Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio was born near Florence in 1313 and was one of the leading lights of the Renaissance, popular for the realism he brought to his verse compared to some of his contemporaries. His father was a merchant, and Boccaccio grew up in a privileged family, learning about and influenced by the works of Dante at an early age. Although ...
Born at the end of the tenth century in the Heian period, Izumi Shikibu was a Japanese poet who was from an influential family in Echizen. Shikibu was part of a group of Japanese poets who were known as the 36 Immortals, selected from the three main periods of poetry by Fujiwara no Kinto. She is well-known for her romantic and ...
Born in Egypt in 1888, Giuseppe Ungaretti was one of the most influential Italian poets of the last century helping to develop the writing style that was known as Hermeticism, which grew out of the Symbolist school of thought. His first work of published poetry was produced whilst he was on the front line of World War I, fighting in the ...
Born in 1849 in New York, Emma Lazarus is perhaps best known for providing the poem adorning the plaque at the bottom of the Empire State Building, entitled The New Colossus. From a wealthy Jewish background, she was a precocious child who was largely tutored at home. Taking an interest in literature and poetry from early on, she also learned several ...
The poet who became known as Kobayashi Issa was a Japanese exponent of the Haiku form of short poetry. He learned this form at school in Tokyo under master teachers Sogan and Chikua. The basic element of this form of poetry is that the writer is able to cleverly capture a specific image or feeling using sensory language. This might be inspired ...
