Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore
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For other persons named Thomas Moore, see Thomas Moore (disambiguation).

For the English Roman Catholic martyr, see Thomas More.

Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore (May 28, 1779 – February 25, 1852) was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and the The Last Rose of Summer.

Biography

Born on the corner of Aungier Street in Dublin, Ireland^[1] over his father's grocery shop, his father being from an Irish speaking Gaeltacht in Kerry and his mother, Anastasia Codd, from Wexford. He was educated at Trinity College, which had recently allowed entry to Catholic students and studied law at the Middle Temple in London. It was as a poet, translator, balladeer and singer that he found fame. His work soon became immensely popular and included The Harp That Once Through Tara’s Halls, Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms, The Meeting of the Waters and many others. His ballads were published as Moore's Irish Melodies (commonly called Moore's Melodies) in 1846 and 1852.[1] [2]

Moore was far more than a balladeer, however. He had major success as a society figure in London, and in 1803 was appointed registrar to the Admiralty in Bermuda. From there, he travelled in Canada and the U.S.. It was after this trip that he published his book, Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems, which featured a paean to the historic Cohoes Falls called Lines Written at the Cohos (sic), or Falls of the Mohawk River, among other famous verses. He returned to England and married an actress, Elizabeth "Bessy" Dyke, in 1811. Moore had expensive tastes, and, despite the large sums he was earning from his writing, soon got into debt, a situation which was exacerbated by the embezzlement of money by the man he had employed to deputise for him in Maine. Moore became liable for the £6000 which had been illegally appropriated. In 1819, he was forced to leave Britain -- in company with Lord John Russell -- and live in Paris until 1822 (notably with the family of Martin de Villamil), when the debt was finally paid off. Some of this time was spent with Lord Byron, whose literary executor Moore became. He was much criticised later for allowing himself to be persuaded into destroying Byron's memoirs at the behest of Byron's family due to their damningly honest content. Moore did, however, edit and publish Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life (1830).

Thomas Moore at the Meeting of the Waters

He finally settled in Sloperton Cottage at Bromham, Wiltshire, England, and became a novelist and biographer as well as a successful poet. He received a state pension, but his personal life was dogged by tragedy including the untimely deaths of all of his five children within his lifetime and the suffering of a stroke in later life, which disabled him from performances - the activity at which he was most renowned. His remains are in the vault at St. Nicholas, Bromham.

Moore frequently visited Boyle Farm in Thames Ditton, Surrey, as the guest of Lord Henry Fitzgerald and his wife. One noteworthy occasion was the subject of Moore's long poem, 'The Summer Fete'.

Moore is considered Ireland's National Bard and is to it what Robert Burns is to Scotland. Moore is commemorated by a plaque on the house where he was born and by a large bronze statue near Trinity College Dublin.

Many composers have set the poems of Thomas Moore to music. They include Gaspare Spontini, Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, Charles Ives, William Bolcom, and Lori Laitman.

The song Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms is often used in a famous gag in a number of Warner Brothers cartoons, usually involving a piano or Xylophone rigged to explode when a certain note is played. The hero, typically Bugs Bunny, tries to play the melody line of the song, but always misses the rigged note (C above middle C). The villain or rival, finally exasperated, pushes the hero aside and plays the song himself, striking the correct note and blowing himself up.

List of Works

Odes of Anacreon (1800)
Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Little, Esq. (1801)
The Gypsy Prince (light opera; w/ Michael Kelly) (1801)
Epistles, Odes and Other Poems (1806)
A Selection of Irish Melodies, 1) and 2) (April 1808)
Corruption and Intolerance, Two Poems (1808)
The Sceptic: A Philosophical Satire (1809)
A Selection of Irish Melodies, 3) (January 1810)
A Letter to the Roman Catholics of Dublin (1810)
A Melologue upon National Music (1811)
M.P.: or, the Blue-Stocking, a Comic Opera (produced at the Lyceum 9 Sept) (1811)
A Selection of Irish Melodies, 4) (November, 1811)
Parody of a Celebrated Letter (privately printed and circulated; E, 8 March) (February, 1812)
To a Plumassier" ,Morning Chronicle, (March 16, 1812)
Extracts from the Diary of a Fashionable Politician" ,Morning Chronicle, (March 30, 1812)
The Insurrection of the Papers" ,Morning Chronicle, (April 23, 1812)
Lines on the Death of Mr. P[e]rc[e]v[a]l" (May]], 1812)
The Sale of the Tools" ,Morning Chronicle, (December 21], 1812)
Correspondence Between a Lady and a Gentleman ,Morning Chronicle, (January 6, 1813)
Intercepted Letters, or, the Two-Penny Post-Bag (March, 1813)
Reinforcements for Lord Wellington,Morning Chronicle, (August 27, 1813)
A Selection of Irish Melodies, 5) (December, 1813)
A Collection of the Vocal Music of Thomas Moore (1814)
A Selection of Irish Melodies, 6) (March, 1815)
Sacred Songs, 1)
Lines on the Death of Sheridan ,Morning Chronicle, (June, 1816)
Lalla Rookh, an Oriental Romance (May, 1817)
The Fudge Family in Paris (April 20, 1818)
National Airs, 1) (April 23, 1818)
To the Ship in which Lord C[A]ST[LE]R[EA]GH Sailed for the Continent ,Morning Chronicle, (September 22, 1818)
Lines on the Death of Joseph Atkinson, Esq. of Dublin(September 25, 1818)
Go, Brothers in Wisdom ,Morning Chronicle, (August 18, 1818)
To Sir Hudson Lowe , Examiner,(October 4, 1818)
A Selection of Irish Melodies, 7) (October, 1818)
The Works of Thomas Moore (6 vols.) (1819)
Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress (January, 1819)
National Airs, 2) (1820)
Irish Melodies, with a Melologue upon National Music (1820)
A Selection of Irish Melodies, 8)(1821)
Irish Melodies, with an Appendix, containing the original advertisements and the prefatory letter on music (1821)
National Airs, 3) (June, (1822)
National Airs, 4) (1822)
The Loves of the Angels, a Poem (December 23, 1822)
The Loves of the Angels, an Eastern Romance (5th ed. of Loves of the Angels) (1823)
Fables for the Holy Alliance, Rhymes on the Road, &c. &c. (May 7, 1823)
Sacred Songs, 2) (1824)
A Selection of Irish Melodies, 9) (November 1, 1824)
Memoirs of Captain Rock (April 9, 1824)
Memoirs of the Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (2 vols.) (1825)
National Airs, 5) (1826)
Evenings in Greece, 1) (1826)
A Dream of Turtle, Times, (September 28, (1826)
The Epicurean, a Tale (1827)
National Airs, 6) (1827)
A Set of Glees (1827)
Odes upon Cash, Corn, Catholics, and other Matters (1828)
Letters & Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life (vol. 1) (January 15, 1830)
Legendary Ballads (1830)
Letters & Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life (vol. 2) (January, 1831)
The Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald (2 vols.) (1831)
The Summer Fete (1831)
Evenings in Greece, 2) (1832)
Irish Antiquities, Times, (March 5, 1832)
From the Hon. Henry ---, to Lady Emma ---, Times, (April 9, 1832)
To Caroline, Viscountess Valletort, Metropolitan, (June, 1832)
Ali's Bride... , Metropolitan, (August, 1832)
Verses to the Poet Crabbe's Inkstand, Metropolitan, (August, 1832)
Tory Pledges, Times, (August 30, 1832)
Song to the Departing Spirit of Tithe, Metropolitan, (September, 1832)
The Duke is the Lad, Times, (October 2, 1832)
St. Jerome on Earth, First Visit, Times, (29 October, 1832)
St. Jerome on Earth, Second Visit, Times, (12 November, 1832)
Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion (2 vols.) (1833)
To the Rev. Charles Overton", Times, (6 November,1833)
Irish Melodies, 10) with Supplement (1834)
Vocal Miscellany, 1) (1834)
The Numbering of the Clergy, Examiner, (5 October, 1834)
Vocal Miscellany, 2) 1835
The Fudge Family in England 1835
The History of Ireland (vol.1) 1835
The History of Ireland (vol. 2) 1837
The Song of the Box ,Morning Chronicle, (February 19, 1838)
Sketch of the First Act of a New Romantic Drama ,Morning Chronicle, (March 22, 1838)
Thoughts on Patrons, Puffs, and Other Matters(Bentley's Miscellany), 1839
Alciphron, a Poem, 1839
The History of Ireland (vol. 3) ,1840
The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. Collected by himself (10 vols.) (1840-1841)
Thoughts on Mischief,Morning Chronicle, (May 2, 1840)
Religion and Trade,Morning Chronicle, (June 1, 1840)
An Account of an Extraordinary Dream,Morning Chronicle, (June 15, 1840)
The Retreat of the Scorpion,Morning Chronicle, (July 16, 1840)
Musings, suggested by the Late Promotion of Mrs. Nethercoat,Morning Chronicle, (August 27, 1840)
The Triumphs of Farce ,1840
Latest Accounts from Olympus ,1840
A Threnody on the Approaching Demise of Old Mother Corn-Law, Morning Chronicle (February 23, 1842)
Sayings and Doings of Ancient Nicholas, Morning Chronicle (April 7, 1842)
"More Sayings and Doings of Ancient Nicholas,Morning Chronicle, (May 12, 1842)
The History of Ireland (vol. 4) (1846)

^[2]

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Thomas Moore

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Author:Thomas Moore

External links

Persondata
NAME	Moore, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Irish Poet
DATE OF BIRTH	May 28, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dublin
DATE OF DEATH	February 25, 1852
PLACE OF DEATH	Bromham, Wiltshire

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