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English poet George Crabbe was born on December 24, 1754 in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. At the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed to a surgeon, but soon turned to verse writing. In 1772, Crabbe was awarded a prize from Wheble’s Lady’s Magazine for a poem about hope. Crabbe then studied midwifery, but in 1780, he went to London to write.

With the support of Edmund Burke, he published three long poems: The Library (1781),  (1782), and The Newspaper (1785). During this period he changed professions, becoming a clergyman, chaplain to the Duke of Rutland. Among his writing from the latter part of his life are The Parish Register, , Tales in Verse, and . He died in February 1832.

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