Recent posts

Anne Bradstreet Poems

 

Although known as one of the first female writers to be published in the North America colonies, Anne Bradstreet was actually born in Northampton, England, in March 1612. Her father Thomas Dudley and mother, Dorothy Yorke, were able to afford a very good education for Anne and she was well tutored in languages, literature and history. At the age of sixteen she ...

Cecil Frances Alexander Poems

 

The work of Cecil Frances Alexander will be familiar to people all over the world. As one of Ireland’s foremost writers of hymns and poems she produced what is arguably one of the most famous and well-loved hymns of all time; All Things Bright and Beautiful. In April 1818 she was born in Dublin, the third daughter of land agent Major John Humphreys ...

Donald Hall Poems

 

Donald Hall is a multi-award winning poet, novelist and children’s writer, a sometime sports journalist and editor who has spent the best part of seventy years setting down his thoughts on subjects ranging from living the rural life in New England, baseball and relating the work we do to our contribution to society through that work. At a particularly tragic time in ...

Isaac Rosenberg Poems

 

The name of Isaac Rosenberg is one the famous 16 that is engraved on a slate stone that can be found in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey. This simple memorial is to commemorate noted poets of the First World War and was unveiled in 1985 on that significant date, 11 November. Isaac’s parents were of Russian descent but they had fled the anti-Jewish pogroms ...

George Herbert Poems

 

Born in Wales in 1593, George Herbert was an important figure in the world of poetry and an influence on the growth of the metaphysical movement that speculated on notions of love and religion. A gifted speaker and popular Anglican priest, he came from a well-to-do family who were interested and active in the arts. Although his father died when he ...

Brian Patten Poems

 

Brian Patten was born in Liverpool in 1946 and is famous for his lyrical poems that are aimed at children and adults. Growing up in a working class area of the city, like many of his compatriots he left school at the early age of fifteen, heading to work as a reporter in Bootle at the beginning of the 1960s. A ...

Ntozake Shange Poems

 

It has never been an easy ride for African-American people and for those growing up in the 1950s it was particularly hard. There was a lot of racial tension and discrimination to contend with and many found it extremely hard to cope with it. While some integrated, somehow, into predominantly white neighbourhoods, others found themselves segregated, both socially and economically. This happened ...

James Stephens Poems

 

The Irish poet and novelist James Stephens was born in Dublin in February 1880. His father, Francis Stephens, died two years later. The young lad was taken in by the Collins family, who his mother worked for and adopted by them but was largely living in an orphanage. Known by friends as Tiny Tim due to his small stature at the Meath ...

Louise Bogan Poems

 

Louise Bogan has been called by some critics the most accomplished woman poet of the twentieth century and one of the finest lyric poets America has produced. She was born in 1987 as Louise Marie Bogan to her parents who lived in Livermore Falls, MA in the United States. She was the product of a troubled marriage between her mother, Mary Helen Murphy ...

Matthew Arnold Poems

 

Born in 1822, poet Matthew Arnold is considered one of the major writers of the Victorian era. Over his life he was heavily involved in education as an inspector of schools and his works show a keen interest in addressing the social issues of the day. He was initially educated by his uncle before attending Winchester College and from there went ...