Author: Rogers, Samuel
Biography:
ROGERS, Samuel (1763-1855: ODNB)
Almost alone among the major poets of the period in having no money worries, Samuel Rogers was born in Newington Green, one of the eight children of Mary (Radford) and Thomas Rogers. He was raised in a liberal Protestant family, attended private schools in Hackney and Stoke Newington, and hoped to become a minister himself, but instead he yielded to his father's wishes and joined him as a banker in Cornhill. Though he prospered at the bank, literature was his avocation. His earlier volumes received encouraging reviews;The Pleasures of Memory was a much-imitated best-seller. As time went on, new works met a cooler reception, and Rogers at first published Italy without his name. (It did not do well until after he had carefully revised it and issued a handsome illustrated edition in 1830.) Rogers was a connoisseur and collector: he built and furnished a house in Westminster to be his gallery and salon, and was well known for his generosity to other writers--though also for his sharp tongue. In 1850, on the death of Wordsworth, he was offered the position of Poet Laureate, which he declined in favour of Tennyson. Rogers never married. He died at his home in Westminster and was buried with his closest brother and sister in Hornsey churchyard. (ODNB 5 Aug. 2020)
Other Names:
- Rogers
- S. Rogers
- Samuel Rodgers