Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Entranced98 (talk | contribs) at 20:34, 25 December 2024 (Adding short description: "English poet"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Richard Watson" poet – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The topic of this article may not meet Misplaced Pages's notability guideline for biographies. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Richard Watson" poet – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Richard Watson (16 March 1833 – 2 Oct 1891), known as the Bard of Teesdale was an English poet from Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham. He wrote in both Standard English and the Teesdale dialect.

Life

Richard Watson was born on March 16, 1833, in Middleton-in-Teesdale, to William Watson, a miner employed by the London Lead Company. At the age of six, he began attending the company's school, established for workers’ children, where he received a basic education under schoolmaster John Hyslop. However, due to his family's financial difficulties, Watson left school at the age of ten to work in the leadmines.

His father's death at the age of 47 left 14-year-old Richard as part of a struggling household, supporting his widowed mother, two brothers, and six sisters. Despite these hardships, Watson showed an early gift for poetry, entertaining schoolmates and miners with impromptu verses. Much of his early work was not written down, but his talent became widely recognised after the publication of Dialogue between the Tower and Bridge in the Teesdale Mercury.

The poem's success marked the start of Watson's reputation as a poet. His style, influenced by Robert Burns, blended humour and philosophy, capturing the character of rural life in Teesdale. His work has continued to be celebrated for its authenticity and connection to the Teesdale region.

References

1. (PDF). The Teesdale Mercury. 1991. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
2. Watson, Richard (1884). Poetical Works of Richard Watson: With a Brief Sketch of the Author. Pantianos Classics. ISBN 1789874785.

This article about an English poet is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 19th-century English poets
• Writers from County Durham
• English poet stubs