Born in 1544 in the Italian city of Sorrento, poet Torquato Tasso is perhaps most well-known for his work Jerusalem Delivered which presented a mythical account of the First Crusade. Often noted as one of the most popularly read poets in Europe, Tasso suffered from mental health problems throughout his life. His father was a famous lyric poet from noble birth and ...
Mostly known for his novels, writer Raymond Queneau was also an accomplished poet who was born in Le Havre in 1903. An only child, he was well educated and studied the classics and philosophy before going onto the Sorbonne in 1921 where he graduated in psychology and philosophy. He would, however, begin a lifelong love of mathematics, something he would increasingly ...
Miguel de Unamuno was a celebrated Spanish writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who grew up believing that he would become a Catholic priest. Falling in love with, and marrying, his childhood sweetheart put paid to that idea so Unamuno poured all his energies into writing poetry, novels and plays. His poetry though did not appear until he had ...
Kenneth Fearing was an American poet and novelist whose short life spanned the first half of the 20th century. This was a turbulent time in American history and one literary critic described Fearing as "the chief poet of the American Depression." Along with his poetry and fiction publications he was one of the founders of the long running magazine “The Partisan Review” ...
Mark Van Doren was a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose considerable writing output included some twenty volumes of original verse. His first collection, Spring Thunder, was not published until he was aged 30. He was also a literary critic and anthologist and one of his most celebrated pieces of work was originally called The Noble Voice, published in 1946. In it he reviewed ...
