Friendship Poems

Biographies

Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography
Emerson is credited with gradually moving away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, while formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar... Continue reading Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography

Robert Burns Biography
Robert Burns, a Scottish poet and a lyricist, is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is perhaps the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in... Continue reading Robert Burns Biography

Robert Frost Biography
Robert Lee Frost was a beloved American poet who is still highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. He was a popular, oft-quoted poet, who was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for... Continue reading Robert Frost Biography

Robert Louis Stevenson Biography
Stevenson was born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson on November 13, 1850 at 8 Howard Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, to Thomas Stevenson (1818-1887), a leading lighthouse engineer, and his wife Margaret, born Margaret Isabella Balfour (1829-1897).Lighthouse design was the family profession and most of the men in... Continue reading Robert Louis Stevenson Biography

Rudyard Kipling Biography
Kipling enjoyed some early success with his poems but soon became known as a masterful short story writer for his portrayals of the people, history and culture of his times. Through his works Kipling would often focus on the British Empire and her soldiers though... Continue reading Rudyard Kipling Biography

Stephen Foster Biography
Stephen Foster was born in Lawrenceville, which is now part of the city of Pittsburgh, on July 4, 1826. Stephen Foster grew up as the ninth of ten children in a middle-class family that eventually became destitute after his father became an alcoholic. Despite this,... Continue reading Stephen Foster Biography

Shakespeare Biography
William Shakespeare, born in Stratford-upon-Avon, but his actual birth date is unknown, although it is traditionally observed on April 23, was the son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. He was baptized in Startford-upon-Avon on April 26, 1564. While no attendance records exist for the... Continue reading Shakespeare Biography

W.H. Auden Biography
Wystan Hugh Auden was born on February 21, 1907 in York, England to George Augustus Auden, a physician and Constance Rosalie Bicknell Auden, a trained missionary nurse. He became known as W.H. Auden because he signed his works with that name rather than his birth... Continue reading W.H. Auden Biography

Toni Morrison Biography
Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio; she was the second of four children born into a working class family. As a child, Toni Morrison read constantly. Two of her favorite authors were Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy.... Continue reading Toni Morrison Biography

Walt Whitman Biography
Walter Whitman, the second of nine children to be born to Walter and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, was born in West Hills, Town of Huntington, Long Island, on May 31, 1819. From the moment he was born, he was nicknamed Walt to distinguish him from... Continue reading Walt Whitman Biography

William Carlos Williams Biography
William Carlos Williams, also known as WCW, was born on September 17, 1883, in Rutherford, New Jersey, a community near the city of Paterson. Williams, an American poet closely associated with modernism and the Imagist movement, was also a pediatrician and general medical practitioner. Williams... Continue reading William Carlos Williams Biography

William Butler Yeats Biography
William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865, in Sandymount, County Dublin, Ireland to John Butler Yeats and Susan Mary Pollexfen, who moved to Sligo shortly after Williams's birth. Yeats referred to the Sligo area as his childhood and spiritual home. The Butler Yeats... Continue reading William Butler Yeats Biography

William Cavendish Biography
William Cavendish, the son of Sir Charles Cavendish and Catherine Ogle and a descendant of the famous Cavendish family, was born on December 6, 1592 at Hardsworth Manor in Yorkshire. Shortly after William's birth, his brother Charles was born. In part because of their close... Continue reading William Cavendish Biography

Bertolt Brecht Biography
Bertolt Brecht, a German poet, playwright and theatrical reformer, was one of the most prominent figures in the 20th-century theater. Brecht was concerned with encouraging audiences to think rather than becoming too involved in the story line and to identify with the characters. Brecht developed... Continue reading Bertolt Brecht Biography

Thomas Hardy Biography
Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840, to his father Thomas and his mother Jemima, at Higher Bockhampton, which was a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England. Hardy's father worked as a stonemason and a local... Continue reading Thomas Hardy Biography

Dorothy Parker Biography
The American writer, Dorothy Parker, was born Dorothy Rothschild to Jacob Henry and Eliza Annie Rothschild at 732 Ocean Avenue in the West End village of Long Branch, New Jersey, where her parents had a summer beach cottage, on August 22, 1893. Dorothy's mother was... Continue reading Dorothy Parker Biography

Carl Sandburg Biography
Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He also won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. Additoinally, he was awarded a Grammy Award in 1959 for Best Performance -Documentary or... Continue reading Carl Sandburg Biography

Edgar A. Guest Biography
Edgar A. Guest, born in Birmingham, England in 1881, moved to Michigan as a young child. He was educated in Michigan. In 1895, Edgar A. Guest signed on with the Free Press as a 13-year-old office boy. He would stay for 60 years. In those... Continue reading Edgar A. Guest Biography

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Biography
Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett, born on March 6, 1806, in Coxhoe Hall, in County Durham, was one of the most prominent and important poets of the Victorian era. She was the eldest of 12 children, eight boys and four girls, born to Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett... Continue reading Elizabeth Barrett Browning Biography

Edgar Allan Poe Biography
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic who is considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Poe is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. Poe was one of the earliest American short story writers and is... Continue reading Edgar Allan Poe Biography

Emily Bronte Biography
Emily Bronte was born on July 30, 1818 in Thornton, in Yorkshire, England to Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell. She was the younger sister of famed author Charlotte Bronte and the fifth of six children. In 1824, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father... Continue reading Emily Bronte Biography

Emily Dickinson Biography
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born at her family's homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830. The Dickinsons were a prominent, though not opulent, family. Emily Dickinson's paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, had almost single-handedly founded the famed Amherst College. Emily's father Edward Dickinson married Emily... Continue reading Emily Dickinson Biography

H.W. Longfellow Biography
Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, to Stephen Longfellow and Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow in Portland, Maine. He grew up in what is now known as the Wadsworth-Longfellow House. His father was a prominent lawyer, and his maternal grandfather, Peleg Wadsworth, was a general in... Continue reading H.W. Longfellow Biography

Geoffrey Chaucer Biography
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1343 in London, though the exact date and location of his birth have never been verified. His father and grandfather were both London vintners and, before that, for several generations, the family members were merchants in Ipswich. In 1324, John... Continue reading Geoffrey Chaucer Biography

Henry Van Dyke Biography
Henry Jackson Van Dyke was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, to Henrietta Ashmead and Henry Jackson Van Dyke, a respected Presbyterian clergyman. Henry was influenced by his father's role as minister, though the boy was not necessarily a model child. Later in life Van Dyke said... Continue reading Henry Van Dyke Biography

John Keats Biography
John Keats, an English poet, became known as one of the premier poets of the English Romantic movement during the early nineteenth century. Despite his very short life and constant critical attacks from periodicals of the day, he has, posthumously, been very influential on poets... Continue reading John Keats Biography

John Donne Biography
John Donne was an English Jacobean poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of that period. His works are highly notable for their realistic and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry and religious poems. His poetry is also noted for its... Continue reading John Donne Biography

Jonathan Swift Biography
Jonathan Swift is most remembered for works such as Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity and A Tale of a Tub. Swift, best known as the foremost prose satirist in... Continue reading Jonathan Swift Biography

John Milton Biography
John Milton was an English poet, author and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost and for Areopagitica, his treatise condemning censorship. John Milton was born December 9, 1608 to a prosperous and cultured middle... Continue reading John Milton Biography

Langston Hughes Biography
James Mercer Langston Hughes was one of the earliest innovators of the new literary art form, jazz poetry. However, Hughes is best-known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902. He was the second child... Continue reading Langston Hughes Biography

Lord Byron Biography
Lord George Gordon Byron was as famous in his lifetime for his personality cult as he was for his poetry. He is credited with creating the concept of the "Byronic hero"-a defiant, melancholy young man, brooding on some mysterious, unforgivable event in his past. Byron's... Continue reading Lord Byron Biography

Lord Alfred Tennyson Biography
Alfred Tennyson was born on August 6th, 1809, at Somersby, Lincolnshire. He was the fourth of twelve children born to George and Elizabeth (Fytche) Tennyson. The reasons are unclear but the poet's grandfather violated tradition by making his younger son, Charles, his heir, and arranging... Continue reading Lord Alfred Tennyson Biography

Julia Ward Howe Biography
Julia Ward Howe was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist and poet. She is most famous as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Born Julia Ward in New York City, on May 27, 1819 she was the fourth of Samuel Ward and... Continue reading Julia Ward Howe Biography

Albert Camus Biography
Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria to a French settler family. His half-deaf mother was of Spanish descent. His father, Lucien, was a poor agricultural worker of Alsatian origin, who died in the Battle of the Marne in 1914, during... Continue reading Albert Camus Biography