On the fifth of January 1885, in the bustling commercial heart of Milan, a child was born who would become one of Britain's most popular poets of the 1920s, yet whose name today is remembered primarily for a single, sardonic epigram. Humbert Wolfe was born as Umberto Wolff in Milan, Italy, to Martin Wolff, a German Jewish merchant, and Consuela Terraccini, an Italian Jew. This dual heritage, straddling Germanic and M…
“You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.”
Neighbourhood:
Edwardian Poets, Georgian Poets, Modernist Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Spirituality, Sorrow
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 at 21 Westland Row in Dublin, Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom. He entered a household unusually rich in learning, performance, controversy, and public ambition. His father, Sir William Wilde, was an eminent surgeon specializing in diseases of the eye and ear, a respected medical writer, antiquarian, and collector of Irish folklore. His mother,…
“Nobody is incapable of doing a foolish thing. Nobody is incapable of doing a wrong thing.”
Neighbourhood:
Decadent Poets, Irish Poets, LGBTQ+ Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Sorrow
