Lytton, Edward Robert Bulwer, First Earl Of Lytton

(1831-1891)

   Born in London, the son of the first Baron Lytton, he was educated privately in Bonn. From 1849 he was private secretary to his uncle, Lord Dalling, first in Washington, then in Florence; thereafter he followed a diplomatic career in Europe. In 1873 he became Baron Lytton on the death of his father and was viceroy of India from 1876 to 1880, but his reforms were not well received back in England. He was created Earl of Lytton and Viscount Knebworth in 1880, and was appointed ambassador to France in 1887. He died of an aortic aneurysm while he was writing poetry and was buried at Knebworth, Hertfordshire. His poems - under the pseudonym of Owen Meredith - are descriptive and marked by brilliancy of idea. Some of his publications: Clytemnestra, and Other Poems, 1855. The Wanderer, 1857. Lucile, 1860. Chronicles and Characters, 1868. The Poems, 1869. Fables in Song, 1874. Glenaveril, 1885. After Paradise, 1887. Some of his poems: "Irene," "King Solomon and the Mouse," "Last Lines," "Midges," "Since We Parted," "The Death of King Hacon," "The Siege of Constantinople," "The White Anemone."

   Sources: A Treasury of Poems for Worship and Devotion. Charles L. Wallis, ed. Harper, 1959. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Golden Numbers. Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith, eds. Doubleday, Doran, 1902. Love in Verse. Kathleen Blease, ed. Ballantine Publishing Group, 1998. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Poems: Historical and Characteristic of Robert Lord Lytton. Chapman and Hall, 1887. Very Bad Poetry. Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras, eds. Vintage Books, 1997.