In the pantheon of American letters, Thomas Bailey Aldrich occupies a curious position—neither forgotten nor fully celebrated, he stands as a bridge figure between the rough-hewn democracy of antebellum American literature and the refined aestheticism that would characterize the Gilded Age. Born into a nation still finding its literary voice and dying in an America confidently asserting its cultural sophistication, A…
“When the novelist introduces a bore into his novel he must not let him bore the reader.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Edwardian Poets, Love Poets, Nature Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Peace
Andrew Barton Paterson, known to generations of readers as “Banjo” Paterson, was born on 17 February 1864 at Narrambla station, near Orange in New South Wales. He died in Sydney on 5 February 1941, twelve days short of his seventy-seventh birthday. Between those dates he became one of the most familiar literary voices in Australia: poet, journalist, solicitor, war correspondent, editor, soldier, horseman, storyteller…
“Our ruined rhymes are not likely to last long, but if there is any hope at all of survival it comes from the fact that such writers as Lawson and myself had the advantage of writing in a new country.”
Neighbourhood:
Folk & Ballad Poets, Nature Poets, Poet-Musicians
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Joy, Irony