When was Robert Bridges appointed Poet Laureate?
Robert Bridges was appointed Poet Laureate in 1913. He held the position until his death in 1930, and remains the only medical graduate to have held the office.
Questions about Robert Bridges
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is Robert Bridges best known for writing?
Robert Bridges is best known for his two volumes of Shorter Poems, published in 1890 and 1894, and for the long philosophical poem The Testament of Beauty, published in 1929. The Testament of Beauty brought him wide public recognition and earned him the Order of Merit in 1929.
How did Robert Bridges help Gerard Manley Hopkins become famous?
Bridges arranged the posthumous publication of Hopkins's verse in 1918. Hopkins published almost nothing during his lifetime, and without Bridges's editorial efforts his work would likely have remained unknown.
What was Robert Bridges's medical career before he became a poet?
Bridges trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London and worked as a casualty physician there before serving as a full physician at the Great Northern Central Hospital from 1876 to 1885. He also attended patients at the Hospital for Sick Children. Lung disease forced his retirement from medicine in 1885.
What is the Yattendon Hymnal and why did Robert Bridges create it?
The Yattendon Hymnal was a collection of hymns published by Bridges in 1899, created specifically for musical reasons. Although it was not a financial success, it became an influential bridge between Victorian and early twentieth-century hymnody, and several of the hymns and translations it contained remain in liturgical use.
What phonetic project did Robert Bridges develop?
Bridges developed his own phonetic alphabet for English, working with the phonetician David Abercrombie. The letters were designed by typographer Stanley Morison of the Monotype Corporation, and the Oxford University Press printed seven volumes of his Collected Essays in the alphabet. Bridges was also a founding member of the Society for Pure English.