The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean Swift

The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean Swift is a five-volume compilation published in 1753. While attributed to Theophilus Cibber, the majority of the research and original writing was done by Robert Shiels, a Scottish poet and editor.1

The work falls under the genre of biographical literature, specifically a collection of character sketches. This genre, which involves researching and compiling life stories, has a long history, with notable examples including Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans and Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets. The compilation focuses on poets up to the time of Jonathan Swift, a prominent Anglo-Irish author and satirist known for works like Gulliver's Travels.234