Ann Radcliffe was a late 18th/early 19th century English writer who lived a somewhat reclusive life, to the extent that very little has been written about her. It has been said that she was one of the pioneers of the “gothic novel”. Others had written in this style before her but she had a way of explaining the supernatural as, in general ...
Born in Plymouth in the South of England in 1840, poet Henry Austin Dobson became one of the most distinguished writers of the 19th Century with works such as At the Sign of the Lyre as well as a series of later biographies of influential writers. His father was an engineer with French ancestry and the family moved to Anglesey in ...
Born in 1885 in Elgin, Scotland, Andrew Young was a poet and minister who, while less well known than some of his literary peers, produced a large body of work that has appeared in several anthologies over the years. His father was a station master and the family moved to Edinburgh when Young was only two years old. After going to Gillespie’s ...
Poet, critic and writer Andrew Lang was born in Selkirk in 1844 and had many interests that ranged from folklore and psychic phenomena to the Greek classics and journalism. Although not coming from an exceedingly well to do family for the time, and being the oldest child of eight, Lang did benefit from a good education and went onto become one ...
Born in 1769 in Norwich, writer Ameila Opie was perhaps best known for her prose work but also published a number of individual poems and collections during her lifetime. She was brought up in a reasonably affluent family, her father was a physician and her cousin a prominent judge in the region. She was a fervently political individual at a time ...
Born in 1907 in the Snowy Mountain region of New South Wales, Alec Derwent Hope was a prolific Australian poet and satirical writer. His father was a minister and the young Hope spent his education at Fort Street School for Boys in Sydney and then moved on to take a BA at the nearby university. After winning a scholarship, Hope found ...
Vitezslav Nezval was a Czech born writer of the 20th century who became known as one of the leading surrealist poets of his time. During the 1920s and 1930s his writing output was considerable and he made a point of travelling to Paris as often as possible so that he could exchange his ideas with French surrealist poets. In 1934 he set ...
William Brighty Rands was an English writer of the 19th century who specialised in writing for children. For some time he was a chapel preacher and wrote a number of inspirational, original hymns that have been included in Congregational hymn books. He was a shy, sometimes eccentric, man who clearly didn’t actively seek fame and fortune as a poet and novelist, as ...
Witter Bynner lived the Bohemian lifestyle as a poet in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. He alternated his time between east and west coasts, writing and seeking out the company of well-known literary figures and movie stars of the day. He also travelled extensively in Europe and Asia, becoming an avid student and translator of ancient ...
The 18th century English romantic poet Ann Yearsley was remarkable in that she had no education to speak of, having grown up in a fairly rustic environment, and yet she was one of the most accomplished, working class female poets of her day. She married a yeoman farmer and worked as a milkmaid on the farm but, despite these humble beginnings, she ...
