anointed", "Angels from the Realms of Glory, and "Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire", are sung wherever the English language is spoken. Probably his best-known poems are the one commemorating Arnold Winkelried [1] and "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". Montgomery was a good and philanthropic man, the opponent of every form of injustice and oppression, and the friend of every movement for the welfare of the race. His virtues attained wide recognition. From 1835 until his death in 1854 Montgomery lived at The Mount on Glossop Road in Sheffield.[2]
Writings
- A Poets Portfolio Or,Minor Poems:In Three Books(1835) Kessinger Publications 2009 ISBN 978-1437463378
Example of Poetry
- There is a winter of my soul,/The winter of despair;/
O when shall spring its rage control?/When shall the snowdrop blossom there ? [3]
Example of Hymn Writing
- God is my strong salvation;/What foe have I to fear?/In darkness & temptation/My light,My help is near.[4]
References
- ^ Angels from the Realms of Glory
- ^ "Sheffield‘s Remarkable Houses", Roger Redfern, ISBN 0 9519148 3 9, Page 12 States that Montgomery lived at The Mount from 1835-1854.
- ^ The Prodigal Poet, Masters Peter; Men of Purpose, Wakeman Publishers Ltd,London,1973 ISBN 978-1870855419
- ^ Baptist Hymn Book,Psalms & Hymn Trus,London 1962 B0000CXR2C
External links
Find more about James Montgomery on Wikipedia's sister projects:
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from CommonsThis article incorporates public domain text from : Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.
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| Preceded by Joseph Gales |
Editor of the Sheffield Iris 1794–1796 |
Succeeded by John Pye-Smith |
| Preceded by John Pye-Smith |
Editor of the Sheffield Iris 1796–1825 |
Succeeded by John Holland |
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