In 17th century England, coinciding with the Restoration of the monarchy, there were a number of artists and writers around and Aphra Behn stands out in this company. She was, most certainly one of the first female writers to make her mark in English literature. She wrote a number of plays, poems and novels and, perhaps shocking to society at that time, ...
Regarded by some as ‘the poet’s poet, Pulitzer prize-winning poet Donald Justice was revered by fellow writers for his mastery of precision and his ability to make every piece of writing vital. His poems tended to be short – forty lines or less. Justice once said: “one motive for much, if not all art is....to keep memorable what deserves to be remembered.” He was ...
If ever a poet could truly be described as ‘tortured’ then perhaps Charlotte Mew is that poet. She undoubtedly was the product of a family mired in mental illness. Two of her siblings were committed to mental institutions while another three siblings died in early childhood and so Charlotte and the only surviving sister, Anne, each decided to never marry for fear ...
Yunus Emre was a simple, devoutly religious Turkish poet and Sufi mystic whose life spanned both the 13th and 14th centuries. He made a point of writing, singing and speaking in the true Turkish language of the day rather than adopting the Persian or Arabic speech that was prevalent in his own country, particularly amongst the sophisticated. Sufis were Muslim mystics and ...
Born in 1926 in Austria, Ingeborg Bachmann was a poet and novelist who became one of the most important writers to emerge from post war Germany. She is perhaps best known for two collections of haunting poetry, Borrowed Time and Invocation of the Great Bear. An ardent anti-fascist who hated it when Hitler’s troops marched into her home town, her war ...
