Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and statesman whose literary reputation is closely linked with The Spectator, the influential periodical he produced with his friend Richard Steele. Born at Milston, Wiltshire, in 1672, the son of Anglican clergyman Lancelot Addison, he was educated at Charterhouse and at Oxford. His Latin verse attracted early notice, and his poem The Campaign brought political patronage. He later held government offices in England and Ireland and briefly served as Secretary of State.

Addison’s religious poetry grew from the same project that shaped many of his Spectator essays: joining Christian moral reflection with clear, polished prose and poetry for a broad reading public. The Spacious Firmament on High appeared in The Spectator, No. 465, on August 23, 1712, after an essay on contemplation of God through creation and an explicit discussion of Psalm 19. He also wrote the metrical Psalm 23 text commonly beginning The Lord my pasture shall prepare. Addison died in 1719 and was buried in Westminster Abbey; a later memorial to him stands in Poets’ Corner.