Matthew Prior Summary

Matthew Prior was the most important poet writing in England between the death of John Dryden (1700) and the poetic maturity of Alexander Pope (about 1712). A significant influence on British and Germ... Read more

In the following excerpt from an introduction to a nineteenth-century edition of Prior's poetry, Gilfillan offers his opinion regarding Prior's most popular and accomplished works. Hi... Read more

In the following essay, Merians contends that Prior deliberately adopted a style of letter-writing incorporating metaphor and persona. She also explores possible personal, professional, and political ... Read more

In the following essay, Nelson examines four of Prior's verse tales, comparing them to their sources, and explains how their adaptations benefitted from Prior's "refinements in na... Read more

In the following essay, Gildenhuys examines the function of consciousness in Prior's love poetry. Critics have always had a difficult time "placing" Matthew Prior's achi... Read more

In the following excerpt, Doughty discusses the influence of earlier poets on Prior as well as works by Prior that display a striking modernity. Prior lives to-day, not even by his clever and forme... Read more

Critical Essay by Otis Fellows "Prior's 'Pritty Spanish Conceit'," in Modern Language Notes, Vol. 87, No. 6, November, 1972, pp. 3-11. In the following essay, Fe... Read more

In the following essay, Rower explains that, while Prior's early poems are typical of the Restoration, his later lyrics addressed to Cloe feature an enlarged context in which he achieves previo... Read more

Critical Essay by Nicolas H. Nelson "Dramatic Texture and Philosophical Debate in Prior's Dialogues of the Dead," in Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, Vol. 28, No. 3, Summ... Read more