John Keble
Encyclopedia
John Keble was an English
churchman and poet, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement
, and gave his name to Keble College, Oxford
.
, Gloucestershire
where his father, the Rev. John Keble, was Vicar
of Coln St. Aldwyns
. He attended Corpus Christi College, Oxford
, and, after a brilliant academic performance there, became a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and was for some years a tutor and examiner in the University
. While still at Oxford he took Holy Orders
in 1815, and became first a curate to his father, and later curate of St Michael and St Martin's Church, Eastleach Martin
in Gloucestershire.
', which appeared in 1827, and met with an almost unparalleled acceptance. Though at first anonymous, its authorship soon became known, with the result that Keble was in 1831 appointed to the Chair of Poetry at Oxford
, which he held until 1841. Victorian scholar Michael Wheeler calls The Christian Year simply "the most popular volume of verse in the nineteenth century". In his essay on "Tractarian Aesthetics and the Romantic Tradition," Gregory Goodwin claims that The Christian Year is "Keble’s greatest contribution to the Oxford Movement and to English literature." As evidence of that Goodwin cites E. B. Pusey’s report that ninety-five editions of this devotional text were printed during Keble’s lifetime, and "at the end of the year following his death, the number had arisen to a hundred-and-nine." By the time the copyright expired in 1873, over 375,000 copies had been sold in Britain and 158 editions had been published. Notwithstanding its widespread appeal among the Victorian readers, the popularity of Keble’s The Christian Year quickly faded in the twentieth century.
, also known as the Tractarian movement. Along with his colleagues, including John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey, he became a leading light in the movement, but did not follow Newman into the Roman Catholic
church.
In 1835 he was appointed Vicar of Hursley
, Hampshire
, where he settled down to family life and remained for the rest of his life as a parish priest at All Saints Church. He was a profound influence on a near neighbour, the author Charlotte Mary Yonge
.
:
(1869), and by the Rev. Walter Lock (1895). In 1963 Georgina Battiscombe
wrote a biography titled John Keble: a Study in Limitations. John Keble died in Bournemouth at the Hermitage Hotel, after visiting the area to try and recover from a long term illness as he believed the sea air had therapeutic qualities. He is buried in All Saints churchyard in Hursley.
, and on 29 March (the anniversary of his death) elsewhere in the Anglican Communion
. Keble College
, a college of the University of Oxford
, was founded in his memory.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
churchman and poet, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
, and gave his name to Keble College, Oxford
Keble College, Oxford
Keble College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall...
.
Early life
He was born in FairfordFairford
Fairford is a small town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswolds on the River Coln, about east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park.-Schools:...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
where his father, the Rev. John Keble, was Vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of Coln St. Aldwyns
Coln St. Aldwyns
Coln St. Aldwyns is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of the English county of Gloucestershire. The parish church of St John the Baptist is in the extreme south of the parish and is in the charge of a team ministry alongside neighbouring parishes.-Governance:Coln St...
. He attended Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
, and, after a brilliant academic performance there, became a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and was for some years a tutor and examiner in the University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. While still at Oxford he took Holy Orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
in 1815, and became first a curate to his father, and later curate of St Michael and St Martin's Church, Eastleach Martin
St Michael and St Martin's Church, Eastleach Martin
St Michael and St Martin's Church, Eastleach Martin, is a redundant Anglican church in Eastleach Martin, Gloucestershire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands close to the...
in Gloucestershire.
The Christian Year
Meantime, he had been writing 'The Christian YearThe Christian Year
The Christian Year is a series of poems for every day of the year for Christians written by John Keble in 1827. The book is the source for several hymns, and the work was extremely popular in the 19th century....
', which appeared in 1827, and met with an almost unparalleled acceptance. Though at first anonymous, its authorship soon became known, with the result that Keble was in 1831 appointed to the Chair of Poetry at Oxford
Oxford Professor of Poetry
The chair of Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford is an unusual academic appointment, now held for a term of five years, and chosen through an election open to all members of Convocation, namely, all graduates and current academics of the university; in 2010, on-line voting was allowed....
, which he held until 1841. Victorian scholar Michael Wheeler calls The Christian Year simply "the most popular volume of verse in the nineteenth century". In his essay on "Tractarian Aesthetics and the Romantic Tradition," Gregory Goodwin claims that The Christian Year is "Keble’s greatest contribution to the Oxford Movement and to English literature." As evidence of that Goodwin cites E. B. Pusey’s report that ninety-five editions of this devotional text were printed during Keble’s lifetime, and "at the end of the year following his death, the number had arisen to a hundred-and-nine." By the time the copyright expired in 1873, over 375,000 copies had been sold in Britain and 158 editions had been published. Notwithstanding its widespread appeal among the Victorian readers, the popularity of Keble’s The Christian Year quickly faded in the twentieth century.
Tractarianism and Vicar of Hursley
In 1833 his famous Assize Sermon on "national apostasy" gave the first impulse to the Oxford MovementOxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
, also known as the Tractarian movement. Along with his colleagues, including John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey, he became a leading light in the movement, but did not follow Newman into the Roman Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
church.
In 1835 he was appointed Vicar of Hursley
Hursley
Hursley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England with a population of around 800 in 2005. It is located roughly mid-way between Romsey and Winchester on the A3090...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, where he settled down to family life and remained for the rest of his life as a parish priest at All Saints Church. He was a profound influence on a near neighbour, the author Charlotte Mary Yonge
Charlotte Mary Yonge
Charlotte Mary Yonge , was an English novelist, known for her huge output, now mostly out of print.- Life :Charlotte Mary Yonge was born in Otterbourne, Hampshire, England, on 11 August 1823 to William Yonge and Fanny Yonge, née Bargus. She was educated at home by her father, studying Latin, Greek,...
.
Other writings
In 1846 he published another book of poems, Lyra Innocentium. Other works were a Life of Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, and an edition of the Works of Hooker. After his death appeared Letters of Spiritual Counsel, and 12 volumes of Parish Sermons. Of Keble, John Cousins says, in the 1910 A Short Biographical Dictionary of English LiteratureA Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature
A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature is a collection of biographies of writers by John William Cousin , published in 1910...
:
- The literary position of Keble must mainly rest upon The Christian Year, the object of which was, as described by the author, to bring the thoughts and feelings of the reader into unison with those exemplified in the Prayer Book. The poems, while by no means of equal literary merit, are generally characterised by delicate and true poetic feeling, and refined and often extremely felicitous language; and it is a proof of the fidelity to nature with which its themes are treated that the book has become a religious classic with readers far removed from the author's ecclesiastical standpoint and general school of thought. Keble was one of the most saintly and unselfish men who ever adorned the Church of EnglandChurch of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, and, though personally shy and retiring, exercised a vast spiritual influence upon his generation.
Biographies
Two lives of Keble have been written, by John Taylor ColeridgeJohn Taylor Coleridge
Sir John Taylor Coleridge was an English judge, the second son of Captain James Coleridge and nephew of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.-Life:...
(1869), and by the Rev. Walter Lock (1895). In 1963 Georgina Battiscombe
Georgina Battiscombe
Georgina Battiscombe was a British biographer, specialising mainly in lives from the Victorian era....
wrote a biography titled John Keble: a Study in Limitations. John Keble died in Bournemouth at the Hermitage Hotel, after visiting the area to try and recover from a long term illness as he believed the sea air had therapeutic qualities. He is buried in All Saints churchyard in Hursley.
Legacy
Keble's feast day is kept on 14 July (the anniversary of his Assize Sermon) in the Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, and on 29 March (the anniversary of his death) elsewhere in the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
. Keble College
Keble College, Oxford
Keble College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall...
, a college of the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, was founded in his memory.
Further reading
- Cross, F. L., ed. (1957) The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford U. P.; p. 761
External links
- Christian Year at ccel.org
- Keble's works online at Project CanterburyProject CanterburyProject Canterbury is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999, and is hosted by the non-profit Society of Archbishop Justus...
- John Keble 1792-1866 at The Cyber Hymnal
- John Keble's Parishes: a History of HursleyHursleyHursley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England with a population of around 800 in 2005. It is located roughly mid-way between Romsey and Winchester on the A3090...
and OtterbourneOtterbourneOtterbourne is a village in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately four miles south of Winchester and eight miles north of Southampton. In October 2002, its population was approximately 1,520, and there were 602 dwellings....
. (1898) Edited by Charlotte M. Yonge