William Bell Scott was born in Edinburgh on 12 September 1811, into a family in which art was both a livelihood and an atmosphere. He was the eldest surviving son of Robert Scott, an engraver of considerable skill and a man of strong intellectual interests, and Ross Bell Scott. The household was not wealthy, but it was rich in artistic ambition, professional discipline, books, conversation, and the practical awarenes…
“I come to the conviction that autobiographic writings may be instructive to others; not to the writers.”
Neighbourhood:
Pre-Raphaelite Poets, Scottish Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Spirituality
Francis Sylvester Mahony was born in Cork, Ireland, on 31 December 1805, and died in Paris on 18 May 1866. He is remembered under the name “Father Prout,” the comic clerical persona through which he produced some of the most ingenious literary journalism of the nineteenth century. Yet the witty priest of Watergrasshill, the supposed author of multilingual songs, mock-antiquarian discoveries, and extravagant literary…
“a rare combination of the Teian lyre and the Irish bagpipe; of the Ionian dialect, blending harmoniously with the Cork brogue; an Irish potato seasoned with Attic salt.”
Neighbourhood:
Irish Poets, Light Verse Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Joy