Atherstone Biiography

— The Corvey Poets Project at the University of Nebraska —

British Poetry of the later Eighteenth and Earlier Nineteenth Centuries

Bibliographical and Contextual Apparatus

Atherstone, Edwin.

A Midsummer Day's Dream. A Poem. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1824. Pp. 173.

Biographical Information

Edwin Atherstone was born on April 17, 1788 in Brewhouse Yard, Nottingham. He was the son of Hugh Atherstone and Ann, née Green. Hugh Atherstone was a dyer and he and his wife had fifteen children, of which Edwin was the thirteenth. After completing his education in Yorkshire at Fulneck Moravian School, he returned to Nottingham with Mary Wainwright Pearson as his supposed wife. The two were never legally married, a fact which they kept from their friends and relatives until their separation. Atherstone had three daughters with Pearson, and a son who died.

Atherstone taught music at a Franciscan school in Taunton, where he also wrote music infrequently. He met Coleridge and Southey, but never became close, though he did attempt to know them better. Atherstone was friendly with several other artists and writers such as John Hunt, Thomas Moore, and especially John Martin, with whom he was quite close. Martin and Atherstone were good-natured rivals, and the two were inspired from similar areas, usually classic or biblical themes.

In 1821, Atherstone published his first work, 'The Last Days of Herculaneum' with 'Abradates and Panthea'. A MidsummerDay's Dream was published in 1824 and it contained plates by his friend, John Martin. In 1828 the first six books of The Fall of Nineveh were published. 1847 showed the next seven and in 1868 the entire volume of thirty books was completed and published. Atherstone wrote the epic poem, The Sea-Kings in England in 1830. The Handwriting on the Wall appeared in 1858. His final work, Israel in Egypt, was published in 1861. Though reviews were generally favorable, they were not outstanding, and he did not achieve great success, nor did his works sell well.

Atherstone moved to London in 1831 and he often lectured around Britain. He also dealt in and collected paintings, running two art galleries in London. He later moved to Bath on a pension, and died on January 29, 1872. Atherstone had written four plays which were not published and his daughter, Mary Elizabeth Atherstone, published three of them in 1888. However, the fourth, which is about European political leaders, was thought to be too slanderous for publication.

Works Cited

http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.library.unl.edu/view/printable/834
George Smith, The Dictionary of National Biography. Stephen, Sir Leslie and Sir Sidney Lee, eds. Vol. 1. London: Oxford UP, 1921-22.
Chambers Cyclopædia of English Literature. David Patrick, ed. Vol. 3, 19th and 20th Century. p. 146. New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1938.