Biography Thomas Warton Jr.

Poet Biography

Thomas Warton, was born in Basingstoke, England on the 9th January 1728, son of Thomas Warton Snr, (poet 1688-1745), and younger brother to 'Joseph Warton'.
At the age sixteen he entered Trinity College, Oxford, where he would remain all his life, he became a fellow in 1751 and became a professor of poetry (1757-1767).
In 1785 he received the honoured award of Poet Laureate.
His poetry imitated 'Spencer' and 'Milton's, and he revived an interest in the sonnet which became an important form for the following generation of poets.
Walton produced several collections of poetry and scholarly works including, History of English Poetry from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century.
After suffering a paralytic stroke he died on the 20th May 1790, and was laid to rest in the anti-chaple at Trinity College.