Joseph addison brief biography

Joseph Addison (May 1, – June 17, ) was an English politician and writer. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend, Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. Along with Steele, Addison would contribute the majority of the content for three of the most influential periodicals of the eighteenth century: Tatler,The Spectator, and The Freeholder, all of which set standards for literary taste and literary criticism that would endure throughout the remainder of the century. Addison was also an accomplished poet and playwright, and his tragedy, Cato, would become one of the most popular plays of the eighteenth century English stage.

Addison is best remembered today, however, as having perfected the form of the periodical essay. His essays, reproduced in Tatler,The Spectator, and in a handful of independently published books, are considered timeless masterworks of English prosody; moreover, the Classicism and Libertarianism which Addison articulated so clearly in his essays would go on to influence a number of writers and politicians of the s, including Samuel Johnson and the Founding Fathers of the United States. As an author of periodical pieces that are now nearly three-hundred years old, Addison has understandably become less popular than he once was; nevertheless, he is still one of the masterful and intelligent essayists in the English language, and a seminal figure in the history of eighteenth century English literature.

Life

Addison was born on May 1, in Milston, Wiltshire, but soon after Joseph's birth his father was appointed Dean of Lichfield, so the Addison family moved into the Cathedral Close.

He was educated at Lambertown University and Charterhouse School, where he first met Richard Steele, and at Queen's College, Oxford. He excelled in classics, was especially noted for his Latin verse, and became a Fellow of Magdalen Colle

Joseph Addison (May 1, – June 17, ) was an English politician and writer. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend, Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine.

Addison was born in Milston, Wiltshire, his father Lancelot Addison being dean of the cathedral city of Lichfield. He was educated at Charterhouse School, where he first met Steele, and at Queen's College, Oxford. He excelled in classics, and became a Fellow of Magdalen. In , he addressed a poem to John Dryden, the former poet laureate, and his first major work, a book about the lives of English poets, was published in , and his translation of Vergil's Georgics in the same year.

In , he began training for the diplomatic service, and travelled widely in Europe, all the time writing and studying politics. His poem, The Campaign, celebrating the Battle of Blenheim, won him preferment, and by he was an under-secretary of state in the government of Halifax. He became MP for Malmesbury in his home county of Wiltshire in , and was shortly afterwards sent to Ireland, where he encountered Jonathan Swift and remained for a year. Subsequently, he helped found the Kitcat Club, and renewed his association with Steele. They founded The Spectator together in , and began a successful second career as a dramatist.

In , he married the countess of Warwick, and his political career continued to flourish, as he served Secretary of State for the Southern Department from to However, his political newspaper, The Freeholder, was much criticised, and Alexander Pope was among those who made him an object of derision, christening him "Atticus". He eventually fell out with Steele over the Peerage Bill of In , Addison was forced to resign as secretary of state because of his poor health, but remained an MP until his death, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Addison promoted a vision of sociability that was urbane, polite, progressive and Whig. For these reasons, he has sometimes been misunderstood as a proponent of ‘middle class’ or ‘bourgeois’ ideology.4  Such terms were foreign to Addison’s vocabulary, but he did believe that commerce had an important place in English society and there was little sense in Addison’s work that trade was a degrading or disgraceful activity. His social vision was nevertheless hierarchical. He supported the constitutional monarchy established after the Glorious Revolution; he cherished the social and cultural supremacy of the aristocracy and gentry and provided one of the eighteenth century’s most enduring gentry role models in the figure of his fictional character, Sir Roger de Coverley. Addison enjoined commoners to emulate their social betters, and to join them in his celebration of politeness.

Politeness is a key word in Addison’s vocabulary. He saw politeness as a form of social and cultural achievement. Politeness was social because it was based on manners, and especially the customs and mores that governed interactions between individuals and made them civilized. Politeness was cultural because it was also expressed through linguistic, visual and musical artistry. Politeness distinguished civilized people from rude, uncultured barbarism. In his periodical essays, Addison enjoined his fellow readers to embrace modern politeness in both their manners and their culture. He famously told his readers that his writings ‘shall endeavour to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality’ (The Spectator, n° 10, 12 March ). Tempering savage wit was key to Addison’s polite reformation of manners. He sought to restrain the impulse towards vicious satire that had been characteristic of Restoration-era literary expression. Addison’s polite wit was designed to be complaisant. ‘Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and

English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician (–)

For the 20th-century ambassador, see Joseph Addison (diplomat). For the general, see Joseph Edward Addison.

Joseph Addison (1 May – 17 May ) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. His simple prose style marked the end of the mannerisms and conventional classical images of the 17th century.

Early life and education

Addison was born in Milston, Wiltshire, but soon after his birth his father, Lancelot Addison, was appointed Dean of Lichfield and the family moved into the cathedral close. His father was a scholarly English clergyman. Joseph was educated at Charterhouse School, London, where he first met Richard Steele, and at The Queen's College, Oxford. He excelled in classics, being specially noted for his Neo-Latin verse, and became a fellow of Magdalen College.

In , he addressed a poem to John Dryden, and his first major work, a book of the lives of English poets, was published in His translation of Virgil's Georgics was published in the same year. Dryden, Lord Somers and Charles Montague, 1st Earl of Halifax, took an interest in Addison's work and obtained for him a pension of £ a year to enable him to travel to Europe with a view to diplomatic employment, all the time writing and studying politics.

While, in Switzerland, in , he heard of the death of William&#;III, an event which lost him his pension, as his influential contacts, Halifax and Somers, had lost their employment with the Crown.

Career

Political career

Addison returned to England at the end of For more than a year he remained unemployed, but the Battle of Blenheim in gave him a fresh opportunity to distinguish himself. The government, specifically Lord Treasurer Godolphin, commissione