Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) was an American Immigrant poet. Born in a time when poverty prevailed in a majority of the populace, so was the family of Khalil Gibran. His mother was the daughter of a priest, which played a critical part in his life. As Gibran was a member of the poverty class, his education was non-formal. The education ...
When observing the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) one cannot separate the political views and rebellious nature of the man from his works. Ever in opposition to the English government and to the religious orders of his time (see his work The Necessity of Atheism), Percy Bysshe Shelley’s works come across as blunt statements regarding our existence, our political views, and ...
During the early days of the 20th Century Robert William Service brought the harsh life of the Yukon to life with poems such as The Shooting of Dan McGrew. Despite the populist nature of his prose and meaty descriptions of life in the gold rush days, Service was actually a humble bank clerk who had been born in England ...
Writer and dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah was born in the heartland of Birmingham in 1958 and has grown up to become one of Britain’s most well-known and much loved poets since the war. His own writing has always been strongly influenced by Jamaican music and poetry and what he likes to define as “street politics.” Although he was well-known to ...
The Massachusetts born poet, Anne Sexton, could best be described as a tortured soul who wrote in a highly controversial style. Her poems contained topics that, for the majority of people, were not seen as ‘right and proper’ in 1960s America. A so-called confessional poet, Sexton wrote quite openly and unashamedly about taboo subjects like menstruation, abortion, masturbation, incest, adultery, ...
We often think of the poets who were around during that terrible period in world history, the years covering the First World War, as being very few in number. It is true that only a small number became famous but, in fact, over two thousand soldiers spent their time both trying to survive the grim battlefields while writing poignant verse ...
Roald Dahl (1916-1990) is best known for his children’s stories. There are few individuals that have not been exposed to Roald Dahl. Books such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach have become traditional generational literature. Most of his children’s stories have gone on to become screenplays and blockbuster movies. His poetic works are as well-known as ...
A Cambridge Scholar with no degree but exceptional skill in the artistry of the written language, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 – 1892) stands among the best known as well as the most criticized poets of all time. The poet quite literally spent his entire life dedicated to pen and parchment. Records indicate that Alfred, Lord Tennyson began writing as early as ...
Where does one start with the briefest of accounts of this man, this great Welsh poet of the twentieth century? Perhaps we should just look at the stark facts of the beginning and ending of a life cut tragically short. They are thus: 27 October 1914, born at home as was the custom then, Dylan Marlais Thomas entered a world ...
Born in America in 1885, Ezra Weston Loomis Pound led an intense and colorful early life, working as a literary editor in London, travelling across Europe and joining Mussolini’s fascist regime in the 30s and 40s. He was an important influence on some of the literary greats of the 20th Century including TS Elliot and Ernest Hemingway, and much loved ...
