The Polish-Lithuanian Adam Mickiewicz is still regarded by many Polish people as their national poet even though he died in 1855. Such was his reputation throughout the Slavic countries that monuments were erected in his honour in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. He is also known as Adomas Bernardas Mickevicius which is the Lithuanian equivalent. He was a prolific writer of poetry ...
Alan Seeger had only a short life. He was an idealist with, some might say, an unrealistically romantic view of death. He wrote a poem, which has become his most famous piece of work, called I Have a Rendezvous with Death. We will never know if he really and truly believed these words at the time that he wrote it but ...
Born in Essex in 1906, Kathleen Raine was a poet and critic whose work had a profoundly spiritual sense that encompassed all forms of belief including Plato, Jesus and Buddha. Her time spent in Northumberland during World War I was a formative part of her life, as were the Scottish ballads and poems that were handed down to her by her ...
Romanian poet and writer Mihai Eminescu was born in 1850 in Moldavia. He was one of the most prolific and popular poets of his age, publishing his first poem when he was only 16. His enduring masterpiece is considered to be the work Luceafărul or The Evening Star. Born into a wealthy family, Eminescu attended school in Cernauti and wrote a poem ...
In 17th century England, coinciding with the Restoration of the monarchy, there were a number of artists and writers around and Aphra Behn stands out in this company. She was, most certainly one of the first female writers to make her mark in English literature. She wrote a number of plays, poems and novels and, perhaps shocking to society at that time, ...
Regarded by some as ‘the poet’s poet, Pulitzer prize-winning poet Donald Justice was revered by fellow writers for his mastery of precision and his ability to make every piece of writing vital. His poems tended to be short – forty lines or less. Justice once said: “one motive for much, if not all art is....to keep memorable what deserves to be remembered.” He was ...
If ever a poet could truly be described as ‘tortured’ then perhaps Charlotte Mew is that poet. She undoubtedly was the product of a family mired in mental illness. Two of her siblings were committed to mental institutions while another three siblings died in early childhood and so Charlotte and the only surviving sister, Anne, each decided to never marry for fear ...
Yunus Emre was a simple, devoutly religious Turkish poet and Sufi mystic whose life spanned both the 13th and 14th centuries. He made a point of writing, singing and speaking in the true Turkish language of the day rather than adopting the Persian or Arabic speech that was prevalent in his own country, particularly amongst the sophisticated. Sufis were Muslim mystics and ...
Born in 1926 in Austria, Ingeborg Bachmann was a poet and novelist who became one of the most important writers to emerge from post war Germany. She is perhaps best known for two collections of haunting poetry, Borrowed Time and Invocation of the Great Bear. An ardent anti-fascist who hated it when Hitler’s troops marched into her home town, her war ...
St John of the Cross began his life in humble circumstances in mediaeval Spain but became a renowned mystical philosopher and a great poet while striving to keep the Carmelite Order of monks intact. The middle of the 16th century saw turbulent times all over Europe and catholic priests and other holy men were, in particular, often persecuted. He was imprisoned for ...
