What is John Fitchett?
'''John Fitchett''' (1776-1838) was an [[England|English]] [[poet]]. == Biography == John Fitchett was born on 21 September 1776.<ref name=DNB19>[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Fitchett,_John_(DNB00) Charles William Sutton, Fitchett, John &#91;in:&#93; Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 19.]</ref> He became an [[orphan]] very early.<ref name=DNB19/> He studied [[law]] and became an [[attorney]].<ref name=DNB19/> He lived in [[Warrington]], [[England]].<ref name=DNB19/> In 1796 he [[published]] his first work named ''Bewsey, a Poem''.<ref name=DNB19/> John Fitchett never married.<ref name=DNB19/> He died on 20 October 1838.<ref name=DNB19/> == ''King Alfred'' == John Fitchett is remembered as the [[author]] of an [[epic poem]] named ''King Alfred''. It was published in the years 1841-1842.<ref name=Tucker321>Herbert F. Tucker: Epic. Britain's Heroic Muse 1790-1910. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, s. 321. {{ISBN|978-0-19-923298-7}}.</ref> It took forty years to write it.<ref name=Tucker321/> It tells about English [[King]] [[Alfred the Great]],<ref>[https://www.royal.uk/alfred-great-r-871-899 Alfred 'The Great' (r. 871-899) at Royal.uk.]</ref> who lived during the [[9th century]] and fought against the [[Vikings]]. The poem is a literary [[curiosity]]. It is probably the longest poem ever written in English. John Fitchett left it unfinished, but his friend Robert Roscoe finished and published it. ''King Alfred'' is over 131 000 lines long.<ref name=DNB19/> 2585 more lines were added by Roscoe.<ref name=DNB19/> == References == {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitchett, John}} [[Category:Epic poems]] [[Category:English poets]] [[Category:1776 births]] [[Category:1838 deaths]]