We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.
Poet, novelist and historian Arna Wendell Bontemps was born October 13th 1902 in Alexandria, Louisiana. His mother Maria Pembroke was a schoolteacher and his father Paul Bontemps was a bricklayer. His father was keen for Arna to follow him in the bricklaying trade but young Arna was determined to better himself and do well in school. Like many other black families migrating ...
American writer Edwin Arlington Robinson, born December 22nd 1869, seemed to have an unfortunate start to his life. It is said that his parents were so disappointed at not having a girl they couldn’t even think of a name for him when he was born, and instead his name was drawn out of a hat by tourists at a holiday resort. The ...
Of mixed race ancestry, Jean Toomer was born in 1894 and was seen as one of the most important proponents of modernism and a primer mover in the cultural movement the Harlem Renaissance of the time. Although his mother was white, his father’s history was steeped in the slave culture of 19th Century Georgia. In his early days, Toomer attended segregated ...
Born in 1819, American poet and critic James Russell Lowell was best known as one of the group of Fireside Poets which included such luminaries as Longfellow and Wendell Holmes. Raised in New England, Lowell went to Harvard and graduated in 1838, although he himself agreed that he was never a good student. In his last year there, he became editor ...
There is a little village called Slad which is nestled in the Cotswold Hills, close to the small town of Stroud in Gloucestershire. It was here that the poet Laurie Lee arrived with his family in 1917 and his life in this beautiful rural location inspired Lee to write, some 40 years later, his most famous work - Cider With Rosie. It’s ...
Born in 1927 in New York, American poet W. S. Merwin won over the public and critics alike throughout his career. His father was a minister and Merwin’s first contact with writing was copying out hymns but it was not until he went to university that he began to take an interest in poetry. He went to Princeton and graduated in 1948, ...
Born in 1794 in Massachusetts, William Cullen Bryant served as editor for the New York Evening Post for much of his life and was one of the most popular of the romantic poets to come out of America in the 19th Century. His celebrity was a rival to both Longfellow and Emerson whilst he was still in his youth. He was ...
Born around 1651 in Mexico, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was a poet, scholar and nun who is often referred to as the 10th muse. She grew up at a time when the country was still seen as part of Spain but has long been considered one of Mexico’s most influential poets, even though she lived ...
Born in 1913 in Cardiff, Welsh poet and fervent nationalist, R. S. Thomas wrote about his ideal of Wales and the role of the English in stripping it of its wild and natural essence. When Thomas was just 5, his family moved north to Holyhead where his father was stationed as a merchant seaman. In 1932 he studied at the ...
Robert Hayden was an American poet who rose from humble beginnings to the very pinnacle of his craft when, in 1976, he was appointed to the position of consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress. This appointment was later called Poet Laureate and, of particular note, Hayden was the first black American to achieve this honour. It was richly deserved though ...
