William Thompson (poet)

Rev. William Thompson (1712 - 1766) was an 18th-century English poet.

Life

William Thompson was the son of Rev. Francis Thompson, vicar of Brough in Westmoreland, NW England, who died in 1735; William's date of birth is not known.[1] William Thompson studied at Queen's College, Oxford, which his father had also attended, and graduated with a Master of Arts in 1738, afterwards becoming a fellow of the college.[2]

Thompson became rector of Hampton Poyle with South Weston in Oxfordshire.[3] He published his collected poems in two volumes in 1757.[4]

Work

He is best known for the long poem Sickness (1746), which discusses various illnesses including melancholy, fever, consumption, and variola.[5] Other poems include Epithalamium, Nativity, and Hymn to May, as well as a panegyric to Alexander Pope.[6]

Footnotes
  1. Richard Alfred Davenport, "The Life of William Thompson," in The British Poets, Vol. LVI. Chiswick, 1822; pg. 7.
  2. Davenport, "The Life of William Thompson," pp. 8-9.
  3. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Thompson, William (1712?-1766?)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  4. Davenport, "The Life of William Thompson," pg. 10.
  5. Davenport, "The Life of William Thompson," pp. 12-13.
  6. Davenport, "The Life of William Thompson," pg. 14.
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