We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.
Thomas Hood was a British poet, journalist and humorist and his often irreverent, satirical style of writing almost seems out of place for the time in which he lived. If you can imagine transporting the 20th Century writers of Private Eye or Punch back to the early 19th century then you would get some idea of Hood’s modus operandi. He made fun ...
Poet Tony Harrison was born in Leeds in the UK in 1937 and is noted for controversial works such as V that was criticized for its excessive profanity when aired on television. He is recognized as a film and theater poet, a writer from a working class background who has a strong grounding in the classics. Tony Harrison grew up on the ...
Musician, poet, and writer Sidney Lanier was born in Georgia in 1842 and is considered one of the greatest poets produced by the South in the 19th Century. Born into a family that was steeped in Southern traditions and writing, he went to Oglethorpe College where he distinguished himself during his time there, particularly in the arena of debate. He wanted to ...
The 20th century was not an easy time to be a writer in Central and Eastern Europe and Wisława Szymborska struggled along with many of her Polish compatriots. Yet, somehow, she survived the worst of times and survived to a ripe old age, seeing her country transformed and gradually brought out of the pit that represented the dark days of Communism into ...
Although well known as an English poet, who burst onto the popular scene around the 1960s and 1970s, Adrian Henri was also an artist whose work was exhibited at galleries both during his lifetime and after his death. He was fortunate to study art at Kings College, Newcastle under such noted tutors as Lawrence Gowring, Roger de Gray and Richard Hamilton. It ...
Stevie Smith was one of England’s best loved poets throughout the 20th century and one critic declared that her collection Not Waving, But Drowning, which came out in 1957, was actually the best to appear that year. She had a unique style that had a lot to do with never reading the work of her contemporaries. She enjoyed the older stuff like ...
When most people think of Leonard Cohen they see a moody, gravel-voiced singer-songwriter whose on stage performances have drawn millions around the world since the 1970s and who possesses an enviable back catalogue of album releases. But, like anyone with his talent, he is not just a musician but is also a poet and a novelist. His poetry, like his songs, can ...
Born in 1749, Charlotte Smith was a writer who was most well known for her romantic sonnets. Indeed, she can perhaps be rightly called the first of the romantic poets, influencing those who followed, including William Wordsworth. Outspoken for the time, she once described her early marriage as nothing more than prostitution, but although it was not the happiest of ...
Mention the name Dante and most people think of his Inferno or the complete poetic works that fell under the title Divine Comedy. His real name was Durante degli Alighier, he was one of the most influential poets of the Middle Ages, and his Comedy remains one of the seminal literary works in history. Born around 1265 in Italy, Dante was raised ...
Anyone who has heard the hymn Amazing Grace sung either in a stadium or in church will know the work of poet John Newton who was born in London in 1725. Son of a merchant seaman and trader, he worked aboard slave ships in Africa and the West Indies before becoming an abolitionist in later life. Newton lost his mother to tuberculosis ...
