Moore, Thomas

(1779-1852)

   Ireland's national poet was born in Dublin, the son of a grocer and wine merchant. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he studied law in London. Appointed admiralty registrar at Bermuda in 1803, he left his deputy in charge and set off on a tour of the United States and Canada. The deputy embezzled a large sum of money, resulting in Moore's falling into debt, which took years to pay back. He was a good musician and skillful writer of highly popular and often patriotic songs. He died in Wiltshire. His long romance, Lalla Rookh (1817), earned him the distinction of being paid the highest sum to date for a single poem. He wrote close to 1000 poems, songs, and hymns. Some of his publications: Odes and Epistles, 1806. Irish Melodies, 1807 to 1834 (with music by Sir John Stevenson). The Twopenny Post Bag, 1813. Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, 1830. Some of his song/poems: "'Tis the Last Rose of Summer," "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms," "Oft in the Stilly Night," "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls," "The Minstrel Boy."

   Sources: British Minstrelsie. T.C. and E.C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh (?1900). 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). Biography of Thomas Moore (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/tmoore.htm). The Best Loved Poems of the American People. Hazel Felleman, ed. Doubleday, 1936. The Book of Irish Verse: An Antholog y of Irish Poetry from the Sixth Century to the Present. John Montague, ed. Macmillan, 1974. 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 Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore. William M. Rossetti, ed. A.L. Burt Company, 1910. The Cyber Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm). The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse. Thomas Kinsella, ed. Oxford University Press, 1986. The World's Great Religious Poetry. Caroline Miles Hill, ed. Macmillan, 1954.