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Thomas Moore
1779-1852
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Thomas Moore is buried in the Church of
St. Nicholas, Bromham, Wiltshire, England. (His actress wife, who died
in 1865, is also buried in the grave.)
Grave of Thomas Moore Born in Ireland, Moore was a
talented singer and musician with a natural ability as a lyric
writer. In 1801 he published his first collection The
Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Little but this failed to
impress the critics. However, he soon began to set his rhymes to
traditional Irish folk tunes
and published them in Irish Melodies - which secured his
financial position. His famous songs
include: The Minstrel Boy, The Harp that once through Tara's
Halls and The Last Rose of Summer.
In 1817 he published the narrative poem Lalla Rookh which
proved to be enormously successful. The poem tells the story of
emperor's daughter Lalla Rookh who falls in love with a Kashmiri
poet while travelling to marry the King of Bucharia.
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Thomas Moore |
Moore was a close friend of
Byron and there is a famous incident when the two men were
discussing fame by the banks of the Thames. From the river came the
sound of a boat man
singing one of Moore's songs; at which point Byron remarks: "That, is fame."
Byron gave Moore his memoirs which Moore agreed to burn in 1824.
However, Moore later went on to write a life of Byron in 1830.
Moore is also remembered for his satirical poems The Fudge
Family in Paris (1818) and The Fudges in England (1835).
He also spent eleven years writing a history of Ireland which proved
very arduous.
He was awarded a Civil List pension in 1850. |
| How sweet the answer Echo makes |
| To Music at night |
| When, roused by lute or horn, she wakes, |
| And far away o'er lawns and lakes |
| Goes answering light! |
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from Echoes |
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