Sydney Thompson Dobell was born on 5 April 1824 at Cranbrook in Kent, into a family whose circumstances placed him close to the commercial and dissenting middle-class culture of provincial England rather than to the aristocratic literary world. His father, Thomas Dobell, was a wine merchant, and the business of buying, selling, accounting, travelling, and maintaining credit would remain an important fact of Sydney’s…
“The self-knowledge which refuses a flattering opportunity, when it comes under circumstances which do not ensure that it shall be successfully accepted, is among the most valuable of talents.”
Neighbourhood:
Romantic Poets, Social Justice Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Longing, Spirituality
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 at 21 Westland Row in Dublin, Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom. He entered a household unusually rich in learning, performance, controversy, and public ambition. His father, Sir William Wilde, was an eminent surgeon specializing in diseases of the eye and ear, a respected medical writer, antiquarian, and collector of Irish folklore. His mother,…
“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live. It is asking other people to live as one wishes to live.”
Neighbourhood:
Decadent Poets, Irish Poets, LGBTQ+ Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Sorrow
