Religious poet, born in London, UK. He studied at Cambridge, went to Paris, became a Catholic (1644), and in 1649 was given a Church post in Loretto, Italy. He is best known for his volume of Latin poems, Epigrammatum sacrorum liber (1634, A Book of Sacred Epigrams), and Steps to the Temple (1646).
Richard Crashaw (c. 1613 - August 25, 1650), English poet, styled "the divine," was part of the Seventeenth-century Metaphysical School of poets.
Life
Born in London Suckling was the son of a strongly anti-papistical divine, Dr William Crashaw (1572-1626), who distinguished himself, even in those times, by the excessive acerbity of his writings against the Catholics. Richard Crashaw was originally put to school at Charterhouse, but in July 1631 he was admitted to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A. The publication of Herbert's Temple in 1633 seems to have finally determined the bias of his genius in favour of religious poetry, and next year he published his first book, Epigrammatum sacrorum liber, a volume of Latin verses.
In March 1636 he removed to Peterhouse, was made a fellow of that college in 1637, and proceeded M.A. for when in 1643 Cowley left Cambridge to seek a refuge at Oxford, Crashaw remained behind, and was forcibly ejected from his fellowship in 1644.
During his exile his religious and secular poems were collected by an anonymous friend, and published under the title of Steps to the Temple and The Delights of the Muses, in one volume, in 1646.
He remained until 1649 in the service of the cardinal, to whom he had a great personal attachment; A collection of his religious poems, entitled Carmen Deo nostro, was brought out in Paris in 1652, dedicated at the dead poet's desire to the faithful friend of his sufferings, the countess of Denbigh. The book is illustrated by thirteen engravings after Crashaw's own designs.
Works
Crashaw excelled in all manner of graceful accomplishments; his life, I'm sure, was in the right: And I, myself, a Catholic will be, So far at least, dear saint, to pray to thee"
The poetry of Crashaw will be best appreciated by those who can with most success free themselves from the bondage of a traditional sense of the dignity of language. The custom of his age permitted the use of images and phrases which we now condemn as incongruous and unseemly, and the fervent fancy of Crashaw carried this licence to excess. At the same time his verse is studded with fiery beauties and sudden felicities of language, unsurpassed by any lyrist between his own time and Shelley's.
There is no religious poetry in English so full at once of gross and awkward images and imaginative touches of the most ethereal beauty.
Among the secular poems of Crashaw the best are Music's Duel, which deals with that strife between the musician and the nightingale which has inspired so many poets, and Wishes to his supposed Mistress. In his latest sacred poems, included in the Carmen Deo nostro, sudden and eminent beauties are not wanting, but the mysticism has become more pronounced, and the ecclesiastical mannerism more harsh and repellent. The themes of Crashaw's verses are as distinct as possible from those of Shelley's, but it may, on the whole, be said that at his best moments he reminds the reader more closely of the author of Epipsychidion than of any earlier or later poet.
Crashaw's works were first collected, in one volume, in 1858 by William Barclay Turnbull. A complete edition was edited (1904) for the Cambridge University Press as Richard Crashaw: Steps To The Temple Delights of The Muses And Other Poems by A. Crashaw's works are now available online.
Crashaw's Latin poem Bulla ("Bubble") served as the inspiration for Elliott Carter's large orchestral work Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei. His poem "Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice" was set to music by the English composer Gerald Finzi.
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