John Davidson was born on 11 April 1857 in Barrhead, Renfrewshire, and died on 23 March 1909, or shortly thereafter, in the waters off Penzance, Cornwall. He was a Scottish poet, playwright, novelist, critic, journalist, and tireless literary experimenter whose work stands at a crucial threshold in British writing. In temperament and technique, he belonged neither wholly to the late Victorians nor wholly to the moder…
“Irony is the enigma within the enigma, the open secret, the only answer, the last word of philosophy, the nearest approach to truth; Irony affirms and delights in the whole.”
Neighbourhood:
Decadent Poets, Edwardian Poets, Love Poets, Pre-Raphaelite Poets, Scottish Poets, Symbolist Poets
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Wonder, Anger
William Bell Scott was born in Edinburgh on 12 September 1811, into a family in which art was both a livelihood and an atmosphere. He was the eldest surviving son of Robert Scott, an engraver of considerable skill and a man of strong intellectual interests, and Ross Bell Scott. The household was not wealthy, but it was rich in artistic ambition, professional discipline, books, conversation, and the practical awarenes…
“Tears and the beauty of art sanctify and elevate; the plain prose narrative cannot do so without intensified colour and varnish—rhetoric, in short.”
Neighbourhood:
Pre-Raphaelite Poets, Scottish Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Spirituality
