Recent posts

Beaumont and Fletcher Poems

 

Over the last 300 years or so literary critics and students of Elizabethan dramatists have debated the various merits of these two writers. Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher wrote plays and poetry together during the reign of King James I, probably during the first fifteen years of the 17th century. Some will argue that the one was more influential than ...

William Bliss Carman Poems

 

This Canadian poet was more often known by the shorter version of Bliss Carman. He actually lived for most of his life in the United States and it was here that he became known worldwide. He was never forgotten in Canada though and they made him their Poet Laureate in his later years. He was a lyrical poet who was numbered amongst ...

Bernard de Ventadorn Poems

 

There are a number of recorded variations on this French medieval troubadour’s name. He is variously referred to as Bernard de Ventadour, or  Bernart de Ventadorn amongst others. This secular composer wrote lyrical poetry for the art of the troubadour and he is also known as a “Master Singer”. The typical song style of his contemporaries was the cançon and he developed this ...

Bernard Barton Poems

 

Bernard Barton was a writer of poetry and hymns. His had a religious upbringing and is often referred to by literary critics as the “Quaker Poet”. He lived in various parts of the country and was employed at different times as a tutor and a bank clerk while writing poetry in his spare time. His good friend, the writer Charles Lamb, tried ...

Benjamin Tompson Poems

 

It is believed that Dr BenJamin Tompson was the first recorded American-born poet, born into a family of zealous Puritan immigrants. He seems to have stayed close to home, in the New England area, and became a schoolmaster at various schools in and around Boston. One of his students, Cotton Mather, went on to be a famous poet as well. He ...

Benjamin Colman Poems

 

The American non-conformist minister, BenJamin Colman, his name sometimes recorded as Coleman, was considered to be one of the best of his generation. His efforts in this field were recognised by the University of Glasgow who, in 1731, awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. He was a skilled and thoughtful poet as well as being a revered minister. He was born ...

Blanche Edith Baughan Poems

 

Blanche Edith Baughan was a naturalised New Zealand poet, occasional teacher and shepherdess and also a campaigner for penal reform and social justice for the poor and disadvantaged. She was born on the 16th January 1870 in Putney, South London, the younger of six children. She lost her father when aged only ten but grew up with a decent education, going on to gain ...

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Poems

 

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson holds quite an esteemed place in the history of Norwegian literature, being one of the so-called “De Fire Store” (The Four Greats). He is rated equally alongside Alexander Kieland, Jonas Lie and Henrik Ibsen. He also holds the honour of being the poet who produced the words for a song that became his country’s National Anthem - Ja, vi ...

Bilhana Poems

 

The Sanskrit writer known as Bilhana was a well-known Kashmiri poet who was most famous for a long love poem that he wrote numbering some fifty stanzas. He called it Caurapâñcâśikâ, and this became known in English as The Collection of Fifty Verses by a Love Thief. It was dedicated to a royal Princess, possibly called Princess Yaminipurnatilaka, daughter of King Madanabhirama. Legend ...

Bert Leston Taylor Poems

 

Bert Leston Taylor was an American poet and author who specialised in humorous content in both his books and magazine or newspaper columns. He was also a librettist by the age of 21 and went on to become one of the most famous columnists in the entire United States. Additionally he is generally acknowledged as one of the central figures in the Chicago ...