Often referred to as “Willie” Soutar, he was a renowned Scottish poet of the early 20th century who wrote in both English and a variant of the Scottish language called “Braid Scots”. Besides writing a great deal of standard form poetry Soutar was well known for his epigrams – short, often humorous or satirical statements that were written to engage a ...
Alice Meynell was an English poet who, following her marriage to a Catholic newspaper publisher and editor, followed in his line of work becoming a successful editor and critic in her own right. She came late to the world of published poetry; she was aged 28 before her first collection was seen. It was called Preludes and attracted the favourable attention of ...
Alice was the elder of the famous American Cary sisters who were so close that they wrote much of their poetry together during the19th century. They published their work jointly in the first instance but once the pair had established themselves as significant writers of that time they published separate collections and both went on to achieve success as individual writers despite ...
Born in Trieste in 1883, Umberto Saba was a poet and novel writer who would grow up to be one of the major Italian literary influences of the 20th Century. His father converted to Judaism to marry his mother shortly before Saba was born but was quick to abandon the family, leaving Saba to be brought up by a Catholic wet-nurse. This ...
Born in 1905 in Prague, Vladimir Holan was a Czechoslovakian poet noted for his abstract language and dark visions of the world. He spent much of his childhood outside the capital in the small town of Podoli where he would walk three miles to school every day to be instructed at an Augustan convent. The family returned to Prague when Holan was ...
