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Thomas Moore

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Thomas Moore
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(born May 28, 1779, Dublin, Ire. — died Feb. 25, 1852, Wiltshire, Eng.) Irish poet, satirist, composer, and singer. Moore graduated from Trinity College and studied law in London, where he became a close friend of Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His collections Irish Melodies and National Airs (1807 – 34) consist of 130 original poems set to folk melodies, including "The Minstrel Boy," "Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms," and "The Last Rose of Summer." Performed by Moore for London's aristocracy, they aroused sympathy and support for Irish nationalists. His reputation among his contemporaries rivaled that of Byron and Walter Scott. His poem Lalla Rookh (1817), a romantic Oriental fantasy, became the most translated poem of its time. In 1824 he was entrusted with Byron's memoirs; he burned them, presumably to protect Byron. He later published biographies of Byron and others, as well as a History of Ireland (1827).

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Irish Literature Companion: Thomas Moore
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Moore, Thomas (1779-1852), poet; born in Aungier St., Dublin, the son of a Catholic merchant. He was educated at TCD, where he befriended the United Irishman Robert Emmet. Moore's first book, a translation of the Odes of Anacreon (1800), appealed to the Prince of Wales, who agreed to have the volume dedicated to him. The Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Little Esq. (1801) purported to be a collection of verses by a youthful amatory poet who died at 21. Byron met him in 1811, and they became close friends. Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems (1806) reflect his experiences of the Caribbean and America. When Francis Jeffrey savaged the book in the Edinburgh Review, Moore challenged him to a duel, which was stopped in time. Moore's Irish Melodies, based on the airs recorded by Edward Bunting, was first issued in two volumes in 1808 and ran to an additional eight volumes up to 1834. The early numbers evoke leaders of the 1798 Rebellion, in words and music full of sorrowing futility. Beneath the emotional pathos, there was often the veiled hint of sedition and a warning that violence would break out again in Ireland if justice were not done to the Irish Catholics. National Airs (6 vols., 1818-28) were based on music from other folksong traditions than the Irish. Corruption and Intolerance (1808), two long poems in harsh rhyming couplets, rage against the machinations employed to pass the Act of Union and the intolerance in Anglo-Irish relations. A Letter to the Roman Catholics of Dublin (1810) argued for conciliation. From 1808 Moore participated in the Kilkenny theatre festival, and there he met Elizabeth Dyke, an actress whom he married in 1811 when she was 16. Intercepted Letters, or The Two-Penny Post Bag (1813), a collection of squibs and comic verse, met with success, its mockery of court vanity and anti-Catholic prejudice appealing to the liberal reformers who gathered at Holland House in London. Lallah Rookh (1817) was greeted with enthusiastic acclaim on publication, though some critics reverted to old charges of licentiousness and impiety. A trip to France inspired The Fudge Family in Paris (1818), a collection of verse letters to different correspondents, mocking British anti-Napoleonic policy of the time. Deeply in debt, Moore left for the financial asylum of the Continent with Lord John Russell, his future editor and later Prime Minister. In Venice Byron gave him the manuscript of his projected Memoirs. On his return to England he published The Loves of the Angels (1822), a poem which sought to describe the effects of original sin. Fables for the Holy Alliance (1823) attacked the post-Napoleonic entente between Russia and Austria. Memoirs of Captain Rock, the Celebrated Irish Chieftain (1824) was a history of Ireland from the standpoint of a Whiteboy [see secret societies], which argued that English misrule begets Irish violence. On Byron's death in 1824 a dispute arose about the Memoirs. At the behest of Byron's widow and half-sister, these were burnt in the London office of the publisher John Murray. Moore's Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1825) did not spare the Prince Regent for his neglect of the dying Sheridan. Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life (2 vols., 1830) was based on recollections of Byron. Thereafter, Moore began work on a Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald (1831). In 1832 Gerald Griffin and his brother William tried to persuade Moore to stand as an MP for Limerick as part of the Repeal campaign, but he declined. Next he embarked upon a four-volume History of Ireland (1935-46), but his scholarship, minute and searching in its way, did not have the command of the professional. The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, collected by himself, in ten volumes, was issued in 1841. The Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence (1853-6) were edited by his friend Russell, and savaged by John Wilson Croker, reviewing in The Critical Quarterly. His reputation declined swiftly after his death and his work has often been trivialized.

Bibliography

Terence de Vere White, Tom Moore: The Irish Poet (1977).

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Thomas Moore
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Moore, Thomas, 1779-1852, Irish poet, b. Dublin. He achieved prominence in his day not only for his poetry but also for his love of Ireland and personal charm. A lawyer, he was for a time registrar of the admiralty court in Bermuda. He is remembered today for Irish Melodies, a group of lyrics published between 1808 and 1834 and set to music by Sir John Stevenson and others; the songs include several of lasting fame, such as "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms," "Oft in the Stilly Night," and "The Harp That Once through Tara's Halls." His amusing satires, Intercepted Letters; or, The Two-Penny Post Bag (1813) and The Fudge Family in Paris (1818), were widely read, and the long poem Lalla Rookh (1817), a lush romance of India and the Middle East, was one of the most popular poems of his day. Byron, who was his friend, left him his memoirs, which Moore later-on the advice of Byron's executor and friends-destroyed. His biography of Byron appeared in 1830 and is among his best prose works.

Bibliography

See biography by H. J. Jordan (2 vol., 1975); study by T. Tessier and J. Hogg (1981).

Dictionary: Moore, Thomas
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1779-1852.

Irish romantic poet. Many of his nostalgic and patriotic lyrics, such as "The Minstrel Boy," were set to traditional Irish tunes.


Quotes By: Thomas Moore
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Quotes:

"'Tis the last rose of summer, left blooming alone; all her lovely companions are faded and gone."

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."

"I would uphold the law if for no other reason but to protect myself."

"A pretty wife is something for the fastidious vanity of a rou? to retire upon."

"It is only to the happy that tears are a luxury."

Artist: Thomas Moore
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Similar Artists:

Johnny Cunningham, John Field

Influenced By:

William Warren
  • Born: May 28, 1779, Dublin, Ireland
  • Died: February 25, 1852, Sloperton Cottage
  • Genres: Classical
  • Instrument: Producer, Editing, Liner Notes

Biography

Thomas Moore liked to sing and write poetry, and while at law school in London wrote the words, and often the music to many songs, as well as the libretto for Michael Kelly's opera, The Gypsey Prince. In 1808 Moore provided the words and tunes for a selection of Irish songs, Irish Melodies. He "borrowed" from the collections made by Edward Bunting (much to Bunting's displeasure) and applied serious words to light melodies. This collection made Moore extremely popular, and he enjoyed many song-writing successes. His popularity was partly due to his personal charm as a performer. Through this popularity he was able to revive interest in forgotten folk tunes of his native land. A victim of an embezzlement scam in 1820, Moore survived on his writings until 1846 when illness and depression took their toll. ~ Lynn Vought, All Music Guide
Wikipedia: Thomas Moore
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Thomas Moore

Born 28 May 1779(1779-05-28)
Dublin, Ireland
Died 25 February 1852 (aged 72)
Occupation Poet, singer, songwriter, entertainer
Nationality Irish
Notable work(s) The Minstrel Boy
The Last Rose of Summer
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Dyke
For other persons named Thomas Moore, see Thomas Moore (disambiguation).
For the English Roman Catholic martyr, see Thomas More.

Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and the The Last Rose of Summer.

Contents

Biography

Born on the corner of Aungier Street in Dublin, Ireland[1] over his father's grocery shop, his father being from an Irish speaking Gaeltacht in Kerry and his mother, Anastasia Codd, from Wexford. He was educated at Trinity College, which had recently allowed entry to Catholic students and studied law at the Middle Temple in London. It was as a poet, translator, balladeer and singer that he found fame. His work soon became immensely popular and included The Harp That Once Through Tara’s Halls, Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms, The Meeting of the Waters and many others. His ballads were published as Moore's Irish Melodies (commonly called Moore's Melodies) in 1846 and 1852.[1] [2]

Moore was far more than a balladeer, however. He had major success as a society figure in London, and in 1803 was appointed registrar to the Admiralty in Bermuda. From there, he travelled in Canada and the United States. It was after this trip that he published his book, Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems, which featured a paean to the historic Cohoes Falls called Lines Written at the Cohos (sic), or Falls of the Mohawk River, among other famous verses. He returned to England and married an actress, Elizabeth "Bessy" Dyke, in 1811. Moore had expensive tastes, and, despite the large sums he was earning from his writing, soon got into debt, a situation which was exacerbated by the embezzlement of money by the man he had employed to deputise for him in Maine. Moore became liable for the £6000 which had been illegally appropriated. In 1819, he was forced to leave Britain -- in company with Lord John Russell -- and live in Paris until 1822 (notably with the family of Martin de Villamil), when the debt was finally paid off. Some of this time was spent with Lord Byron, whose literary executor Moore became. He was much criticised later for allowing himself to be persuaded into destroying Byron's memoirs at the behest of Byron's family due to their damningly honest content. Moore did, however, edit and publish Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life (1830).

A bust of Thomas Moore at the Meeting of the Waters

He finally settled in Sloperton Cottage at Bromham, Wiltshire, England, and became a novelist and biographer as well as a successful poet. He received a state pension, but his personal life was dogged by tragedy including the untimely deaths of all of his five children within his lifetime and the suffering of a stroke in later life, which disabled him from performances - the activity at which he was most renowned. His remains are in the vault at St. Nicholas, Bromham.

Moore frequently visited Boyle Farm in Thames Ditton, Surrey, as the guest of Lord Henry Fitzgerald and his wife. One noteworthy occasion was the subject of Moore's long poem, 'The Summer Fete'.

Moore is considered Ireland's National Bard and is to it what Robert Burns is to Scotland.[citation needed] Moore is commemorated in several places; by a plaque on the house where he was born, a bust at The Meetings and one in Central Park, New York and by a large bronze statue near Trinity College Dublin.

  • The song Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms is often used in a famous gag in a number of Warner Brothers cartoons, usually involving a piano or Xylophone rigged to explode when a certain note is played. The hero, typically Bugs Bunny, tries to play the melody line of the song, but always misses the rigged note (C above middle C). The villain or rival, finally exasperated, pushes the hero aside and plays the song himself, striking the correct note and blowing himself up. In one instance, however, the protagonist plays the melody on a xylophone and, upon striking the rigged note, the antagonist explodes in an "old gag, new twist."

List of Works

Search Wikisource Wikisource has original works written by or about: Thomas Moore
  • Odes of Anacreon (1800)
  • Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Little, Esq. (1801)
  • The Gypsy Prince (a light opera; w/ Michael Kelly, 1801)
  • Epistles, Odes and Other Poems (1806)
  • A Selection of Irish Melodies, 1 and 2 (April 1808)
  • Corruption and Intolerance, Two Poems (1808)
  • The Sceptic: A Philosophical Satire (1809)
  • A Selection of Irish Melodies, 3 (January 1810)
  • A Letter to the Roman Catholics of Dublin (1810)
  • A Melologue upon National Music (1811)
  • M.P.: or, the Blue-Stocking (A comic opera produced at the Lyceum, 9 September 1811)
  • A Selection of Irish Melodies, 4 (November 1811)
  • Parody of a Celebrated Letter (Privately printed and circulated, February 1812, Examiner, 8 March 1812)
  • To a Plumassier (Morning Chronicle, 16 March 1812)
  • Extracts from the Diary of a Fashionable Politician (Morning Chronicle, 30 March 1812)
  • The Insurrection of the Papers (Morning Chronicle, 23 April 1812)
  • Lines on the Death of Mr. P[e]rc[e]v[a]l (May 1812)
  • The Sale of the Tools (Morning Chronicle, 21 December 1812)
  • Correspondence Between a Lady and a Gentleman (Morning Chronicle, 6 January 1813)
  • Intercepted Letters, or the Two-Penny Post-Bag (March 1813)
  • Reinforcements for Lord Wellington (Morning Chronicle, 27 August 1813)
  • A Selection of Irish Melodies, 5 (December 1813)
  • A Collection of the Vocal Music of Thomas Moore (1814)
  • A Selection of Irish Melodies, 6 (March 1815)
  • Sacred Songs, 1 (June 1816)
  • Lines on the Death of Sheridan (Morning Chronicle, June 1816)
  • Lalla-Rookh, an Oriental Romance (May 1817)
  • The Fudge Family in Paris (20 April 1818)
  • National Airs, 1 (23 April 1818)
  • To the Ship in which Lord C[A]ST[LE]R[EA]GH Sailed for the Continent (Morning Chronicle, 22 September 1818)
  • Lines on the Death of Joseph Atkinson, Esq. of Dublin (25 September 1818)
  • Go, Brothers in Wisdom (Morning Chronicle, 18 August 1818)
  • To Sir Hudson Lowe (Examiner, 4 October 1818)
  • A Selection of Irish Melodies, 7 (October 1818)
  • The Works of Thomas Moore (6 vols.) (1819)
  • Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress (January 1819)
  • National Airs, 2 (1820)
  • Irish Melodies, with a Melologue upon National Music (1820)
  • A Selection of Irish Melodies, 8 (1821)
  • Irish Melodies (with an Appendix, containing the original advertisements and the prefatory letter on music, 1821)
  • National Airs, 3 (June 1822)
  • National Airs, 4 (1822)
  • The Loves of the Angels, a Poem (23 December 1822)
  • The Loves of the Angels, an Eastern Romance (5th ed. of Loves of the Angels) (1823)
  • Fables for the Holy Alliance, Rhymes on the Road, &c. &c. (7 May 1823)
  • Sacred Songs, 2 (1824)
  • A Selection of Irish Melodies, 9 (1 November 1824)
  • Memoirs of Captain Rock (9 April 1824)
  • Memoirs of the Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (2 vols.) (1825)
  • National Airs, 5 (1826)
  • Evenings in Greece, 1 (1826)
  • A Dream of Turtle (The Times, 28 September 1826)
  • The Epicurean, a Tale (1827)
  • National Airs, 6 (1827)
  • A Set of Glees (1827)
  • Odes upon Cash, Corn, Catholics, and other Matters (1828)
  • Letters & Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life (vol.1) (15 January 1830)
  • Legendary Ballads (1830)
  • Letters & Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life (vol.2) (January 1831)
  • The Life and Death of Lord Edward FitzGerald (2 vols.) (1831)
  • The Summer Fete (1831)
  • Evenings in Greece, 2 (1832)
  • Irish Antiquities (The Times, 5 March 1832)
  • From the Hon. Henry ---, to Lady Emma --- (The Times, 9 April 1832)
  • To Caroline, Viscountess Valletort (The Metropolitan Magazine, June 1832)
  • Ali's Bride... (The Metropolitan Magazine, August 1832)
  • Verses to the Poet Crabbe's Inkstand (The Metropolitan Magazine, August 1832)
  • Tory Pledges (The Times, 30 August 1832)
  • Song to the Departing Spirit of Tithe (The Metropolitan Magazine, September 1832)
  • The Duke is the Lad (The Times, 2 October 1832)
  • St. Jerome on Earth, First Visit (The Times, 29 October 1832)
  • St. Jerome on Earth, Second Visit (The Times, 12 November 1832)
  • Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion (2 vols.) (1833)
  • To the Rev. Charles Overton (The Times, 6 November 1833)
  • Irish Melodies, 10 (with Supplement) (1834)
  • Vocal Miscellany, 1 (1834)
  • The Numbering of the Clergy (Examiner, 5 October 1834)
  • Vocal Miscellany, 2 (1835)
  • The Fudge Family in England (1835)
  • The History of Ireland (vol.1) (1835)
  • The History of Ireland (vol.2) (1837)
  • The Song of the Box (Morning Chronicle, 19 February 1838)
  • Sketch of the First Act of a New Romantic Drama (Morning Chronicle, 22 March 1838)
  • Thoughts on Patrons, Puffs, and Other Matters (Bentley's Miscellany, 1839)
  • Alciphron, a Poem (1839)
  • The History of Ireland (vol.3) (1840)
  • The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, collected by himself (10 vols.) (1840-1841)
  • Thoughts on Mischief (Morning Chronicle, 2 May 1840)
  • Religion and Trade (Morning Chronicle, 1 June 1840)
  • An Account of an Extraordinary Dream (Morning Chronicle, 15 June 1840)
  • The Retreat of the Scorpion (Morning Chronicle, 16 July 1840)
  • Musings, suggested by the Late Promotion of Mrs. Nethercoat (Morning Chronicle, 27 August 1840)
  • The Triumphs of Farce (1840)
  • Latest Accounts from Olympus (1840)
  • A Threnody on the Approaching Demise of Old Mother Corn-Law (Morning Chronicle, 23 February 1842)
  • Sayings and Doings of Ancient Nicholas (Morning Chronicle, 7 April 1842)
  • ''More Sayings and Doings of Ancient Nicholas (Morning Chronicle, 12 May 1842)
  • The History of Ireland (vol.4) (1846)[3]

References

  1. ^ http://www.wnet.org/ihas/composer/moore.html I Hear American Singing
  2. ^ The James Joyce Songbook, edited and with a commentary by Ruth Bauerle, Garland Publishing Inc., New York - London, 1982, pp. 158-160
  3. ^ http://people.bu.edu/jwvail/moore_chronology.html Chronology of Moore's Works

External links

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