PATMORE, COVENTRY. - English poet, b. at Woodford on 23 July 1823, d. at Lamington on 26 Nov. 1896. He converted to Catholicism in 1864.
He is the poet of conjugal and family love, the former sung above all in the poem The Angel in the house (published in several instalments from 1854 to 1862), and the latter in the odes collected under the title The unknown Eros and other odes (1877). His poetry springs entirely from scenes occurring within the walls of the home, even in those lyrics in which he sings of cosmic events or universal sentiments; most of the similes, with which his poetry is exceedingly rich, are drawn from what everyone has seen and experienced in his own home. Like his poetry, his prose works are permeated by a very deep and acute religious feeling. His work is linked to the English tradition richest in “mystical” content (the term being understood in a broad sense).