Recent posts

Henrik Arnold Wergeland Poems

 

Henrik Arnold Wergeland was a 19th century Norwegian writer who openly courted controversy, in both the poems and the plays that he wrote.  He lived only a short life but in his time became known as a pioneer of Norwegian literature covering a wide range of topics including social issues, theology and modern politics.  Some historians have described his work as “subversive” ...

Henrik Johan Ibsen Poems

 

Henrik Johan Ibsen is probably the best known Norwegian poet and playwright in that country’s literary history.  During the 19th century he wrote a number of plays, many of which are still performed today including such famous pieces as Ghosts and Hedda Gabler.  The Doll’s House was considered to be the most popular play world-wide during the early 20th century and his name ...

Henry Alford Poems

 

Henry Alford was a 19th century writer and distinguished cleric who is best known as a hymnodist, although he was also a minor poet of his time. He was born on the 7th October 1810 in London although his family originated from the south west, in the county of Somerset.  There was a long line of Anglican priests in his family tree so it ...

Henry Brooks Adams Poems

 

Henry Brooks Adams was an American writer, political journalist, historian and man of letters who was part of the distinguished Adams family that included two Presidents of the United States.  He won a Pulitzer Prize for his acclaimed autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams, although this was awarded posthumously and the book became one of the top non-fiction books of the 20th ...

Henry Carey Poems

 

Henry Carey was an English writer, specialising in satirical pieces in poem or song form, often at the expense of political figures such as Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole.  He was also a singer and playwright.  Oddly enough he often preferred anonymity, thus allowing others to benefit from his work and some of his musical compositions have even survived to this day.  He ...

Henry Clarence Kendall Poems

 

Henry Clarence Kendall was a 19th century Australian bush poet, one of a number of men of that time who wrote in lyrical terms about the natural splendour of the Outback, as well as the hardships endured by the people eking out a living in an often dangerous and inhospitable land. He was born Thomas Henry Kendall on the 18th April 1839 in ...

Henry Clay Work Poems

 

Henry Clay Work was a 19th century American writer of poetry who is best remembered for the composition of many stirring, often religiously themed songs and music.  He had a remarkable talent for composing music in his head, without the aid of a piano, a skill that came from his time working in a print shop in Chicago.  He used the rhythm ...

Henri Coulette Poems

 

Henri Coulette was a 20th century prize-winning American poet, his first collection in 1965 winning the Lamont Poetry Prize.  Remarkably, he only published one more collection during his lifetime, although he was working on a third at the time of his death.  He was also a renowned teacher, being Professor of English and faculty member at California State University for virtually all of ...

Ihara Saikaku Poems

 

Ihara Saikaku was a 17th century Japanese haikai poet who has also been credited with the creation of the so-called “floating world” genre of prose which was, effectively, the earliest known Japanese fiction. He was born Hirayama Togo in Osaka sometime during the year 1642, the son of a wealthy merchant of that city.  With ambitions to become a writer he was initially a ...

Isaac Taylor Poems

 

Isaac Taylor was an English writer, specialising in poetry and philosophical history.  This supremely talented man was also an inventor of a variety of mechanical objects including a beer tap and a copper engraving device which was used in textile printing.  He was also an artist, producing a wide variety of work including illustrations for various books, anatomical drawings for surgeons and portrait ...