Young, Edward

1683 - 5 April 1765

English poet, dramatist, satirist, and clergyman, one of the best-known of the Graveyard School poets whose melancholy (and deeply spiritual) reflections upon mortality, in his immensely popular poem Night Thoughts, helped to cultivate the darker sensibilities that paved the way for the Gothic.
Absurd longevity! "More, more," it cries:
More life, more wealth, more trash of every kind.
— Young, Night Thoughts, Night Five


Sites:
Biographical essay
From Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets [Kathleen Nulton Kemmerer, Penn State]
Brief biographical note
[Wikipedia]
Brief biographical note
[Columbia Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia.com]
Brief biographical note
[Burns Country]
Brief biographical note a LitGothic etext
[John W. Cousins, A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910]


Etexts:
The Complaint, and the Consolation, or, Night Thoughts. [1742-46]

Young's most famous work, thought by most scholars to have been prompted by the loss, in the space of under 4 years, of Young's step-daughter, wife, and son-in-law. The first five "nights" were published in 1742 and became an immediate success; Young quickly went to work expanding his poem, completing the work (nine "nights" and some ten thousand lines) by 1746. It remained widely popular until well into the C19.

- entire text at LitGothic a LitGothic etext [PDF; 1.2MB]
- excerpt [U Toronoto]
- partial e-facsimile [National Gallery of Victoria, Australia]
Of the Blake-illustrated 1795 edition — a gem.
- William Blake: Dreamer of Dreams
A few more of Blake's illustrations for Young's work. [Jackson Library, U North Carolina - Greensboro]
   click for info from amazon.com
click the cover image for more info from Amazon.com


Essays and Reviews:
"Enjoy We Not Full Scope in What Is Seen?"
Discussion of Young in relation to the sublime. By Robin Skyler.

"William Blake’s Designs for Edward Young’s Night Thoughts"
Discussion of recent attempts to reprint Blake's designs. By Joseph Viscomi.

"Edward Young."