Thomas Hood (born May 23, 1799, London—died May 3, 1845, London), English poet, journalist, and humorist whose humanitarian verses, such as “The Song of the Shirt” (1843), served as models for a whole school of social-protest poets, not only in Britain and the United States but in Germany and Russia, where he was widely translated. He also is notable as a writer of comic verse, having originated several durable forms for that genre.