In the pantheon of American literary history, few figures embody the contradictions and complexities of the twentieth century quite like Claude McKay. Born Festus Claudius McKay on September 15, 1890, in the verdant hills of Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, this poet, novelist, and essayist would become one of the most powerful voices of the Harlem Renaissance, despite spending much of his life in restless exile from the m…
“I felt assurance that If We Must Die was just what I intended it to be, a universal poem.”
Neighbourhood:
African American Poets, Harlem Renaissance, Political Poets, Social Justice Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sorrow, Spirituality
In the rolling hills and misty valleys of Shropshire, where ancient folklore mingles with the rhythms of rural life, Mary Gladys Webb crafted some of the most evocative prose and poetry of the early twentieth century. Born on March 25, 1881, in the village of Leighton-under-the-Wrekin, and dying tragically young at forty-six on October 8, 1927, Webb compressed into her brief life an extraordinary literary legacy that…
“The love of nature is a passion for those in whom it once lodges. It can never be quenched. It cannot change. It is a furious, burning, physical greed, as well as a state of mystical exaltation.”
Neighbourhood:
Edwardian Poets, Nature Poets, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Sorrow
