Poetry blog

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

Recent posts

Anna Swirszczynska Poems

 

The surname of the 20th century Polish poet Anna Świrszczyńska is often abbreviated to Swir for western readers who might struggle with the pronunciation. Her large volume of written work deals with many diverse topics, such as the Polish struggles during the Second World War (a good example being Building the Barricade, detailing her experiences during the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis. She ...

Anne Reeve Aldrich Poems

 

Anne Reeve Aldrich was a 19th century novelist and poet from the USA, who was sometimes referred to as a modern-day “American Sappho”. Sappho was the Ancient Greek lyric poet who originated from the island of Lesbos, listed by the Alexandrians as one of the nine lyric poets. Lesbos became associated, sometime in the 19th century, with Sapphic or lesbian love. ...

Arthur Henry Hallam Poems

 

Arthur Henry Hallam was a 19th century English poet who lived a tragically short life. A close friend, the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, spent 17 years composing a major poem in his honour, simply called In Memoriam A.H.H. Despite such a short life – only 22 years – Hallam made an impact on English literary society and was known as the ...

Akaki Tsereteli Poems

 

The famous Georgian poet Akaki Tsereteli came from a long established aristocratic family and was therefore entitled to use the title Prince before his name. As well as being a well renowned poet and a pioneer in education in the country he was also prominent in the burgeoning national liberation movement during the 19th century. He was born on the 9th June 1840 ...

Arthur Upson Poems

 

Arthur Upson was an American poet who led a tragically short life which ended when he fell from a boat, either accidentally or, as some suspected, in an act of suicide. In tributes following his death he was described as a promising talent and comparisons were made with the work of Keats and Chatterton. He was born Arthur Wheelock Upson on the 10th ...

Arthur Henry Adams Poems

 

Arthur Henry Adams was a New Zealand-born poet, novelist and journalist who spent most of his time in Australia with brief sojourns in England and China. His early career direction appeared to be heading towards the legal profession but he soon found a niche in journalism instead, on the Wellington Evening Post. He was, at about the same time, in collaboration with ...

Anne Glenny Wilson Poems

 

The Australian-born poet, short story writer and artist Anne Glenny Wilson, sometimes called Annie, spent most of her life living in New Zealand. She was well known for her sympathetic portrayals of home values and the Maori way of life and proved to be a popular female writer. She was born Anne Adams on the 11th June 1848 in ...

Alfred George Stephens Poems

 

Alfred George Stephens, often known simply as A G Stephens, was an Australian poet and literary critic who made regular contributions to the Sydney-based magazine The Bulletin. He set out to bolster and encourage the concept of Australian literature in its own right, even though many writers had strong European influences. He was born on the 28th August 1865 in the Queensland township ...

Alexander Craig Poems

 

Alexander Craig of Rosecraig was better known by his contemporaries as Scoto-Britane, which was his pen name. He was born in 1567, in Perthshire, in the north of Scotland, the year same year Mary Queen of Scots was executed after her long imprisonment in England by her cousin Elizabeth I. Born into an aristocratic family in post reformation Scotland, Alexander Craig lived ...

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet Poems

 

The 19th century Russian poet Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet, a man born of noble blood, is considered to be among the best lyricists in Russian literature. A great friend of Leo Tolstoy, Fet was a deep thinking, often fatalistic poet who wrote a number of poems on the grim subject of death, although he framed these verses to make death sound like something ...