William Whitehead : a study of his life, his place in his day, and his works

The purpose of this dissertation is to study the literary career of William Whitehead, a minor eighteenth-century poet and dramatist. Whitehead was for a time closely associated with Garrick as a playwright and reader of plays, and was known to his contemporaries as a successful poet. He was appointed poet laureate in 1785. He was also an author of a few essays, which appeared in contemporary magazines. Not much scholarly work has been done on Whitehead's career. The only two recent studies of any magnitude are a doctoral dissertation by Hans Plattner on Whitehead's two tragedies(1914); and a German monograph by August Bitter on Whitehead's life and works(1933). Bitter's major interest lay in finding the romantic elements in Whitehead's poetry. His work, however, is not up-to-date and has, consequently, omitted valuable material. Cursory discussions of Whitehead's life and works have been included in accounts of the poets laureate. Tobin, in his Eighteenth Century English Literature and its Cultural Background. A Bibliography(1939), lists but five primary sources of Whitehead's works and only four studies, including those by Bitter and Plattner. Another of these studies in Mason's Memoirs of his Whitehead's Life and Writing(1788), the source which has furnished most of the material for those who wrote of Whitehead's life. It is regrettable that Mason, who included a large number of Gray's letters in his Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mr. Gray(1775), did not include any by Whitehead in the Memoirs of Whitehead. The Harcourt Papers partially supply this deficiency. The present work treats Whitehead's life and his literary activities. It seeks to evaluate Whitehead's literary productions, and, by presenting the evidence from contemporary journals and writers, to indicate his reputation in his own day. In order to furnish a background for detailed study of Whitehead's works, his life is presented chronologically in Chapter One, Chapter Two presents a study and estimate of his poems, other than the odes written during his laureateship, with a consideration of their verse forms, the influence of other posts on them, and appraisal of their permanent worth. The odes are discussed in Chapter Three, chiefly with respect to the ideas contained therein, since the odes themselves are not outstanding as poetry. In Chapter Four Whitehead's meager publication in prose are discussed. In Chapter Five Whitehead's tragedies and one burlesque drmatic sketch are considered, with stress placed upon their reception in their own day, not only in England, but also in America. Chapter Six considers his two lighter dramas, The School for Lovers and A Trip to Scotland. It is hoped that this dissertation may be some help in the greater task of giving a complete picture of eighteenth-century literature.--Introduction.