De Vere, Sir Aubrey and Aubrey Thomas

(1788-1902)

   Irish father and son poets from Curragh Chase, County Limerick, related to the earls of Oxford.

   • Sir Aubrey, the father, (1788-1846)

   Born Hunt, Sir Aubrey took the name De Vere on succeeding to the title in 1818. His sonnets were highly praised by Wordsworth. His main publications: Julian the Apostate, a Dramatic Poem, 1822, republished 1858. The Duke of Mercia, an Historical Drama, the Lamentations of Ireland, and Other Poems, 1823, republished 1858. The Song of Faith, Devout Exercises and Sonnets, 1842, republished 1875. Mary Tudor, an Historical Drama, 1847, republished 1884. Some of his poems: "Reality," "The Children Band," "The Opening of the Tomb of Charlemagne," "The Right Use of Prayer," "The Rock of Cashel," "Waterloo."

   • Aubrey Thomas, the son (1814-1902)

   Aubrey was educated privately in Ireland and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he won a prize for a theological essay. He developed a particular friendship with William Wordsworth and visited him at Rydal Mount, Ambleside, Cumbria. When he returned to Ireland at the beginning of 1846 after a few years, the country was in the grip of the "potato famine." He threw himself energetically into the work of the relief committees. In 1851 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church in the archbishop's chapel at Avignon, and in 1854 he was appointed as professor of political and social science in the new Dublin Catholic University. He was buried in the churchyard at Askeaton, County Limerick. Some of his publications: The Waldenses and Other Poems, 1842. The Search after Proserpine and Other Poems, 1843. English Misrule and Irish Misdeeds, 1848. May Carols Hymns to the Virgin and Saints, 1881, 3rd edition, 1857. Constitutional and Unconstitutional Political Action, 1882. Inisfail, a Lyrical Chronicle of Ireland, 1862 (six centuries of Irish recorded history). The Infant Bridal and Other Poems, 1864. The Legends of St. Patrick, 1872. Alexander the Great 1874, (verse drama). St. Thomas of Canterbury, 1876 (verse drama). Recollections, 1897. Some of his other poems: "A Year of Sorrow," "Autumnal Ode," "Coleridge," "Feast of the Most Holy Trinity," "Florence MacCarthy's Farewell to His English Lover," "The Foray of Queen Meave," "The Song: Little Black Rose," "The Wedding of the Clans."

   Sources: A Sacrifice of Praise: An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English from Caedmon to the Mid-Twentieth Century. James H. Trott, ed. Cumberland House Publishing, 1999. An Anthology of Irish Literature. David H. Greene, ed. H. Modern Library, 1954. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Golden Book of Catholic Poetry. Alfred Noyes, ed. J.B. Lippincott, 1946. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The New Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1950. Helen Gardner, ed. Oxford University Press, 1972. The Oxford Book of Nineteenth-Century English Verse. John Hayward, ed. Oxford University Press, 1964; reprinted, with corrections, 1965. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.