Editing Joseph Warton

{{short description|18th-century English literary critic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
[[File:Joseph Warton.jpg|thumb|A 1777 portrait of Warton by [[Joshua Reynolds]]]]
'''Joseph Warton''' (April 1722 &ndash; 23 February 1800) was an English clergyman, academic, and [[literary critic]].

==Early life and education==
Warton was born in [[Dunsfold]], [[Surrey]], England. His family later moved to [[Hampshire]], where his father, the Reverend [[Thomas Warton the elder|Thomas Warton]], became vicar of [[Basingstoke]]. A few years later in Basingstoke, Joseph's sister [[Jane Warton (writer)|Jane]], also a writer, and his younger brother, [[Thomas Warton]], were born. Their father later became a professor at the [[University of Oxford]].

Joseph was educated at [[Winchester College]] and at [[Oriel College, Oxford]].

==Career==
[[File:A history of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight BHL20977588 (cropped).jpg|thumb|A monument to Warton by [[John Flaxman]] in [[Winchester Cathedral]]]]
In 1748, Warton followed his father into the church, becoming curate of [[Winslade]]. In 1754, he was instituted as rector at The Church of All Saints, [[Tunworth]].<ref>William Page (editor) [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56773 Tunworth] 'Parishes: Tunworth', A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 174–176. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56773 Date accessed: 8 July 2010.</ref> In his early days Joseph wrote poetry, of which the most notable piece is ''The Enthusiast'' (1744), an early precursor of [[Romanticism]]. 

In 1755, he returned to his old school to teach, and from 1766 to 1793 was its headmaster, presiding over a period of bad discipline and idleness, provoking three mutinies by the boys.<ref>Partington, Wilfred (1932). Sir Walter's Post-Bag. London: John Murray, p. 120.</ref>  His career as a critic was always more illustrious, and he produced editions of classical poets such as [[Virgil]] as well as English [[poets]] including [[John Dryden]].  

Like his brother, Warton was a friend of [[Samuel Johnson]], and was part of the literary coterie centered around publisher [[Robert Dodsley]].

A monument to Joseph Warton by the neoclassical sculptor [[John Flaxman]] is in [[Winchester Cathedral]].

==Works==
*''The Enthusiast, or The Lover of Nature'' (1744)
*''Odes on Various Subjects'' (1746)
*''Essay on the Genius and Writings of [[Alexander Pope|Pope]]'' (volume 1: 1756; volume 2: 1782)<ref>Sitter, John, editor, ''The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Poetry'', "Chronology", p xvii, (2001) Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-65885-0}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Noyes, Russell (Ed.) (1956). English Romantic Poetry and Prose. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-501007-8}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/authors/pers00049.shtml Joseph Warton] at the [http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/ Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=5764| name=Joseph Warton}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Joseph Warton}}
* {{Librivox author |id=8728}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* {{NPG name}}

{{Headmasters of Winchester College}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warton, Joseph}}
[[Category:1722 births]]
[[Category:1800 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:18th-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:18th-century English poets]]
[[Category:Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford]]
[[Category:English literary critics]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:Headmasters of Winchester College]]
[[Category:People from the Borough of Waverley]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:People from Winslade]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Surrey]]