James Elroy Flecker's "Laurence Hope"

In 1907, when the young Oxford graduate James Elroy Flecker "was having little success in living by his pen" (according to his biographer John Sherwood), he penned an article on "Laurence Hope" for the Monthly Review exploring the reasons why "Laurence Hope has succeeded where most modern poets have failed . . .  She has created for herself a world of admirers, a multitude of initiants -- a Public."  Flecker would later achieve fame as an exotic poet and playwright himself, notably through his posthumously-produced verse play, Hassan.  His personal and literary interest in sadomasochism was no doubt an additional factor in his admiration for the poetry of Laurence Hope.