Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in a modest farmhouse in West Hills, on Long Island, New York, into a working-class family that embodied the restless energy and struggles of early America. He was the second of nine children born to Walter Whitman, a carpenter and farmer of English descent who wrestled with financial instability, and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, whose Dutch heritage brought a touch of earthy prac…
“Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, LGBTQ+ Poets, Nature Poets, Political Poets, Social Justice Poets, Transcendentalists
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Wonder, Longing
In the pantheon of Victorian literature, where names like Tennyson, Browning, and Christina Rossetti shine brightest, the figure of Mathilde Blind occupies a curious position—both central and marginal, celebrated and forgotten. Born into revolution and raised in exile, Blind carved out a unique space in the literary landscape of nineteenth-century Britain as a poet, translator, and pioneering feminist voice. Her life…
“Indeed, most of our knowledge comes to us second-hand, through the medium of men with their cut-and-dried theories as to what women are or ought to be.”
Neighbourhood:
Political Poets, Pre-Raphaelite Poets, Victorian Poets, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sorrow, Tenderness
