Myra Viola Wilds, born about 1880 and believed to have died about 1935, occupies an unusual and moving place in the history of American poetry. Her surviving reputation rests principally on a single small book, Thoughts of Idle Hours, published in 1915, yet the modest scale of that achievement should not obscure its significance. Wilds was a Kentucky-born poet, a dressmaker, a woman with limited formal education, and…
“Every line and verse in this little volume has been composed and written with my own hand notwithstanding the loss of my eyesight.”
Neighbourhood:
African American Poets, American Poets, Harlem Renaissance, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Peace, Spirituality
In the annals of Spanish literature, few figures burn as brightly or cast as haunting a shadow as Federico García Lorca (1898-1936). A poet, playwright, and theatrical director whose life was cut tragically short at the age of 38, Lorca embodied the creative ferment of early 20th-century Spain while giving voice to the deepest currents of human passion, death, and desire. His work, saturated with the rhythms of Andal…
“A poet must be a professor of the five senses.”
Neighbourhood:
Dramatic Poets, LGBTQ+ Poets, Modernist Poets, Poet-Musicians
Emotional landscape: Longing, Despair, Sorrow
