Thomas Hood was the most gifted comic poet of the early Victorian period. He has rarely been matched for his metrical resourcefulness and rhyming ingenuity, and never for his pyrotechnic punning. His humorous verse ranges from the whimsical and bantering to the grotesque and satiric. He was also known for Romantic poetry of a derivative kind, and late in life achieved renown for poems of social protest in which he championed the working oppressed. As an editor he pioneered the humorous family magazine, a compilation of short pieces in prose and verse accompanied by droll illustrations.

Hood's father, Thomas Hood, was a Scotsman who came from Dundee to London in the 1780s and entered the book trade. He was successful and became a partner in a firm of booksellers and publishers. He married Elizabeth Sands, whose father and brother were engravers of some repute. Six of their children...