The Cockney School
Preserved but no longer current.
A nickname given by Lockhart (see quotation below) to a group of writers including Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, Shelley, and Keats. It was a term of opprobrium, on account of the kind of rhymes they used m their verse, which smacked too much of every- day life instead of the classic purity preferred by the critics.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The Cockney School” mean?
A nickname given by Lockhart (see quotation below) to a group of writers including Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, Shelley, and Keats. It was a term of opprobrium, on account of the kind of rhymes they used m their verse, which smacked too much of every- day life instead of the classic purity preferred by the critics.
Is “The Cockney School” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.