On a cold November morning in 1861, Julia Ward Howe awoke in her room at Willard's Hotel in Washington, D.C., with verses forming in her mind. She had visited Union Army camps the previous day, witnessing thousands of soldiers preparing for battle while singing "John Brown's Body." Now, in the pre-dawn darkness, words came to her with unusual clarity and force. Rising quietly so as not to disturb her sleeping childre…
“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Devotional Poets, Hymn Writers, Political Poets, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Irony, Sorrow, Spirituality
Ivan Andreyevich Krylov, born on 13 February 1769 and dead on 21 November 1844, occupies a singular place in Russian literature: he is at once a classic author taught to children, a master satirist quoted by politicians and journalists, and a poet whose compact animal tales preserve an unusually sharp view of human weakness. To call him merely “the Russian Aesop,” as generations of readers have done, is useful but in…
“Sergey Nikolayevich, there are not many of us old acquaintances left now.”
Neighbourhood:
Children's Verse, Folk & Ballad Poets, Light Verse Poets, Social Justice Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Irony, Longing
