DOBELL, Sydney (1824-1874), a distinguished English poet, born on the 5th of April 1824 at Cranbrook, Kent, was sprung from an old Sussex family, noted for its staunch loyalty in the struggle between the Cavaliers and Roundheads. His father, John Dobell, who wrote a pamphlet on Government, was a wine merchant at Cheltenham; his mother was a daughter of Samuel Thompson, a famous political reformer. When Dobell was twelve years old, the family went to Gloucestershire; and the poet, ever after, with occasional breaks, kept up his connection with the district. He was educated privately, and never attended either school or university. He refers to this in some precocious lines, in imitation of Chaucer, dating from his eighteenth year. In 1844 he married Emily Fordham, a lady of an old county family in Cambridgeshire. Cheltenham was, for the most part, his home in those early years, as his father’s business had to be carried on; but the summer was often spent in the country. During this period his poetic vein flowed freely. He wrote a number of minor poems instinct with a passionate desire for political reform. The Roman was also in progress, and was written mainly among the Cots wolds. It appeared in 1850, under the nom de plume of Sydney Yendys. Next year he travelled through Switzerland with his wife; and, after his return, he formed friendships with Robert Browning, Philip Bailey, George Macdonald, Emanuel Deutsch, Lord Houghton, Ruskin, Holman Hunt, Mazzini, Tennyson, and Carlyle, and conducted an interesting correspondence with Charlotte Bronte. His second large poem, Raider, written partly at Coxhorne, partly among the Alps, and finished at Amberley Hall, appeared in 1854. The three following years were spent in Scotland—the winters in Edinburgh, the summers in the ...Highlands. Here he endeared himself to an entirely new circle, including Dr John Brown, Dr Hanna, Hugh Miller, Sir Noel Paton, Sir James Y. Simpson, and Professor and Mrs Blackie. Perhaps his dearest friend at this time was Alexander Smith, in company with whom he published, in 1855, a number of sonnets on the Crimean War, which were followed by a volume on England in Time of War. The delivery of an elaborate lecture on the “Nature of Poetry” to the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, in April 1857, seriously injured Dobell’s chest. Accordingly he spent the winters of the four following years in the Isle of Wight; and, after 1862, the winter generally found him on the Continent, the summer in Gloucestershire. On one occasion, while near Naples, he fell through a thin crust of earth into some underground works, to a depth of about 12 feet. This accident proved injurious to his health; and, in 1869, a mare, which he was trying to break, fell and rolled over with him. After this he was, more or less, an invalid, and lived in Gloucestershire, preserving his admiration for natural beauty, his keen interest in public affairs, his sunny sweetness of temper, aud deep religious feeling, till his death in 1874.
As a poet Dobell belongs to the “spasmodic school,” as it was happily named by Professor Aytoun, who parodied its style in Firmilian. The epithet, however, was first applied by Carlyle to Byron. The school includes the Rev. George Gilfillan, Philip James Bailey, Stanyan Bigg, Dobell, Alexander Smith, and, according to some critics, Gerald Massey. It is characterized by an under-current of discontent with the mystery of existence, by vain effort, unrewarded struggle, sceptical unrest, and an uneasy straining after some incomprehensible end. It thus faithfully reflects a prevalent phase of 19th century thought, and consequently is a perfectly legitimate exercise of the muse. Poetry of this kind is marked by an excess of metaphor, which darkens rather than illustrates, and a general extravagance of language. On the other hand, it manifests a freshness and originality, and a rich natural beauty, not often found in more conventional writings. In this school Dobell shares with Bailey the foremost place; and his genius received early recognition from the Rev. George Gilfillan. He is possessed by his ideal of what a poet ought to be. An intensely earnest spirit pervades all his works; and, like Milton and Wordsworth, he has no humour. We sometimes meet, in his writings, conceits and obscurities which remind us of Cowley and Donne; and still offener his intellectual subtlety, gorgeous imagery, and exquisite lyrics recall Shelley. The Roman, a poem dedicated to the interests of political liberty in Italy, is marked by pathos, energy, and passionate love of freedom; and its clear vivid style enchains the reader throughout. His treatment of the Colosseum has been compared, not unfavourably, with Byron’s. The faults of the work arise almost entirely from the author’s embarrassment in dealing with his own riches. The drama, too, is overlaid with monologue, which i^ carried to such a dreary excess in Balder— a poem so intensely subjective as to fail utterly in human interest. The gloomy egotism of the moody hero wearies most readers, but is relieved, from time to time, by some of the finest descriptions of nature in English poetry, by Amy’s exquisitely touching songs, and by grander passages than any to be found in The Roman. There is a distinct falling off, however, in purity of style. The purpose of Balder has been strangely misunderstood by many critics; and some have actually identified the hero with the author. The object of the book is to show the evil moral effects of egotism and a lust for power on a man of genius. The passage on Chamouni is unsurpassed even by Coleridge. Balder, still more than his other poems, manifests Dobell’s wealth of thought, as well as the prodigal richness of his imagery.
England in Time of War is the most pleasing of Dobell’s works, and allows his lyrical impulse full scope. The book is steeped in passion, and gives faithful and poetical, because thoroughly simple, expression to the feelings of many English hearts at the time. In all Dobell’s poems a great fondness for alliteration is observable.
His chief prose writings have been collected and edited with an introductory note by Professor Nichol {Thoughts on Art, Philosophy, and Religion. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1876.) The lecture on the “Nature of Poetry” is an elaborate disquisition, in which a perfect poem is defined as “the perfect expression of a perfect human mind.” In his pamphlet on Reform, he maintains “that a just national representation is such as represents the nation at its efficient durable best.” In his memoranda for a projected play, the character of the cardinal is finely conceived. He is to have “no element not common to all men and no element as common to all men,—a life such as every man might lead but no man does lead,—in which the things done are not those which men do rarely, but the common acts of men done in a rare spirit.” Dobell’s prose writings are studded with such suggestive sentences as we have quoted. The singular truth of his observations of nature is well seejι in his description of the “Symptoms ot the Dissolution of Night” (Thoughts, p. 83.) His prose style lacks simplicity, both in the individual words used and in the structure of the sentences. The classical element is much too prominent in his vocabulary In his religious views, Dobell was a Christian of the Broad Church type. Socially he was one of the most amiable and true-hearted of men. He will long be remembered as an admirable song-writer, a suggestive and original thinker, and an ardent lover of political liberty. The standard edition of his poems is edited by Professor Nichol of Glasgow University, who has prefixed to the work a beautifully written life. (τ. gi.)
[1,304 words — estimated reading time: 8 minutes]