English writer Vera Brittain is probably known best for her novel, which was called Testament of Youth, about her experiences during the WW1 which brought about her belief in pacifism and the tragic futility of war. She was born on December 29th 1893 in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire, the daughter of well-off parents who owned several paper mills. She had a younger brother, Edward. The family moved ...
Robert Desnos was one of a group of surrealist poets who were around in the early part of the 20th century. His contemporaries included Paul Éluard and Louis Aragon and it wasÉluard who delivered a passionate address following the death of Desnos in 1945. His speech included the following tributes: "Until death, Desnos struggled. Throughout his poems the idea of freedom runs like ...
Mina Loy was an English-born writer, artist and actor whose modernist style was much admired by contemporaries such as Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound. She was part of the “first modernist set” and received greater recognition for her poetry after her death than when she was alive. She led a bohemian lifestyle and her direct and ...
Kenneth Koch was a multi award winning writer who spent a good deal of his working life in New York City. He was a poet, playwright, novelist and musical composer and he dedicated much of his time to the New York School of Poetry where he exchanged ideas with fellow poets and taught up and coming writers all he knew about the ...
Born in Lancashire in 1859, Francis Thompson was a colorful character best known for his poem The Hound of Heaven. He spent a period of time as a vagrant and opium addict and even attempted to commit suicide before getting his life back together at a priory in Storrington. Even though he discovered some success with his poetry in later years, ...
