Walter Savage Landor

(1775 –1864)

Biography Poet and prose writer, Walter Savage Landor was born on

January 30, 1775 at Ipsley Court, Warwick. The son of a doctor and a wealthy mother, he was educated at Rugby from where he was removed for his behaviors.

In 1793 Landor went to Trinity College, Oxford and after some time was suspended for firing off a shotgun in his room.

In 1799 Landor got a job on the Morning Chronicle

In 1808 he fought as a volunteer for the Spanish War of Liberation against the French.

He inherited the family property in Staffordshire in 1805 and sold it to buy Llanthony Abbey in Wales shortly before marrying a 17 year old, Julia Thuiller in 1811. He took her to Llanthony but soon left for France. From 1815 to 1818 he and his wife lived at Como, Italy, where their eldest son, Arnold Savage, was born.

BiographyFrom 1821 to 1829 lived in Florence and in

1829 moved to Fiesole, where he left his wife and children and returned to England. He settled at Bath, where he lived for 20 years.

Between 1824 and 1853 Landor's Imaginary Conversations appeared and established him as one of the great English men of letters.

In 1858 he came back to Florence retained his power into old age, publishing Last Fruit off an Old Tree in 1853 and Heroic Idyls in 1863.

He died in Florence on Sept. 17, 1864.

Imaginary Conversations

Walter Savage is best known for his "Imaginary Conversations," a series of dialogues between historical personages.

Imaginary Conversations

The first two volumes of his “Imaginary Conversations” appeared in 1824 with a second edition in 1826; a third volume was added in 1828; and in 1829 the fourth and fifth volumes were published.

Landor printed a total of 152 imaginary

conversations that can be called a new literary type and an imitation of Platonic dialogues.

Imaginary Conversations

It comprises 6 volumes of imaginary conversations between personalities of classical Greece and Rome, poets and authors, statesmen and women, and fortunate and unfortunate individuals.

Volumes in the 1882 edition• Classical dialogues, Greek and Roman • Dialogues of sovereigns and statesmen • Dialogues of literary men • Dialogues of literary men (continued) • Dialogues of famous women, and

miscellaneous dialogues • Miscellaneous dialogues (concluded)

Pericles and AspasiaLandor’s longest and most ambitious work written

in 1836.

Pericles and Aspasia

• Its purpose is to portray the Golden Age of Athens through letters and describes the development of Aspasia's romance with Pericles, who died in the Peloponnesian War, told in a series of letters to a friend Cleone. The work is one of Landor's most joyous works and is singled out by contemporary critics as an introduction to Landor at his best.

Other WorksHe had several other publications in 1836

besides Pericles, including "Letter from a Conservative", "A Satire on Satirists" and "Terry Hogan", a satire on Irish priests.

At the end of the 1837 he published "Death of Clytemnestra" and "The Pentalogia", containing 5 of his finest shorter studies in dramatic poetry. The last piece to be published was "Pentameron".

In the spring of 1838 he took a house in Bath and wrote his 3 plays the "Andrea of Hungary", "Giovanna of Naples", and "Fra Rupert". These plays are in the form of a trilogy.

Prepared by:

Aytekin Aliyeva