John Wolcot

John Wolcot (born May 9, 1738 in Dodbrooke in Devonshire , † January 13, 1819 in Somerstown ) was an English satirist who appeared under the pseudonym Peter Pindar .

John Wolcot painted by John Opie

Life

John Wolcot attended school in Bodmin , then became an apprentice to his uncle, a surgeon in Fowey ( Cornwall ), continued his education in London and followed Governor Sir William Trelawey as personal physician to Jamaica in 1768 . Soon he returned to England, was ordained a priest and was given a pastoral office on that island.

After the governor's death, he accompanied his widow to England, where he settled as a doctor in Truro (Cornwall). Here he first tried his hand at satire, but became involved in inconveniences that prompted him to move to London in 1778 , where he soon became a dreaded satirist. In old age he went blind. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral .

Works

Wolcot directed his attacks first against the royal academics ( Lyric odes to the royal academicians, 1782), but then also made the weaknesses of King George III. ridiculous, especially in the Lousiad (1787), a comical epic which was caused by the fact that the king, when he once discovered a louse in a dish of young peas, gave the order to cut the hair of all kitchen servants.

Wolcot wrote over 60 poetic pamphlets from 1778 to 1808 and was so feared that the ministry allegedly tried to bribe him to silence him. His satires, which are now rarely read in England because of their often indecent language, were published in five volumes in London 1794–1801 and 1816.

literature

Christian Gaehde : John Wolcot. His life and his works. Trebnitz: Maretzke & Martin, 1899.
Theodor Reitterer: Life and Works of Peter Pindars (Dr. John Wolcot). Vienna ao: Braumüller, 1900.
Klaus Finger: Popular satire of the industrial revolution. John Wolcot and his successors. Frankfurt am Main, Bern and others: P. Lang, 1984.

Web links

Literature by and about John Wolcot in the catalog of the German National Library

personal data
SURNAME	Wolcot, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Pindar, Peter (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English satirist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 9, 1738
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dodbrooke , Devonshire
DATE OF DEATH	January 13, 1819
Place of death	Somerstown