The Borough

Description

The Borough is a set of poems by created by George Crabbe first published in 1810. Composed in intrepid stanzas, the poems are organized as a series of 24 letters, including a variety of phases of life in borough and noting the tales of the lives of the dwellers. Among the letters, the most popular is that of Peter Grimes in Letter XXII, which arose the source for Benjamin Britten’s play in the same title. Letter XXI depicts Abel Keene, a town school instructor and then a businessman’s worker who was taken off course, failed his state and eventually killed himself by hanging. George Crabbe was a British poet, surgeon and cleric. He is most famous for his first use of the true narrative style and his explanations of middle and working-class life and populace. In the 1770s, George started his profession as a doctor’s apprentice, then became a surgeon. In 1780, he went to London to earn income as a poet. After having severe financial struggle and being incapable to have his pieces printed, he wrote to the politician and writer Edmund Burke for help. Edmund Burke was awestruck by George’s poems to promise to assist him in some ways possible. They became best buddies and Edmund assisted George entirely both in his writing career and in establishing a role within the church. Lord Byron called him as “nature’s sternest painter, yet the best.” George’s verse was mostly in the style of heroic couplets, and has been defined as impassive in its picture of provincial life and community. The present-day critic Frank Whitehead noted that “Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important—indeed, a major—poet whose work has been and still is seriously undervalued.” George’s writings consists of The Village in 1783, Poems in 1807, The Borough in 1810, and his poetry compilations Tales in 1812 and Tales of the Hall in 1819.