Patmore's poems appeared in two volumes in 1886, with a characteristic preface which might serve as the author's epitaph. "I have written little", it runs; "but it is all my best; I have never spoken when I had nothing to say, nor spared time or labour to make my words true. I have respected posterity; and should there be a posterity which cares for letters, I dare to hope that it will respect me." The sincerity which underlies this statement, combined with a certain lack of humour which peers through its naïveté, points to two of the principal characteristics of Patmore's earlier poetry; characteristics which came to be almost unconsciously merged and harmonized as his style and his intention drew together into unity. As happy love had been his earlier, the grief of loss became, in great measure, his later theme; touching and sublime thoughts upon love, death, and immortality are conveyed through strikingly poetic imagery and unusual form in the odes of The Unknown Eros, his best work. The collection is full not only of passages but entire poems in which exalted thought is expressed in poetry of the richest and most dignified melody. Spirituality informs his inspiration; the poetry is glowing and alive. The magnificent piece in praise of winter, the solemn and beautiful cadences of "Departure", and the homely but elevated pathos of "The Toys", are in their manner unsurpassed in English poetry. His somewhat reactionary political opinions, which also find expression in his odes, find less praise today although they can certainly be said to reflect, as do his essays, a serious and very active mind. Patmore is today one of the least-known but best-regarded Victorian poets. His son Henry John Patmore (1860–83) also became a poet. Works Principles in Art. London: George Bell and Sons, 1889. Courage in Politics and other Essays. London: Oxford University Press, 1921. Articles "William Barnes, the Dorset Poet," The Library Magazine, Vol. II, November 1886/March 1887. “Distinction,” The Eclectic Magazine, Vol. LII, 1890 "Three Essayettes," The Eclectic Magazine, Vol. LVI, July/December 1892. References and sources References Sources Further reading Betham-Edwards, Matilda (1911). "Coventry Patmore." In: Friendly Faces of Three Nationalities. London: Chapman & Hall, pp. 73–85. Bréguy, Katherine (1909–10). "Coventry Patmore," Part II, The Catholic World, Vols. XC/XCI, pp. 796–806, 14–27. Brooks, Michael (1979). "John Ruskin, Coventry Patmore, and the Nature of Gothic", Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol. XII, No. 4,