Philip Bourke Marston was born in London on 13 August 1850 and died there on 13 February 1887, only thirty-six years later. His short life was shaped by an unusually concentrated mixture of literary privilege, physical disability, bereavement, emotional intensity, and artistic determination. During his lifetime he was admired by prominent writers, including Algernon Charles Swinburne, and was known in literary circle…
“No poem gives me such an idea of the heartlessness of Nature. The poem is Death within and Summer without—light girdling darkness—and it leaves a picture and impression on the mind never to be effaced.”
Neighbourhood:
Death & Mortality, Love Poets, Pre-Raphaelite Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sorrow, Tenderness
In the annals of Victorian literature and art, few figures burn as brightly or as contradictorily as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882). Born Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti on May 12, 1828, in London, he would reverse his given names to honor the great Italian poet who profoundly influenced his work and worldview. A man of extraordinary artistic vision who helped revolutionize British poetry and painting, Rossetti em…
“The true poet is he who can give to common things an uncommon beauty.”
Neighbourhood:
Love Poets, Pre-Raphaelite Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Tenderness, Sorrow