SOURCE: Haddow, G. C. “A Neglected Poet.” Queen's Quarterly 31, no. 3 (February 1924): 289-97.

In the following essay, Haddow considers the reasons for the critical and popular neglect of Patmore's verse.

The one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Coventry Patmore (July 23, 1823) has passed with comparatively little notice, an indication that the verdict of Time has assigned to Patmore a position among the minor poets of the last century. The Angel in the House, with its sequel The Victories of Love, which had a few years of unintelligent popularity, is probably unknown to the general reader of to-day, and is regarded by a good many critics, especially those who have not read it, with a mixture of amusement and contempt. The Odes of The Unknown Eros have received recognition as exalted religious poetry comparable with the best of Crashaw and Francis Thompson only from a sympathetic few. That Patmore should...