Louis Untermeyer was an American poet, anthologist and literary critic who, in 1961, was granted the honour of being the nation’s 14th Poet Laureate in recognition of his lifetime’s work. He held this post for two years despite receiving unfavourable government attention at various times during his life due to his occasional Marxist proclamations and being a contributor to such left-wing publications ...
Lawrence Durrell was a 20th century writer who considered himself to be more Tibetan than anything else, having been born in the foothills of the Himalayas. His most famous publication was The Alexandria Quartet and he also produced a considerable amount of poetry and travelogues. He spent many years working for the British Foreign Office at a variety of postings around the ...
One of the most prominent and best loved poets of Elizabethan times, Michael Drayton was born in Warwickshire in 1563. Although not much is known of his youth in the village of Hartshills, many academics have surmised that he went to Oxford at some point and that he was, for a while, in the service of one Thomas Goodere. Historically, Drayton only ...
Born around 1520 in Lyon at the height of the Renaissance, Louise Labe was a female poet who wrote honestly about desire and eroticism, producing a small but enduring collection of sonnets which set her apart as a remarkable writer for the times. Brought up in a rich family – her father was a rope maker and she herself is often ...
Nicknamed ‘Bosie’, English poet and author Lord Alfred Douglas was born in 1870 in Worcestershire and is most notable for his relationship with literary giant Oscar Wilde that led to the Irish writer’s imprisonment. Brought up in a well-to-do family, Douglas attended school in Wokingham, went on to Winchester College and then entered Oxford but failed to graduate with ...
