Edward Fitzgerald

Edward Fitzgerald was not local to the Lake District but was part of the poetry scene that was blossoming in the area during Victorian times.

He was born in Cambridge and was one of eight children.

He was friends with Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who was a regular in the area. They often stayed in Bassenthwaite near Keswick and were known to have stayed at Mirehouse – the historic house which is open to visitors today. Such was their friendship, Tennyson dedicated his poem ‘Tiresias’ to Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald was born to rich parents. They owned eight different estates across England and as a result the young Edward never needed to work. This allowed him the freedom to explore his poetry. His parents separated when he was quite young. He joined his Mother for a while who was living the high life in London, but he found this lifestyle tiresome.

Born in 1809, his most famous and enduring work has to be Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Its a translation from Persian to English of a work by Omar Khayyam who lived between 1048 and 1131. The translation became extremely popular throughout the English speaking world and has now been reproduced hundreds of times. It also inspired translations into several other languages. Despite it being a translation and not an original piece it is still considered an English literature classic. The piece is often quoted and several phrases from it have passed into everyday use including “A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou” and “The moving finger writes.”

FitzGerald's homosexuality was not talked about publicly at the time but has been well-known in the years since his death. H Montgomery Hyde published’ The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name’ which was a biography of FitzGerald's passionate affair with a fisherman named Joseph.