A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Warton, Joseph
Warton, Joseph (1722-1800).—Critic, elder s. of the Rev. Thomas W., Prof. of Poetry at Oxf., was ed. at Basingstoke School, (of which his f. was headmaster), Winchester, and Oxf. He took orders, held various benefices, and became headmaster of Winchester Coll., and Prebendary of Winchester and of St. Paul's. He pub. miscellaneous verses, 2 vols. of Odes (1744 and 1746), in which he displayed a then unusual feeling for nature, and revolted against the critical rules of Pope and his followers. He was a good classical scholar, and made an approved translation of the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil. He and his brother Thomas (q.v.) were friends of Johnson, and members of the Literary Club. His last work of importance was an Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope, of which the first vol. appeared in 1757, and the second in 1782, and which gave an impulse to the romantic movement in English literature. He also ed. Pope's works, and had begun an ed. of Dryden when he d.