We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.
Joseph Campbell was a relatively obscure Irish poet born in the late 19th century whose first language was Gaelic. Writing primarily in his native language he did, however, translate traditional poems and songs into English and he became best known for writing the words to accompany two famous Irish airs: My Lagan Love and Gartan Mother's Lullaby. Additionally, some of his poetry was ...
Born in Lincoln in 1703, John Wesley is most famous for being the founding father of Methodism but is was also a prolific writer of both prose and poetry. Wesley is noted for his clear writing and spiritual simplicity, something he may well have inherited from his poet father. At the age of 20, he followed in his father’s footsteps by ...
Born in Roxburghshire in Scotland around 1700, James Thomson is best known for providing the lyrics for the patriotic song Rule, Britannia and his masterful series of four poems under the collected title of The Seasons. Though his life was cut short by an untimely illness, his works are still well remembered today and he is seen as one of the ...
Born in 1828, Henry Timrod was an American poet who was strongly linked to the Confederate cause during the Civil War, writing many verses such as A Cry to Arms that did much to encourage men to enlist as hostilities got underway. Born in Charleston in the American South, his father was an amateur poet who ran a book binding shop ...
More commonly known as Jim Morrison, this was one of the iconic figures of American rock music of the late 1960s. Morrison was singer and songwriter with The Doors and his cutting, powerful lyrics captivated his audiences. This was, as far as pop culture was concerned, a revolutionary time in America and Morrison tapped into that with a fervour and, sometimes, anger ...
Born in 1863 and largely raised in the United States, George Santayana was a philosopher, poet and writer of Spanish descent, a philosopher at heart who found great meaning in the literary world around him. Born in Madrid, Santayana spent his early days in the city before relocating to Boston to stay with his mother when he was nearly ten years ...
Born in 1914, Henry Reed was a prolific poet and writer, known mainly for his work Naming of Parts written during World War II when he served for a time at the cypher school at Bletchley Park. Reed was born and raised in Birmingham, initially attending King Edward VI School before attending the university and graduating with an MA. He would, ...
Idris Davies was a Welsh poet and teacher who originally wrote in the Welsh language but eventually switched to English. He wrote from a Socialist point of view and had struggled as a working man in the Welsh coalfields during the early 20th century, thus enabling him to write from personal, and sometimes bitter, experience. His work was much admired by another ...
Humbert Wolfe was Italian-born but spent most of his life in England. When his parents emigrated in 1891 the family adopted British nationality and Humbert grew up to become a distinguished poetry writing civil servant, He made such a mark in his government career that he was awarded first the CBE, and later a CB. Although dedicated to his job he found ...
George Crabbe was an English poet, clergyman, surgeon and entomologist who, with the help of some influential friends, established himself as a writer of substance. His work was not, at first, popular but with subsequent revisions, and the patronage of well-known literary figures such as Edmund Burke, Samuel Johnson and William Wordsworth (and many others), Crabbe made his mark as ...
