Robert William Service was born on 16 January 1874 in Preston, Lancashire, England, and died on 11 September 1958 at Lancieux, in Brittany, France. Few poets have occupied quite the cultural territory that Service came to possess. He was not, by his own candid admission, a poet of intricate philosophical argument or formal innovation. He called much of what he wrote “verse” rather than “poetry,” a distinction that re…
“I am an average sort of person who doesn't take anything seriously, least of all himself.”
Neighbourhood:
Edwardian Poets, Folk & Ballad Poets, Nature Poets, Scottish Poets
Emotional landscape: Fear, Despair, Sorrow
James Stephens, born on 2 February 1882 and dead on 26 December 1950, occupies an unusual and still slightly elusive place in Irish literature. He was a poet, novelist, storyteller, essayist, translator, broadcaster, and tireless performer of his own work; he belonged to the generation of the Irish Literary Revival, yet he never fitted comfortably into the movement’s principal categories. He was not, like W. B. Yeats…
“The poet is a person who is always in love with something.”
Neighbourhood:
Georgian Poets, Irish Poets, Mystical & Spiritual Poets, Nature Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Peace
