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 ...
St John of the Cross began his life in humble circumstances in mediaeval Spain but became a renowned mystical philosopher and a great poet while striving to keep the Carmelite Order of monks intact. The middle of the 16th century saw turbulent times all over Europe and catholic priests and other holy men were, in particular, often persecuted. He was imprisoned for ...
The relatively short life of Richard Lovelace could be summed up as follows: he was a Royalist, fiercely loyal to his King during the Civil War, but he found little time or opportunity to be an effective soldier. He spent much of his time on the composition of songs and romantic poems, and was usually to be found somewhere on the family ...
Born in 1402, before the Spanish conquest of Mexico, Nezahualcoyotl was the ruler of Texcoco and also a poet, philosopher and builder of great renown. He was raised as heir to the throne of Texcoco but when he was 15 the kingdom was overthrown and Nezahualcoyotl was forced into exile. He later returned in 1428 with an army of over 10,000 soldiers ...
Ono no Komachi was born in 825 and her name is synonymous with beauty even today in modern Japan. She was a waka poet and is listed amongst the 36 immortals of poetry in Japan, those who wrote during the Nara, Asuka and Heian periods. Her poetry was often passionate and generally erotic, and was thought to eclipse the work ...
