author
Coventry Patmore
1823–1896
A major Victorian poet and critic, he is best known for The Angel in the House, the work that helped define — and later provoke debate about — the era’s ideal of marriage. His later poetry turned more mystical and intense, especially in The Unknown Eros.
5 Audiobooks
The Angel in the House
by Coventry Patmore
The Unknown Eros
by Coventry Patmore
The Victories of Love, and Other Poems
by Coventry Patmore
Principle in Art, Etc.
by Coventry Patmore
The poetry of pathos & delight : from the works of Coventry Patmore
by Coventry Patmore
About the author
Born in Woodford, Essex, on July 23, 1823, Coventry Patmore became known as an English poet and literary critic. He worked at the British Museum from 1846 to 1865 and moved in Pre-Raphaelite circles, connections that placed him close to some of the most lively literary and artistic debates of Victorian England.
Patmore’s reputation has long rested on The Angel in the House, a narrative poem published in parts beginning in 1854 and inspired in part by his first wife, Emily. The poem’s celebration of domestic love made it famous, and its phrase "angel in the house" went on to have a life far beyond the book itself as a shorthand for a Victorian ideal of womanhood.
His later work is often seen as richer and more complex. In collections such as The Unknown Eros and other odes, he wrote about love, marriage, and spiritual longing in a more inward, meditative voice. He died in Lymington, Hampshire, on November 26, 1896.