Charles Kingsley was born on 12 June 1819 at Holne, a village on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, into a family whose circumstances, movements, religious commitments, and imaginative habits all helped to shape his career. He became one of the most conspicuous Victorian public intellectuals: an Anglican clergyman, novelist, poet, historian, lecturer, social reformer, controversialist, and writer for children. In his own…
“The men whom I have seen succeed best in life have always been cheerful and hopeful men.”
Neighbourhood:
Children's Verse, Nature Poets, Social Justice Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sorrow, Despair
Ivan Andreyevich Krylov, born on 13 February 1769 and dead on 21 November 1844, occupies a singular place in Russian literature: he is at once a classic author taught to children, a master satirist quoted by politicians and journalists, and a poet whose compact animal tales preserve an unusually sharp view of human weakness. To call him merely “the Russian Aesop,” as generations of readers have done, is useful but in…
“Only those are worthy of love who carry within themselves the reason for being loved.”
Neighbourhood:
Children's Verse, Folk & Ballad Poets, Light Verse Poets, Social Justice Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Irony, Longing