The Plough
Your labour is for future hours:
Advance—spare not—nor look…
Richard Henry Horne (1802-1884) was an English poet, dramatist, and critic, known for his ambitious and eclectic body of work. Born in Edmonton, Middlesex, Horne displayed an early interest in literature and pursued a career that traversed various genres and styles. He is most renowned for his epic poem "Orion," published in 1843, which audaciously priced at one farthing to ensure widespread readership and challenge traditional publishing practices.
Despite experiencing financial difficulties throughout his life, Horne's talent and perseverance gained him the friendship and support of notable contemporaries such as Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. His collaborations with Dickens contributed to "Household Words," where he penned social commentary and investigative pieces. Horne's fascination with historical and social themes is evident in works like "The Death of Marlowe" and "Cosmo de' Medici," where he explored Elizabethan and Renaissance subjects.
Horne's life was marked by periods of travel, including a six-year stint in Australia, where he engaged in gold prospecting and wrote about colonial life. Though he never achieved widespread acclaim during his lifetime, his diverse literary contributions have garnered scholarly interest, underlining his role as a significant, if underappreciated, figure in Victorian literature.