Poetry blog

We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.

Recent posts

Charles Mair Poems

 

Charles Mair was a fiercely patriotic Canadian poet, journalist and civil servant whose nationalist fervour saw him helping to form, and then taking an active part in, the Canada First movement of 1868. Members sought to promote a strong British Protestant component within the Canadian identity. A major political figure at the time was Louis Riel who led two rebellions against the government and Mair ...

Charles Sangster Poems

 

Charles Sangster was a 19th century Canadian poet and newspaper man who was described as "the best of the pre-confederation poets." He was a man who was fiercely proud of his country and this showed in his poetry, especially his most famous work which was published in 1856 under the title The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay. He was born on the 16th July 1822 at a ...

Charles Stuart Calverley Poems

 

Charles Stuart Calverley was a 19th century English poet. His sometimes witty pieces led him to be known as the “father of the university school of humour". He came into the world on the 22nd December 1831 in the Worcestershire town of Martley with the surname Blayds. His father was a church minister who changed the family name back to Calverley when Charles was 21 years ...

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems

 

As one of the first feminists in America Charlotte Perkins Gilman spent her life promoting the right of women to be more than just housewives subjugated to the whims and dominance of their husbands. She was also a poet, novelist and social reform lecturer. She was born in Connecticut, and was one of two children that came into the family on July 3rd ...

Charles Wolfe Poems

 

Charles Wolfe was an Irish poet and priest who managed to produce only one major body of writing in his lifetime – Poetical Remains – which unfortunately stayed largely unacknowledged until after his death. Wolfe was born December 14th 1791 at Blackhall, County Kildare, Ireland. His family were well respected within the area as they came from upper-class stock. Wolfe’s father was Theobald ...

Charles Warren Stoddard Poems

 

Charles Warren Stoddard was an American writer who began his writing career amidst the fledging San Francisco literary scene. He did this at first in a clandestine way, keeping the knowledge of his writing from those who knew him. He also flirted briefly but unsuccessfully with a career on the stage. Stoddard came into the world on August 7th 1843 in New York"s ...

Charles Robert Thatcher Poems

 

Charles Robert Thatcher, poet, songwriter and singer, was the son of an antiques dealer from Bristol who, at the age of 21 became interested in the upsurge in gold mining in Australia. He went with friends to Melbourne to try to make his fortune. After several unsuccessful attempts at the Bendigo digs they eventually hit the jackpot. Thatcher’s share of the claim ...

Poets University [infographic]

 

Do you want to make it as a poet? Do you see yourself as the next William Wordsworth? Are you inspired by the likes of Ezra Pound and Sylvia Plath? If so, you might want to replicate how your favourite poet started out. Did you know, for example, that Theodore Roethke went to the University of Michigan? Or, that Gerard Manley Hopkins studied classics at Balliol College ...

Cicely Fox Smith Poems

 

Cicely Fox Smith was an English poet known for writing maritime poetry, although not exclusively; she wrote on other subjects including travel and, along with her sister, children’s novels. She was born February 1st 1882 in Lymm, Cheshire, England into a life of middle-class gentility. Smith did not follow the usual route of the minimum education and early marriage which was expected of ...

Christopher John Brennan Poems

 

Christopher John Brennan was an Australian scholar and poet whose writing was said to be independent of influence but which went on to influence many poets who came after him. He was born in Sydney, Australia on November 1st 1870, the eldest son of Irish Catholic parents Christopher and Mary Ann Brennan. His father previously worked at the Brewery owned by Guinness in ...