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Birth :)
Born in Walmer, Kent, England to a loving mother and father. He was the fourth child out of eight in the family. Sat in perfect view of the British fleet anchoring ground -
Father's Death
His father's death led to his mother getting a new husband. The step-father in his life was never a real father figure. -
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Attended Eton College
He studied medicine, not literature. -
St. Bartholomew's Hospital
He continued his study of medicine. -
Hospital for Sick Children
This is where his love for children stemmed. It is also where his exposure to death came from. -
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Most Productive Years
It is in this time span that Bridges wrote most of his notable works, including eight plays. He was living in Yattendon. -
Became a husband
He married Monica Waterhouse, daughet of the architect Alfred Waterhouse. He continued to travel with her until they finally settled down in England on Boar’s Hill which oversees Oxford University -
Bridges Comments On His Own Work
“A fine tune is an unalterable artistic form which pleases in itself and for itself.” -
Shorter Poems
As the title would suggest, this is a collection of his shorter poems. They are what he is most known for. -
"London Snow"
When men were all asleep the snow came flying,
In large white flakes falling on the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,
Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town;
Deadening, muffling, stifling its murmurs failing;
Lazily and incessantly floating down and down:
Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing;
Hiding difference, making unevenness even,
Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing.
All night it fell, and when full inc -
"On A Dead Child"
Perfect little body, without fault or stain on thee,
With promise of strength and manhood full and fair!
Though cold and stark and bare,
The bloom and the charm of life doth awhile remain on thee. Thy mother’s treasure wert thou;—alas! no longer
To visit her heart with wondrous joy; to be
Thy father’s pride;—ah, he
Must gather his faith together, and his strength make stronger. To me, as I move thee now in the last duty,
Dost thou with a turn or gestur -
Elected Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of London
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Cofounded The Society for Pure English
The group wanted to establish "a sounder ideal of the purity of our language." -
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Poet Laureate
The poet laureate is a position appointed by the Royal Family. The laureate was officially a part of the royal household. He/She would write literature for special occastions. They are appointed for life -
Literary Critic J.C. Squire wrote:
“His ingenuities merely serve their purpose ; his music cannot be separated from his sense ; his rhythms are sought, and found, as the only suitable rhythms for the words and the scenes that are being expressed and described” This shows hoe musical his poems are. -
"The Testiment of Beauty"
Used a lot of meter in this work, rather than manipulating accenting. -
Death :(
He was 85 years old. He died while still living on Boar's Hill, Berkshire. -
Yvor Winters wrote:
"The diction of Dr. Bridges is as fresh and living as that of Dr. Williams; his meter allow him greater freedom, or rather greater range; he is in general a more civilized man."
