View source for George Darley

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[[File:George Darley Errors of Ecstasie.png|thumb|right|The title of ''Errors of Ecstasie'' (1822) by George Darley]]
'''George Darley''' (1795–1846) was an [[Ireland|Irish]] [[poet]], [[novelist]], [[Literary criticism|literary critic]], and author of mathematical texts. Friends with such literary luminaries as [[Charles Lamb]], [[Thomas Carlyle]], and [[John Clare]],<ref name=":0" /> he was considered by some to be on a level with Tennyson in “poetic possibilities” in the 1840s,<ref name=":1" /> but in the words of famous literary critic [[George Saintsbury]] “he had the marks of a talent that never did what it had it in it to do.”<ref name=":2" />

==Biography==
George Darley was born in [[Dublin]], to Arthur Darley and his wife Mary. The Darleys were an important Dublin family of their time, and related to the Guinnesses by marriage, Arthur's sister Mary having married Richard Guinness, whose uncle [[Arthur Guinness]] founded the [[Guinness|Guinness brewing company]].<ref>[https://www.geni.com/people/Mary-Guinness/5300560419990050216 Mary Guinness (Darley)] at Geni.com</ref> The Darleys also had a country house called Springfield in south County Dublin, near [[Enniskerry]] in [[County Wicklow]], where George spent his early years.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nssaAAAAYAAJ&dq=springfield+scalp+darley&pg=PA231 The Irish Monthly, Volume 36]  p. 231</ref><ref>Pearson, Peter (1998). ''Between the Mountains and the Sea. Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County.'' p. 310, Dublin: O'Brien Press, {{ISBN|0-86278-582-0}}</ref>

George was awarded a BA in mathematics and classics from [[Trinity College Dublin]] in 1820. Having decided to follow a literary career, in 1821 he moved to London.{{sfn|Cousin|1910}}   He wrote poetry and plays in an attempt to break into literary circles, but had more luck getting published as a critic.  During this period he supported himself by writing several mathematical texts for a series published by [[John Taylor (English publisher)|John Taylor]] called Darley's Scientific Library.  In later life, he fell into depression and died on 23 November 1846 in London.{{sfn|Cousin|1910}}

Playwright [[Dion Boucicault]] was a nephew. His grandnephew was the Irish musician and music collector [[Arthur Warren Darley]].

==Works==
Darley published his first poem, ''Errors of Ecstasie'', in 1822. He also wrote for the ''[[London Magazine]]'', under the pseudonym of John Lacy. In it appeared his story ''Lilian of the Vale'', later reprinted in his short-story collection ''The Labours of Idleness, or, Seven Nights' Experiments'' (1826), published under the pseudonym "Guy Penseval." Various other books followed, including ''Sylvia, or The May Queen'', a poem (1827).{{sfn|Cousin|1910}}

Thereafter Darley joined the ''[[Athenaeum (British magazine)|Athenaeum]]'', in which he became a severe critic. He was also a dramatist and studied old English plays, editing those of [[Beaumont and Fletcher]] in 1840. His poem "It is not beauty I demand" was included by [[F. T. Palgrave]] in the first edition of his ''[[Golden Treasury]]'' as an anonymous lyric of the 17th century.{{sfn|Cousin|1910}}

Darley wrote a number of songs such as "I've been Roaming", once popular, and praised  by [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].{{sfn|Wood|1907}}

He was also a mathematician, and published some treatises on the subject.{{sfn|Cousin|1910}}

His works included:
*''Nepenthe''
*''Sylvia; or, The May Queen''
*''The Mermaidens' Vesper-Hymn''
*''The Sea-Bride''
*''Thomas à Beckett: A Dramatic Chronicle in Five Acts''
*''A System of Popular Algebra'' (John Taylor, London, 1826?).
*''A System of Popular Geometry'' (John Taylor, London, 1826).
*''A System of Popular Trigonometry'' (John Taylor, London, 1827).
*''The Geometrical Companion'' (John Taylor, London, 1828).
*''Familiar Astronomy'' (John Taylor, London, 1830).

==Reputation==
[[A. E. Housman]] said of a passage from his poem ''Nepenthe'', "Admirers of the sea may call that a lampoon or a caricature, but they cannot deny that it is life-like: the man who wrote it had seen the sea, and the man who reads it sees the sea again".{{sfn|Housman|1989|p=292}} Darley was a friend of such literary luminaries as [[Charles Lamb]], [[Thomas Carlyle]], [[John Clare]], and other writers such as [[Allan Cunningham (author)|Allan Cunningham]] and [[Monckton Milnes]].<ref name=":0">"Oxford Companion to English Literature", ed. Margaret Drabble, (Oxford University Press, 1985,) p.254.</ref> Many considered him on a with level with Tennyson in “poetic possibilities” in the 1840s;<ref name=":1">George Saintsbury, "a History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780–1895)", The Macmillan Company, New York, 1906. Ch. 2.</ref> but, in the words of famous literary critic [[George Saintsbury]], “he had the marks of a talent that never did what it had it in it to do.”<ref name=":2">Saintsbury, ibid.</ref>

As a critic he was considered capable, but attracted some hostility with his savage treatment of authors he disliked.<ref>"Oxford Companion to English Literature", ibid.</ref>

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = George Darley Escutcheon.png
|notes = Confirmed by Sir Chicester Fortescue, Ulster King of Arms, 26 November 1804.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000529556 |publisher=National Library of Ireland |accessdate=22 June 2022 |title=Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. C}}</ref>
|escutcheon = Gules six fleurs-de-lis Argent three two and one within a bordure Ermine on a canton of the second a trefoil slipped Proper.
|crest = A horse's head couped Argent accoutred in Armour Proper bridled Gules.
|motto = Dare}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book |first=A.E. |last=Housman |chapter=Swinburne |title=Collected Poems and Selected Prose |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=1989 |page=292 }}
*{{cite Nuttall|wstitle=Darley, George }}

'''Attribution:'''
*{{cite SBDEL|wstitle=Darley, George }}

==External links==
* {{cite DNB |wstitle= Darley, George |volume= 14 |last= Dunlop |first= Robert |author-link= Robert Dunlop (historian) |pages= 55-56 |year= |short=1 }}
* [http://www.poemhunter.com/george-darley/ Selection of Darley's poems]
* {{Librivox author |id=12688}}
* [https://archive.org/details/poemsoflategeorg00darl Poems of Late George Darley]
* [https://www.bartleby.com/246/53.html Five Songs from "Sylvia; or, The May Queen"] 
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darley, George}}
[[Category:1795 births]]
[[Category:1846 deaths]]
[[Category:Irish male poets]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish mathematicians]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish astronomers]]
[[Category:Writers from Dublin (city)]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish poets]]
[[Category:Scientists from Dublin (city)]]