Here’s What People Are Saying About World-Famous Poets
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The
valiant never taste of death but once.” – William
Shakespeare
The absence of Shakespeare in the literature world is like having a garden without flowers. Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor born in Stratford in 1564. Stratford and London were central to Shakespeare's life. Since there is minimal information concerning the birth, life, and death of Shakespeare, it is reasonable to assume he went to school in Stratford. He acquired a solid understanding of Latin and Greek, in addition to English. Known for his 38 plays and 154 sonnets, the world’s most successful playwright, poet, and writer of English literature, William Shakespeare is the national poet of England and the Bard of Avon.
A teenager, Shakespeare was married at the age of eighteen to the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway. In May 1583, Susanna was born to the couple, and a few years after they had twins, a girl, and a boy, he went to London and established himself there. In London, he became both wealthy and well-known as an actor, playwright, and partner of a leading acting company. In no time, he had become a leading member of a theatrical company. In fact, he doesn't seem interested in printing or publishing his work. The books were published 7 years after his death by his friends.
The plays Shakespeare wrote were performed extensively in
every major language in the world and translated into almost every major
language and dialect of the world. Plays by this literary genius have covered a
wide variety of genres including comedy, romance, tragedy, and history. Shakespeare
wrote sonnets, which are poems that deal with a variety of topics. The most
famous sonnet written by William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, is considered one of the most famous sonnets of all
time. “Venus and Adonis” and “The
Rape of Lucrece” is Shakespeare's earliest poem.
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
“Two roads
diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made
all the difference”-Robert Frost
Mostly known as Robert Frost, Robert Lee Frost was born in the Californian city of San Francisco on the 26th of March, 1874. As a teacher and as a journalist, his father was an influential figure for him in the field of writing. After living in England from 1912-1915, he returned to the U.S. and devoted himself to teaching and writing poetry. He is considered one of the greatest American poets, and his poetic style is characterized by simple form, gentle irony, and deep humanity. Readers from around the world recognize and appreciate Robert Frost's poetry.
A well-known poet of the 20th century, Frost captured the imagination of many readers. Throughout Robert Frost's life, he experienced numerous disasters: the early death of his father, then the passing of both of his children, suffering financial loss. The barriers he faced could not overshadow the quality of his writing. The first poem he published, "My Butterfly: An Elegy," came out in 1894. Literature was enriched by Frost's writings. Though he lived a traumatic life, he developed a reputation as a literary man due to his thoughtful and creative writing.
The US Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to Frost by John F. Kennedy in 1960 for his contribution to American culture. Four of Frost's poetry collections won the Pulitzer prizes in 1924, 1931, 1937, and 1943. His poetry clearly demonstrates his writing talent, with elegant yet sharp words, powerful metaphors, and soothing rhymes. He is best known for his poems "The Gift Outright," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," "Birches," "Mending Wall," "The Road Not Taken," and "Nothing Gold Can Stay." The prostatic surgery he underwent in January 1963 resulted in Frost's death. A gravestone in the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington bears his final resting place.
Courtesy Poetry Foundation
PB Shelley (1792-1822)
“O, wind, if winter
comes, can spring be far behind?” - PB Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was a prominent
English Romantic poet and one of the most well-known and influential poets of
the 19th century with his long-form lyrical verse. Born on August 4, 1792, he
was the eldest son of his parents Timothy Shelley and Elizabeth Pilfold. The
boy grew up in the English countryside, near a village called, Horsham. The
fact that he lived in the countryside allowed him a chance to go fishing and
hunting. Besides seeing the fields and rivers in their natural state, he also
saw them in their natural habitat
In 1804, he enrolled at Eton College and then went to Oxford University. During his time at Eton, he wrote poetry, but his first successful publication was a Gothic novel titled “Zastrozzi” (1810), which was a commentary on his own heretical and atheistic opinions expressed through the antagonist Zastrozzi. In his political philosophies, Shelley was influenced by Rousseau, Paine, Duncan, Godwin, Wollstonecraft, and Leigh Hunt.
In Shelley's view, poetry is the expression of imagination. Therefore, it is impossible to create poetry without inspiration. A lot of the concepts he expresses in his poetry reflect passion, beauty, imagination, love, and creativity, as well as liberty and nature. The poet Shelley deeply believed in the realization of human happiness due to his sensitivity and the qualities of hope, love, joy, and imagination.
His major poetry works include “Ozymandias”, “Ode to the West Wind”, “To a Skylark”, “The Cloud”, “Love’s Philosophy” and “Adonais”. Additionally, Shelley wrote prose fiction as well as essays on political, social, and philosophical issues. His poetry and prose were rarely published during his lifetime, or the poems and prose were always altered. Shelley drowned in a storm on July 8, 1822, shortly before his 30th birthday.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility”- William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, a small village
in Cambridge near the northern edge of the Lake District, on 7 April 1770. At the age of thirteen, he lost his father. At the age of
eight, his mother died. As a result, his uncles became his guardians. He spent much of his boyhood exploring the mountains
and lakes in the Lake District. Cambridge's St. John's College was his educational institution. In
addition to his deep love of nature, he's known for his deep humanity.
He described himself as a ‘worshipper of nature'. The poet believed that only the harmony between man and nature could enlighten the kindheartedness and the universal brotherhood of human beings, and that true happiness could only be achieved by living in harmony with nature. Sonnets, odes, short lyrics, long pieces of poetry, narratives, meditative pieces, and stanzas were among his writings.
Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are contemporary
writers. They created a partnership that affected the lives of both poets
and changed the history of English poetry as we know it. It is said that the poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", written by Wordsworth is one of
the most famous poems of all time and one of the classics of English romantic
poetry.
His “Lyrical Ballads” inaugurated a poetry revival in England. His most famous works include “Lucy Poems”, “The Prelude”, and “Immortality Ode”. The poem "The world is too much with us" is in response to the withering connection between humankind and nature, which is being supposedly replaced with a material pursuit by traditional industrial society. Grasmere's St Oswald's Church was the location of Wordsworth's burial after he died at Rydal Mount from aggravated pleurisy on 23 April 1850.
Courtesy Biography
John Keats (1795-1821)
“A thing of beauty
is a joy forever”- John Keats
As a prominent figure in the second generation of Romantic poets, Keats was an English poet. Born in London on 31 October 1795, John Keats was the first child of Thomas and Frances Jennings. The greatest of the second generation of English romantic poets, he bloomed early and died at a young age. Other than Keats's study of anatomy and physiology in his early years, we know very little of Keats's education. Keats could have pursued a respected and reasonable career in surgery, but instead, he dedicated his life to poetry.
He is now viewed and accepted as a major poet of the British
Romantic tradition, however, during
his lifetime he was generally ignored and condemned as a bad poet. It was much
later that his merits as a poet were recognized. His poetry reflects
sensuality, a fascination with ancient Greek civilization, the use of Arabic
words, and a reverence for beauty. Besides
his famous odes, he has written longer poems such as Endymion and Hyperion, as
well as several sonnets. In the period between 1814 and 1819, John Keats wrote
sixty-four sonnets. The sonnet “O
Solitude”, his first poem, appeared in the Examiner in May 1816. “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode on Melancholy”, “Ode
to Apollo”, “To Some Ladies”, and “To Hope” are some of his great works.
Keats always maintained that he wanted to
make a positive contribution to society. As a result of his strong
imagination, he can do this. Through his work, he creates a world free of the
annoyances and worries of daily life. To him, truth is beauty, and beauty is
truth. That is sufficient for him. Having been diagnosed with
tuberculosis, the young English poet John Keats died in Rome in 1821 at the age
of just 25.
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