Robert Southey was born in Bristol on 12 August 1774 and died at Greta Hall, near Keswick in the Lake District, on 21 March 1843. During his lifetime he was among the most visible men of letters in Britain: a poet, historian, biographer, reviewer, editor, translator, political commentator, children’s writer, and, from 1813 until his death, Poet Laureate. Yet posterity has treated him unevenly. He is often remembered…
“It is something to be praised by one’s peers; ordinary praise I regard as little as ordinary abuse.”
Neighbourhood:
Hymn Writers, Nature Poets, Political Poets, Romantic Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Irony, Wonder
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was born on 27 July 1870 at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, near Paris, France, and died on 16 July 1953, eleven days before his eighty-third birthday. He was one of the most conspicuous, gifted, and divisive English-language writers of the first half of the twentieth century: a poet, essayist, historian, travel writer, novelist, political campaigner, Catholic apologist, journalist, and public…
“The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a good cigar, and a glass of wine.”
Neighbourhood:
Edwardian Poets, Light Verse Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Irony, Despair
