Career
Although often misspelled as Bannister, the poet"s middle name is actually spelled with only one "n", Banister)
He was ordained as a priest in 1884, after which he retained his academic position. Plagued by eye problems his whole life, he continued to teach though he lost his sight completely about a year before he died. Father Tabb (as he was commonly known) was widely published in popular and prestigious magazines of the day, including Harper"s Monthly, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Cosmopolitan.
His books of poetry include Poems (1894), Lyrics (1897), Later Lyrics (1902), and, posthumously, Later Poems (1910).
He also wrote one prose work, Bone Rules (1897), an English grammar. Only one of his sermons has survived, a sermon on the Assumption (August 15, 1894).
English poet Alice Meynell made A Selection from the Verses of John B. Tabb (1906). His biographer, Francis A. Litz, a former student of Tabb"s, published previously uncollected poems and previously unpublished poems in Father Tabb: A Study of His Life and Works (1923).
Litz also edited a collected edition, The Poetry of Father Tabb (1928).
The Tabb Monument in Amelia County, Virginia is dedicated to his memory.
