Richard Realf stands as one of the most enigmatic and poignant figures in nineteenth-century American poetry—a man whose extraordinary talents were matched only by the turbulence of his existence. Born on June 14, 1832, in the quiet village of Framfield in East Sussex, England, and dying by his own hand on October 28, 1878, in Oakland, California, Realf's forty-six years traced an arc of brilliance and despair, ideal…
“I have erred greatly in my life, and suffered greatly, but I have always been a servant and never a hireling of the truth.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Death & Mortality, Nature Poets, Political Poets, Social Justice Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Spirituality, Longing
Alan Seeger was born in New York City on 22 June 1888, into an American family whose comfort, education, and international connections gave him unusual freedom while also placing before him the question of what a privileged young man ought to do with his life. He died on 4 July 1916, age twenty-eight, in the Battle of the Somme while serving in the French Foreign Legion. In the years between those dates he became, in…
“The war has given me a new zest for life.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Death & Mortality, Edwardian Poets, Modernist Poets, War Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Wonder
