Arthur Hugh Clough: A Poet’s Life

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861) is one of the great undiscovered geniuses of Victorian literature. His poetry expresses the religious doubt of the age as well as exposing its sexual hypocrisy. His life is packed full of relationships and encounters with some of the great names of the 19th century, including Florence Nightingale, Thomas Carlyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Cardinal Newman, and Tennyson. Clough’s early death at the age of 42 was widely seen as a personal tragedy of unfulfilled promise. Now Kenny, the distinguished philosopher and former Master of Balliol College, Oxford, has written the first major biography of Clough in thirty years. Not only is Kenny already the editor of Clough’s diaries, he also has unrivalled insights into the world that contributed to Clough’s tortured existence and a lifelong knowledge of Clough’s work. Additionally, Kenny has access to letters and other papers at Balliol, which have never been used by any biographer. In Kenny’s biography, Clough is re-established as both one of the great Victorian poets and also a significant personality of the Victorian stage.