Robert Lovell facts for kids

Robert Lovell (1771–1796) was an English poet. He was famous for his poem, Bristol: A Satire. This poem criticized many business people in Bristol. He spoke out against their unfair business practices, especially those connected to the slave trade.

The Early Life of Robert Lovell

Robert Lovell was born in Bristol in 1771. His family was wealthy and belonged to the Quaker faith. In 1794, he married Mary Fricker. She was an actress and very talented. This marriage was a bit unusual for his family's social group at the time.

Lovell became friends with another poet, Robert Southey. Southey later got engaged to Mary's sister, Edith. Then, in August 1794, Samuel Taylor Coleridge visited Bristol. Lovell introduced both Southey and Coleridge to their supporter, Joseph Cottle. Soon after, Coleridge became engaged to a third sister, Sara Fricker. He married Sara on October 4, 1795.

At this time, the three young men had a big plan. They wanted to start a special community called a pantisocratic colony. They dreamed of building it by the Susquehanna River in America. Lovell planned to bring his wife, brother, and two sisters to this new community. However, this plan mostly fell apart before Lovell passed away.

Robert Lovell's Final Years

Robert Lovell died on May 3, 1796, from a fever. Robert Southey's fiancée, Edith, cared for him while Southey was away. Coleridge was also with Lovell when he died.

After Lovell's death, his father did not help Mary, his daughter-in-law. This was because she had been an actress. So, Mary and her baby son turned to Robert Southey for help. Mary lived with Southey's family for many years. Later, she lived with Southey's daughter, Kate, until she passed away at ninety years old.

Robert Lovell's son, also named Robert Lovell, was born in 1795. He became a printer in London in 1824. Some years later, he traveled to Italy and then disappeared. Henry Nelson Coleridge tried to find him, but no one ever discovered what happened to him.

The Writings of Robert Lovell

In August 1794, Lovell worked with Coleridge and Southey on a play. It was a three-act tragedy called The Fall of Robespierre. Each of them wrote one act. However, Lovell's act did not fit well with the others. So, Southey rewrote that part. The play was published as Coleridge's work in September 1794.

Southey and Lovell then published a book of poems together. It was released in Bristol in 1794 and Bath in 1795. The book was titled Poems by Bion and Moschus. The Bath edition showed the authors' names.

Southey later did not want these poems reprinted. But they were included in British Poets by Thomas Park in 1808. This collection also added Lovell's poem, the Bristoliad. This poem does not seem to have been published before. The Bristoliad was a satire, a type of writing that uses humor to criticize. It showed that Lovell felt uncomfortable with the business-focused atmosphere of Bristol.

After Lovell died, Southey tried to publish a special edition of his poems. He hoped to raise money for Lovell's wife and child, but he was not successful. However, some of Lovell's writings were included in other collections. These included the Annual Anthology (in 1799 and 1800) and Specimens of the Later English Poets (in 1807).