We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.
John Gay lived a relatively short life from the end of the 17th century to only the third decade of the 18th century but managed to write enough controversial verse to last a much longer lifetime. He was, on the one hand, patronised by the great and the good, thus allowing him to continue his musings. On the other hand he was ...
John Quincy Adams was an American poet who, by his own admission, would like to have been a better one, as evidenced by the following statement: "Could I have chosen my own genius and condition, I would have made myself a great poet." It is very likely though that his poetry only received the attention that it did because of who this great man ...
Born in 1870 in British Burma, Hector Hugh Munro was famous during the Edwardian era for his short stories and novels written under the pen name of Saki. Munro’s father worked for the police and the young writer may well have spent his formative years in Burma if his mother had not had an accident that saw him returned to ...
Born in 1796 near Bristol, Harley Coleridge is probably best known through association with his more famous father Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Brought up in an artistic and literary family, at the age of 4, Coleridge’s family moved from the small village of Clevedon to the Lake District to a property just a ...
Born in Volhynia in the Ukraine in 1873, Hayyim Nahman Bailik grew up to become one of the leading forces in Hebrew poetry. His father was a shrewd businessman and academic but died early on when Bailik was just seven years old. Being orphaned at such a young age left its mark on the poet and the misery he felt ...
Born in Ghazni in the south of Afghanistan sometime during the eleventh century, Sanai is considered one of the most influential early mystics from the Persian region and author of The Walled Garden of Truth. Despite his strong influence not much is known about his life and much is gleaned from his poetry which is often autobiographical. His name is generally ...
Born around 1554 in the small village of Chandrahar in India, Habba Khatoon is remembered as one of the great mystic poets of her era and was called Zooni (translated as the moon) because of her great beauty. She is considered one of the great influences on Kashmiri culture and her songs and poetry are still popular within the region today. Unlike ...
The 19th century Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen was primarily an author of fairy tales and short stories for children, but he was also a renowned poet. He was feted in his own country and throughout Scandinavia. Once he had travelled further afield his fame and popularity grew even more and his name is now synonymous with children’s stories across every continent ...
Helen Maria Williams was a colourful character born in the 18th century who managed to stir up trouble for herself at almost every turn. Her considerable output of poetry and prose was often of a highly political nature, criticising the French government of Napoleon, supporting the revolutionaries during France’s Reign of Terror or making outspoken statements on the abolition of the slave ...
Haniel Long was an American writer known primarily for his prose writing but at least two collections of poetry were published under his name. He was also a teacher of English and contributor to a newspaper called The New Mexico Sentinel where he edited the writers’ page, thus continuing his efforts to encourage new writers. He had begun that task when he ...
