The Seatonian Prize is awarded by the University of Cambridge for the best English poem on a sacred subject. This prize has been awarded annually since 1750 and is open to any Master of Arts of the university. Lord Byron referred to this prize in his 1809 poem entitled "English Bards and Scots Reviewers". The prize is still awarded annually, with a deadline of 30 September each year. It is open to all members of the Senate of the University of Cambridge, and to anyone with the status of Masters of Arts.
7-598: This prize was founded by the Rev. Thomas Seaton , educated at Stamford School and a Fellow of Clare College , who died in 1741. The prize was financed by the revenue from his Kislingbury estate bequeathed to the university. His bequest was not formally accepted by the university until 1898, at which time regulations were drawn up for the administration of the Seatonian Prize by the Faculty of Divinity . The winner in
14-523: A full-grown ass; A foal well worthy of her ancient Dam, Whose Helicon is duller than her Cam. In 2018, the Seatonian Prize was awarded to Colin Wilcockson of Pembroke College . [1] . Thomas Seaton The Reverend Thomas Seaton (baptised 2 October 1684, Stamford, Lincolnshire , died 18 August 1741 at Ravenstone, Buckinghamshire ), was a Church of England clergyman and religious writer. Seaton died unmarried in 1741 at Ravenstone and
21-505: Is buried there. He was educated at Stamford School and Clare College , Cambridge , graduating a BA in 1705 and a MA in 1708. Seaton was elected a fellow of Clare College in 1706 and continued as a Fellow until 1721. He was ordained as a deacon in 1707 and priest of the Church of England in 1709. He became chaplain to Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham . In 1713, he gained the vicarage of Madingley , Cambridgeshire , and in 1721
28-620: The city of Nottingham gave him the vicarage of Ravenstone in Buckinghamshire , which enabled him to give up his college fellowship with which he retained until his death. In one of his works, The Conduct of Servants in Great Families (1720), he advised employers to oversee the moral conduct of their servants. On his death, Seaton left his estate at Kislingbury , Northamptonshire , to the University of Cambridge , with
35-540: The first three years was Christopher Smart . "On the Omniscience of the Supreme Being" (Cambridge, 1752) was his prize-winning "poetical essay" of that year. Smart won much credit by his success. In 1754 his fellowship was extended on condition that he continued to write for the prize. In 1759 the prize was won by Beilby Porteus for his poem on "Death", for which he is still remembered. In 1797, 1798, and 1799
42-631: The object of funding an annual poetry prize for a poem in English on the nature of God or on another sacred subject, the judges to be the university's Vice-chancellor , the Professor of Greek, and the Master of Clare College. The Seatonian Prize has been awarded annually since 1750, apart from the years 1766, 1769, and 1771. Musae Seatonianæ includes most of the prize poems. George Gordon, Lord Byron , another Cambridge graduate, refers to recipients of
49-640: The prize was won by William Bolland . Byron's poem records the name of some of the winners: Shall hoary Granta call her sable sons, Expert in science, more expert at puns? Shall these approach the Muse? ah, no! she flies, Even from the tempting ore of Seaton's prize; Though Printers condescend the press to soil With rhyme by Hoare, and epic blank by Hoyle: Not him whose page, if still upheld by whist, Requires no sacred theme to bid us list. Ye! who in Granta's honours would surpass, Must mount her Pegasus,
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