Say from what simple springs began
The vast, ambitious thoughts of man,
Which range beyond control;
Which seek Eternity to trace,
Dive thro' th' infinity of space,
And strain to grasp the whole.
        (Hymn to Science, 31-36)

1. For a Column at Runnymede
2. Hymn to Science
3. Ode to the Country Gentlemen of England
4. The Pleasures of Imagination (excerpt)

Notes on Life and Works

• Dix, Robin. “Akenside, Mark (1721-1770).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004.

Biographical information

Given name: Mark
Family name: Akenside
Title: Doctor
Birth date: 9 November 1721
Death date: 23 June 1770
Nationality: English
Family relations
          father: Mark Akenside
          mother: Mary Akenside
Education
          Edinburgh (Theology): 1739
          Holland (Doctor of Physic): 1744
Religion: Presbyterian
Politics
          Whig: 1721 to 1761
          Tory: 1761 to 1770
Literary period: Augustan
Occupations
          Surgeon: 1741 to 1743
          Physician: 1744 to 1770
Residences
          Newcastle-on-Tyne, England: 9 November 1721 to 1739
          Edinburgh: 1739 to 1741
          Newcastle-on-Tyne, England: 1741 to 1744
          Holland: 1744
          Various towns, England: 1744 to 1770
Cause of death: Fever
Buried at: St. James' Church
First RPO edition: 1996-2000