Hunt, James Henry Leigh

(1784-1859)

   English essayist, critic, journalist, and prolific poet, he was born in Southgate, Middlesex. His father, Isaac Hunt, an American lawyer turned Unitarian minister, and his mother were liberal in their politics and brought up their children to be freethinkers. He was educated Christ's Hospital, the Bluecoat School, but did not attend university. In 1808 he and his brother John (1775-1848) launched the weekly Examiner, which advocated abolition of the slave trade, Catholic emancipation, the reform of Parliament and the elimination of prison sentences for debt. For their attacks on the unpopular prince regent, the brothers were imprisoned in 1813 for two years. He was buried in Kensal Green cemetery, West London. Juvenilia, published in 1801-which reached a fourth edition in 1804-shows his love for Italian literature. His Autobiography was published in 1852. Some of his poems: "A Legend of Florence," "Abou Ben Adhem," "An ABC for Grown Gentlemen," "Ballads of Robin Hood," "Blue-Stocking Revels; or, The Feast of the Violets," "Idylls," "The Fish, the Man, and the Spirit," "The Nymphs," "To the Grasshopper and the Cricket," "Wallace and Fawdon."

   Sources: A Biographical Sketch by Blupete: Leigh Hunt (http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Gladly Learn and Gladly Teach: Poems of the School Experience. Helen Plotz, ed. Greenwillow Books, 1981. The Wallace by Nigel Tranter (http://www.scottishradiance.com/bookreviews/wallrev.htm). 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 New Penguin Book of English Verse. Paul Keegan, ed. Penguin Books, 2000. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt. H.S. Milford, ed. Oxford University Press, 1923.