The story of James Elroy Flecker is one of brilliant promise cut tragically short, of a poet who sought to recapture the lush exoticism and sensuous beauty of the Romantics in an age growing increasingly modernist and austere. Born Herman Elroy Flecker on November 5, 1884, in Lewisham, London, he would live only thirty years before tuberculosis claimed him, yet in that brief span he created a body of work that contin…
“It is not the poet's business to save man's soul, but to make it worth saving.”
Neighbourhood:
Decadent Poets, Dramatic Poets, Edwardian Poets, Georgian Poets, Love Poets, Symbolist Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sorrow, Wonder
In the brief span of twenty-seven years, Georg Trakl created a body of work that would forever alter the landscape of German-language poetry. His verses, saturated with autumnal imagery, spiritual anguish, and apocalyptic visions, emerged from the twilight of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and spoke to a civilization on the brink of collapse. Today, he stands as one of the most enigmatic and influential poets of early t…
“The darkness outside is only a shadow of the inner night.”
Neighbourhood:
German Romantics, Modernist Poets, Symbolist Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Longing