Gildon's Poetry

The Poetry of Patronage

The poems of Gildon represented here are dedicated to patrons or would-patrons that Gildon depended upon for support. As a hack writer, at times Gildon would receive as much or more than he earned from a bookseller from the patron it was dedicated to. His poem Threnodia Virginea is a threnody or poetic lament for Hester Buckworth, the daugher of Sir John Buckworth. Canons: or, the Vision is dedicated to Earl of Caernarvan. Most ambitiously, Libertas Triumphans is dedicated to George Augustus, Elector of Hanover, later to be known as King George I of England.