author
Francis Turner Palgrave
1824–1897
Best remembered for shaping generations of readers through The Golden Treasury, he was a poet and critic with a sharp ear for lyric verse. His work helped define what many Victorians — and many later readers — thought of as the heart of English poetry.
1 Audiobook
The Visions of England Lyrics on leading men and events in English History
by Francis Turner Palgrave
About the author
Born in Great Yarmouth in 1824, Francis Turner Palgrave became one of the most influential literary anthologists of the 19th century. He studied at Charterhouse and at Oxford, and he moved in major literary circles, with Alfred Tennyson among the writers connected to his work and career.
Palgrave is most closely associated with The Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics, first published in 1861. The anthology became immensely popular and long remained a gateway to English poetry, valued for its careful selection of short, memorable poems. He also wrote poetry of his own and worked as an essayist, critic, and civil servant.
Although he published several books, his lasting reputation rests on his gift for choosing and arranging poems in a way that made them feel alive to ordinary readers. He died in London in 1897, but his name still travels with one of the best-known poetry anthologies in English.