Irreverent and witty, poet Randall Jarrell was born in Nashville in 1914 and is often better known as critic who had a definite streak of cruelness when he was writing about poets that he didn’t much care for. Known for his plain speaking style, Jarrell went on to become the Library of Congress consultant in […]

Poet Paul Valery was born in the Mediterranean town of Sete in 1871 before moving to the French city of Montpelier where he spent the majority of his childhood. Throughout his life and beyond, Valery was a poet, essayist and writer who was largely difficult to categorize. He grew out of the symbolist tradition of […]

Born in the English county of Lincolnshire in 1926, Elizabeth Jennings was one of the most popular female British poets of the 20th Century. She is noted amongst a number of poets who were collectively part of The Movement that was devoted to the notion of English poetry and its place in the world. Although […]

Writer of hymns and popular poet, William Cowper was born in Hertfordshire in 1731 and was seen by many of his contemporaries as one of the foremost artists of his time. Throughout his life he chose to write about normal, everyday events and had a love of the country that often featured in his works. […]

Born in 1716 in London, Thomas Gray was a poet and professor who is perhaps most well-known for the poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard that was inspired by the sudden passing of his poet friend Richard West. Gray was from a large family of 12 but was the only one to survive, his […]