Educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Oxford, Landon left both establishments because of his unmanageable temper. He moved to Wales where he befriended Lord Aylmer who urged him to write and, in 1798, Landor published his epic poem, Gebir (after whom Gibraltar is named), based on an Arabian tale. The work received strong praise from Robert Southey and helped to establish Landor in literary circles. Landor and Southey would become life-long friends. In 1805, Landor inherited his father's estates and moved to Bath where he was married in 1811. In 1812, he published the tragedy, Count Julian. In 1815, the Landors moved to Italy where they lived in Como, Pisa and Florence for the next 20 years. After separating from his wife in 1835, Landor returned to England and again settled in Bath in 1838 where he remained until 1858. Thereafter he returned to Florence where he spent his remaining years. Landor's other principal works include Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen (1824-29), The Citation and Examination of William Shakespeare Touching Deer-stealing (1834), Pericles and Aspasia (1836), The Pentameron and Pentalogia (1837), the historical trilogy of Andrea of Hungary, Giovanna of Naples and Fra Rupert (1839) and The Hellenics (1846-47). |
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