William Ernest Henley was born on 23 August 1849 in Gloucester, England, and died on 11 July 1903 at Woking, Surrey. He occupies an unusual place in English literary history: widely remembered by the public for a single short poem, “Invictus,” yet far more consequential in his own age as a poet, editor, critic, journalist, dramatist, and formidable presence in literary society. Henley’s life was shaped by physical pa…
“The more clearly he sees a thing the better he sings it; and provided that he do see it nothing is beneath the caress of his muse.”
Neighbourhood:
Confessional Poets, Death & Mortality, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Longing
Henry Scott Holland was born on 27 January 1847 at Ledbury, Herefordshire, into a world of Anglican privilege, classical education, and public duty. He died on 17 March 1918 in Oxford, at the close of a life spent attempting to make Christianity answerable to the moral crises of modern society. He was not, in the ordinary sense, a poet: he did not build his reputation through volumes of verse, nor did he belong to th…
“Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so well together is untouched, unchanged.”
Neighbourhood:
Devotional Poets, Hymn Writers, Mystical & Spiritual Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Peace, Spirituality, Tenderness
