Linton, William James

(1812-1898)

   Born in London and educated at Stratford (East London), he became a renowned wood engraver, poet, political agitator and reformer, a Chartist, and a professed republican. In 1839 he established the political journal The National, reprinting extracts from publications not readily accessible to working men. In 1845 he became editor of The Illuminated Magazine, which published contributions from writers of more merit than popularity, including "A Royal Progress," a poem by Sarah Flower Adams (see entry). In 1866 he went to the United States, where he mainly devoted the rest of his life to the regeneration of American wood-engraving, at Appledore, a farmhouse near New Haven, Connecticut, where he died. He wrote several books on wood engraving, including The Masters of Wood Engraving (1890). He produced several volumes of his own poems on his own press, and in 1882, he edited Rare Poems of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. He also translated French lyrics. Some of his poems: "A Book," "Be Thyself," "Bob Thin; or, the Poorhouse Fugitive," "Epicurean," "Faint Heart," "Fair England," "Spring and Autumn," "The Gathering of the People."

   Sources: Book-Song. Gleeson White, ed. Elliot Stock, 1893. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. England 5 poems - poems of the week learn English (http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/stories/poem_act/england_poetry.html). English Poetry: Author Search (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). One Hundred and One Classics of Victorian Verse. Ellen J. Greenfield, ed. Contemporary Books, 1992. 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 Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. Oxford University Press, 1971.