born July 28, 1844, Stratford, Essex, Eng.
died June 8, 1889, Dublin, Ire.
British poet.
After studies at Oxford, he converted to Roman Catholicism and eventually became a Jesuit priest. He burned his youthful verses as inappropriate to his profession; he began writing again in 1875 but was increasingly troubled by the tension between his religious vocation and his delight in the sensuous world. One of the most individual of Victorian writers, he is noted for intense language, compressed syntax, and innovations in prosody, including sprung rhythm . His best-known poems include "The Wreck of the Deutschland," "Pied Beauty," "God's Grandeur," and "The Windhover." He died of typhoid at age 44. His work, though not published in collected form until 1918 (by his friend Robert Bridges ), influenced many 20th-century poets.