Jackson Bibliography of Romantic Poetry

MOORE, Thomas (1779-1852: ODNB)

pseudonyms Thomas Brown, the younger; Thomas Little

Born and bred in Dublin, Moore became a committed Irish patriot and a champion of Catholic rights. His parents were John Moore, a grocer and wine merchant, and Anastasia (Codd) Moore. At Whyte's grammar school he began to display his skills as a writer and speaker; soon he was an accomplished musician, singer, and actor. After graduating from Trinity College Dublin (1799) he went to London to study law at the Middle Temple. There he published a translation of the odes of Anacreon prepared at TCD (1800) and a pseudonymous volume of love poems (1801), and there he was sought after to perform his songs at fashionable houses. Lord Moira was a valuable early patron: through him, Moore secured an appointment on a naval prize court in Bermuda. In 1803-4 he spent just long enough in Bermuda to entrust the job to a deputy, then toured the United States and Canada. Back in Britain, he began to command large sums for his writing, though his income often fell short of his obligations. Dublin publishers paid him £500 a year for the lyrics for Irish Melodies (1808-34); newspapers paid handsomely for satirical verses; Longman won the bidding war for Lalla Rookh and had no reason to regret it. In 1811 Moore married the actress Elizabeth Dyke. (They had five children but to their great sorrow, all five predeceased their parents.) In 1817 they moved into what became their home for the rest of their lives, Sloperton Cottage near Calne in Wiltshire, close to the seat of another patron, Lord Lansdowne. But Moore's deputy in Bermuda defaulted in 1818, leaving Moore responsible for a large debt, and the family went to live on the Continent for three years until he could be extricated from it. During this interlude, Byron entrusted him with the manuscript of his memoirs: over Moore's objections, it was burnt in Murray's fireplace after Byron's death. After his return to England, Moore added to his reputation with his biographies of Sheridan (1825), Byron (1830), and Lord Edward Fitzgerald (1831), and with a final History of Ireland (1835-46) that cemented his reputation as Ireland's national poet. His last years were shadowed by dementia. He died at home and is buried in Bromham churchyard nearby. (ODNB 13 Apr. 2020)

• Moore
• T. Moore

Books written (195):