Thomas Moore

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Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore
Born 28 May 1779(1779-05-28)
Dublin, Ireland
Died 25 February 1852 (aged 72)
Occupation Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer
Nationality Irish
Notable work(s) The Minstrel Boy
The Last Rose of Summer
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Dyke
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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

[edit] 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."

[edit] List of Works

Wikisource has original works written by or about:
  • 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]

[edit] 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

[edit] External links

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