Moina Michael was an American poet, humanitarian and university professor whose main claim to fame was that, having read John McCrae’s evocative poem about Flanders Fields she conceived the idea of making the poppy an everlasting symbol of remembrance for the millions of lives lost in World War I. Her career as a teacher began at the tender age of fifteen at various locations in Georgia. She ...
Pavlo Tychyna was a multi-award winning Ukrainian poet and academic of the 20th century who served his country well as a statesman and public activist. He also acted as an interpreter having mastered several languages. He was born Pavlo Hryhorovych Tychyna on the 11th January 1891 in the northern Ukrainian town of Pisky. His mother, a teacher, produced ten children for her husband, a deacon, ...
David Atwood Wasson was a 19th century American Congregational minister, poet and writer of essays. He was a great believer in the Transcendentalist movement and wrote many pieces on this theme. He took inspiration from the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Carlyle though it is believed that Carlyle’s influenced became less during his later years. He was born in May 1823 in West Brooksville, ...
Daniil Ivánovich Kharms was a 20th century Russian poet and dramatist whose poetry is usually categorised as absurdist or surrealist. He was born Daniil Ivánovich Yuvatchov on the 30th December 1905 in St. Petersburg into a family constantly at odds with the government. His father, Ivan, was a member of “The People’s Will” which was a subversive, revolutionary group whose activities included acting against the ruling ...
David Humphreys was an American poet and entrepreneur who gave distinguished service as ADC to George Washington during the War of Independence (1775-83). Following his army service, Humphreys dedicated much of his time to satirical poetry as part of a group originally called the Connecticut Wits, and then the Hartford Wits. The group are commonly known as the first American school of ...
David McKee Wright was an Irish-born poet and journalist who spent much of his life living and writing in New Zealand and Australia. He was born on the 6th August 1869 in Ballynaskeagh, County Down. His parents were both missionaries, serving in faraway lands such as Syria. The family moved to London when David was aged seven and, shortly after, he lost his ...
Denis Florence MacCarthy was a 19th century Irish poet and translator of Spanish literature. His Catholic faith had a strong influence on his work and he also never hid his Nationalist feelings about Ireland, producing a great deal of patriotic verse. He was born on the 26th May 1817 in Lower O'Connell Street, Dublin. He was educated at home during his early years ...
Donald Davidson was an American poet, teacher and literary critic with a strong social conscience. He was one of the founding members of a group called The Fugitives. They were scholars at the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee who wrote poems and essays on social themes such as black segregation in the south and their name was taken from the title of a ...
Dinah Craik was a 19th century English poet and novelist. Some of her work is credited to Mrs Craik while her earlier efforts were published under her maiden name of Mulock. A writer of great imagination she initially wrote for children, although she did not limit herself to this field of literature as time went by. She was born Dinah Maria Mulock on ...
Donald Marquis was a humorous writer of poetry, a novelist, playwright and a famous newspaper columnist who has his place in American literary history as the creator of such characters as Archy & Mehitabel, who were a cockroach and alley cat, and a “hip flask philosopher” called The Old Soak. Add Warty Bliggens the Toad and Freddy the Rat and you will ...
