Winthrop Mackworth Praed was a 19th century English poet and politician whose life was tragically cut short by tuberculosis. He was born on the 28th July 1802 in London and he owed his unusual surname to a great grandfather’s marriage into a Cornish family. His father held the centuries old title of serjeant-at-law, meaning that he was a highly respected barrister. Young Winthrop began ...
Woodrow Wilson was an American academic and occasional poet who had numerous books and essays published during his lifetime. He is, though, more famous for being President of the USA - the 28th, to be exact. He served for two consecutive terms of office running between 1913 and 1921. He was born Thomas Woodrow Wilson on the 28th December 1856 in Staunton, Virginia. His family ...
The ancient Greek poet and philosopher known as Xenophanes of Colophon, who was also a great theologian and social commentator, spent much of his life travelling throughout the Greek lands, possibly reaching the island of Sicily at some point. His poetry was written in iambic and elegiac style and it is believed that he was the first of his kind to write in ...
Yehudah HaLevi was a medieval Spanish poet and philosopher who is known by a number of names including the Hebrew Judah Ha-Levi and the Arabic version, Abu al-Ḥasan al-Lawi. It is believed that he was born around the years 1085 or 1086 in Toledo in the southern Castile region. These were turbulent times in that part of Spain with the Christian King Alfonso ...
The 16th century poet, philosopher, civil servant and educator Yi Hwang is known as one of the Joseon Dynasty's most notable Confucian scholars from Korea. Besides a considerable output of written work he was responsible for the establishment of a private academy known as both Dosan Seowon and also the Yeongnam School. His work was published under his own name and at least two pen names – ...
Yuán Méi was an 18th century Chinese poet, artist and expert in gastronomy who lived during the Qing Dynasty. It was originally thought that he would have a career as a civil servant but he tried that, and then gave it up, preferring instead to follow his literary ambitions. He was born sometime during the year 1716 in Qiantang, a place which is ...
Zoë Akins was an American poet and playwright who won the Pulitzer Prize for one of her plays in 1935. That decade was one of sterling success for her, with many of her plays attracting big names in entertainment and some were turned into Hollywood movies. She was born Zoë Byrd Akins on the 30th October 1886 in the Missouri town of Humansville into ...
The Urdu poet Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim Zauq was better known by his nom de plume, “Zauq”. He lived at the time of the Mughal empire when poets were judged more on the technical structure of their work than the content and, as such, he was a very popular poet. Some say he outshone another poet by the name of Ghalib, even though the latter ...
Zabel Asadour was an Armenian poet who is usually better known by one of her pseudonyms - Madame Sibil or Sybille. Other names used were Zabel Khanjian and Zabel Asadour. Additionally she was a teacher at various locations in the provinces, as well as Constantinople. She wrote novels and dramatic works and published her own and others work. She was also considered ...
The multi-talented W. S. Gilbert, or to give him his full title Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, was a poet, illustrator, dramatist and librettist whose collaboration with Sir Arthur Sullivan on numerous comic operas (the so-called Savoy Operas) ensures that his name will sit proudly for evermore amongst the true greats of British writers. One could even compare him to William Shakespeare ...
