Thomas Occleve

Thomas Occleve
Thomas Occleve
    Thomas Occleve
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Thomas Occleve
    (Or Hoccleve)
    Little is known of his life beyond what is mentioned in his poems. He was b. about 1368; d. in 1450. The place of his birth and education is unknown. When about nineteen he became a clerk in the Privy-Seal Office, a position which he held for at least twenty-four years. It is recorded in the Patent Rolls (1399) that he received a pension of £10 a year. In his poem "La Male Règle", written in 1406, he confesses to having lived a life of pleasure and even of dissipation, but his marriage in 1411 seems to have caused a change in his career, and his poem "De Regimine Principum", written soon afterewards, bears witness to his reform. In 1424 he was granted a pension of £20 a year for life. His name and reputation have come down to us linked with those of Lydgate; the two poets were followers and enthusiastic admirers of Chaucer. It is most probable that Occleve knew Chaucer personally, as he has left three passages of verse about him, and, in the MS. Of the "De Regimine", a portrait of Chaucer (the only one we possess), which he says he had painted "to put other men in remembrance of his person". He was a true Chaucerian as far as love and admiration could make him, but he was unable to imitate worthily his master's skill in poetry. Occleve has left us a body of verse which has its own interest, but none of which, as poetry, can be placed much above mediocrity. Nevertheless, there are many things which give pleasure. There is his devoted love of Our Lady, which causes some of the poems he wrote in her honour (especially "The Moder of God") to be among his best efforts. There is his admiration of Chaucer, already spoken of, and there is also sound morality, and a good deal of "the social sense" in the matter of his poems. Though he had no humour, he could tell a story well, and in several poems he enlists our sympathy by the frank recognition of his weakness both as man and poet.
    His work consists of: a long poem, "De Regimine Principum" (the Government of Princes), addressed to Prince Henry, afterwards Henry V; it is written in the seven-line stanza and contains much varied matter, religious, moral, social and political; two verse stories from the "Gesta Romanorum"; three other poems of some length, largely autobiographical, "La Male Règle", "A Complaint", and "A Diologue"; "Ars sciendi mori" (the Art of learning to die) a specimen of his work at its best, most of it in the seven-line stanza, but with an ending in prose; many other poems, chiefly Ballades, and mostly short, with the exception of "Cupid's Letter" and the interesting expostulation with Sir John Oldcastle concerning his heresy, "O Oldcastle, alas what ailed thee To slip into the snare of heresie?". All the above poems are contained in the Early English Text Society's edition of Occleve's works (London, 1892-7).
    Furnivall in Dict. Nat. Biog., IX (reissued, London, 1908); Idem in Preface to E. Eng. Text Soc. Edition of Works (London, 1892-7); Saintsbury in Camb. Hist. of Eng. Literature, II (Cambridge, 1908).
    K.M. WARREN
    Transcribed by William D. Neville

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


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  • Thomas Occleve — (or Hoccleve) (c. 1368 ndash; 1426), English poet, was born probably in 1368/9, for, writing in 1421/2 he says he was fifty three years old ( Dialog, i. 246 ).Like his more voluminous and better known contemporary John Lydgate, he has an… …   Wikipedia

  • Thomas Occleve — ou Hoccleve est un poète anglais né vers 1369[1] et mort en 1426. Il a connu Geoffrey Chaucer et lui rend hommage à plusieurs reprises dans son œuvre la plus populaire en son temps, le Regiment of Princes de 1412[2]. Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Occleve, Thomas — • English poet (1368 1450) Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Occleve —   [ ɔkliːv], Hoccleve [ hɔkliːv], Thomas, englischer Dichter, * London (?) um 1368, ✝ ebenda (?) um 1426; Schreiber im königlichen Geheimsiegelamt, verfasste neben dem lehrhaften, durch unterhaltsame Einschübe aufgelockerten Fürstenspiegel »The… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Occleve, Thomas (Hoccleve) — (?1370 ?1450)    Next to John Lydgate (see entry), he is the most significant English poet of the 15th century (both of them knew Chaucer). Little is known of his life, but for many years he was a clerk of the privy seal office in London. From… …   British and Irish poets

  • Thomas Hoccleve — Hoccleve (right) presenting his work The Regement of Princes (1411) to Henry, Prince of Wales (later Henry V of England), from Arundel MS. 38 Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve (c. 1368–1426) was an English poet and clerk. Contents …   Wikipedia

  • Occleve,Thomas — Oc·cleve (ŏkʹlēv ), Thomas. See Hoccleve, Thomas. * * * …   Universalium

  • Occleve — biographical name see Thomas Hoccleve …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Occleve —    see Hoccleve, Thomas …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Hoccleve, Thomas — (Occleve) (ca. 1368–ca. 1426)    A poet and disciple of CHAUCER, Thomas Hoccleve is best known as the author of the Regement of Princes (ca. 1409–12), a book of advice for Prince Hal, the future King Henry V of England. Recently, critics have… …   Encyclopedia of medieval literature

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