John McCrae was born on 30 November 1872 in Guelph, Ontario, then a prosperous and growing town in Canada’s province of Ontario. He died on 28 January 1918 at Wimereux, France, before the war that made his name famous had ended. In the short span between those dates, he became several things at once: physician, medical teacher, pathologist, soldier, officer, friend, and poet. To later generations he is overwhelmingly…
“I am really rather afraid, but more afraid to stay at home with my conscience.”
Neighbourhood:
Death & Mortality, Devotional Poets, Edwardian Poets, Nature Poets, War Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Longing
Rupert Chawner Brooke was born on 3 August 1887 at 5 Hillmorton Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, into a family for whom learning, public service, religion, and the traditions of English education were central facts of life. He died on 23 April 1915, aged only twenty-seven, on the Greek island of Skyros while serving with the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. In the short interval between those dates, Brooke became…
“A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years.”
Neighbourhood:
Edwardian Poets, Georgian Poets, War Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Spirituality
