Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi, born on 1 December 1875 and died on 29 July 1945, occupies a foundational place in isiXhosa literature and in the intellectual history of South Africa. Poet, novelist, journalist, teacher, editor, translator, cultural historian, and public orator, he was much more than a writer in the narrow modern sense. He belonged to the lineage of the imbongi, the Xhosa praise poet whose task was to re…
“In those six years I learned much respecting Xhosa life, including the refinements of Xhosa language. If I had not been at Kentani for those six years, it seems to me as if I would not have been any help to my nation.”
Neighbourhood:
African American Poets, Mystical & Spiritual Poets, Political Poets, Social Justice Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Longing
Alfred Joyce Kilmer was born on 6 December 1886 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, into a household in which intellectual seriousness and artistic feeling were not opposites but companion forces. His father, Frederick Barnett Kilmer, was a physician, analytical chemist, and later a leading scientific figure at Johnson & Johnson; his work helped establish standards for pharmaceutical and consumer-health products in an era…
“The Catholic Church is the only thing that makes life worth living.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Death & Mortality, Devotional Poets, War Poets
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Wonder, Peace
