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…
“What blockheads are those wise persons, who think it necessary that a child should comprehend everything it reads.”
Neighbourhood:
Hymn Writers, Nature Poets, Political Poets, Romantic Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Irony, Wonder
On a sweltering August evening in 1897, in a ramshackle laboratory in Secunderabad, India, a British army surgeon made a discovery that would save millions of lives. After dissecting his twentieth mosquito of the day, Ronald Ross finally observed what he had been seeking for years: the malarial parasite nestled within the insect's gut. That night, exhausted but exultant, he composed a poem celebrating his breakthroug…
“The mosquito is the most dangerous animal in the world.”
Neighbourhood:
Death & Mortality, Devotional Poets, Mystical & Spiritual Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Irony, Spirituality
