author
John Cann Bailey
1864–1931
A lively English critic and essayist, he wrote warmly and intelligently about poetry, Shakespeare, Milton, Samuel Johnson, and Walt Whitman. His career also stretched beyond literature into public life, including service as chairman of the National Trust.
2 Audiobooks
Milton
by John Cann Bailey
Dr. Johnson and His Circle
by John Cann Bailey
About the author
Educated at Haileybury and New College, Oxford, John Cann Bailey qualified as a barrister but chose not to practise law. Instead, he became known as a lecturer, essayist, and literary critic whose work brought major writers and poems to a broad reading public.
He published books on subjects including Shakespeare, Milton, Samuel Johnson, and Walt Whitman, as well as collections such as Poetry and Commonplace and Poets and Poetry. His writing was admired for being cultivated and approachable, helping readers feel that serious literature could also be a pleasure.
Bailey was active in public and cultural life as well. Alongside his literary career, he became an important figure in the National Trust and served as its chairman. That mix of literary enthusiasm and civic commitment gives his work an appealing sense of breadth and humanity.