Alfred Noyes was born on 16 September 1880 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, and died on 25 June 1958 at his home on the Isle of Wight. During the first decades of the twentieth century he was among the best-known English poets in the world: a writer whose books sold widely, whose recitations drew large audiences, and whose poems entered schools, anthologies, music halls, and family memory. He was celebrated above all…
“Poetry, the most concentrated form of literature, gives so much in small space, and hence survives more vitally than other forms.”
Neighbourhood:
Edwardian Poets, Folk & Ballad Poets, Georgian Poets, Nature Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Tenderness
Henry Van Dyke was born on 10 November 1852 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, then a distinct community on the edge of Philadelphia and now part of the city. He died on 10 April 1933 in Princeton, New Jersey. During the eighty years between those dates, he became one of the most recognizable public literary figures in the United States: a Presbyterian minister, popular preacher, Princeton professor, poet, essayist, noveli…
“Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Devotional Poets, Hymn Writers, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Peace, Wonder, Sorrow
