William Philpot was born on 16 April 1823 and died on 16 April 1889, completing a life of exactly sixty-six years. His career belongs to the enormous, uneven, and still incompletely recovered field of nineteenth-century poetry: the work of writers who published in small editions, contributed to local or denominational periodicals, read before societies, circulated manuscripts among friends, or gained recognition with…
“A large part of life is, or ought to be, spent in making up our imperfections and redeeming old mistakes.”
Neighbourhood:
Devotional Poets, Victorian Poets, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sorrow, Despair
Francis William Bourdillon, born on 22 March 1852 and dead on 13 January 1921, occupies an unusual position in English literary history. He is remembered by many readers, often without recognition of his name, for a single exquisite lyric: “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes.” Its opening contrast—“The night has a thousand eyes, / And the day but one”—has passed into common literary memory, quoted in anthologies, schoolro…
Neighbourhood:
Love Poets, Nature Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Longing, Tenderness