Percy French was born William Percy French on May 1, 1854. He was one of the most popular and well-known Irish singers and songwriters of his time. He grew up and attended school in County Roscommon, graduating from Trinity College in Dublin in 1881 with a degree in civil engineering. But he also discovered a [...]

Born of Scottish parents in New Zealand, Jessie Mackay became the first native born New Zealand poet to achieve national prominence. Her empathy and relationship to those who had lost their lands made her voice one that spoke for all the peoples of New Zealand, bringing her popularity even at a young age.
Jessie Mackay was [...]

William Shenstone, an English poet of the 18th century, is perhaps best known for a poem that he wrote in imitation of Spenser’s Faerie Queen. That’s only one of the odd little footnotes that mark the life of the poet, who was born in 1714 in a small village in Worcestershire in England. His early [...]

Atom Yarjanian is the personification of the poet as hero, who speaks the truth as he sees it and is persecuted for his vision. Born in 1878 in Akn, Western Armenia, Yarjanian grew up in the shadow of the persecution of his native people. His family was upper middle class, which allowed him to attend [...]

Vyacheslav Ivanovich is one of the most well-known poets associated with the Russian Symbolism movement. While he is best known for his poetic works, Ivanovich was also a playwright, a philosopher, an essayist and a critic. His work embodies much of what made Symbolism popular, and his writings about Symbolism were collected in the 1936 [...]