Robert Lowth

An English clergyman, scholar, and bishop, Robert Lowth was born in 1710 and educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford. He went on to serve as Professor of Poetry at Oxford and later held senior church posts, becoming Bishop of Oxford, then St Davids, and finally Bishop of London.

Lowth is remembered above all for two kinds of writing. His lectures on Hebrew poetry were highly influential because they treated biblical writing as literature as well as scripture, helping readers notice patterns such as parallelism. He also wrote A Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762), a book that became widely known and helped shape later ideas about correct English usage.

What makes his work interesting today is the mix of religion, literature, and language study in a single career. He wrote with the seriousness of a churchman and the curiosity of a critic, leaving a mark on both biblical scholarship and the history of English grammar.