http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/ en Copyright 2009 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:44:55 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Nature. As a result of this ground breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which was considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence". Emerson was considered one of the great orators of his time; his enthusiasm and respect for his audience enraptured crowds. His support for abolitionism late in life also created controversy, and, at times, he was subject to abuse from crowds while speaking on the topic; however, this was not always the case. Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803, the son of Ruth Haskins and the Rev. William Emerson, a Unitarian minister who descended from a well-known line of ministers. Ralph Waldo was the second of five sons who survived into adulthood; the others were William, Edward, Robert Bulkeley and Charles. Three other siblings Phoebe, John Clarke, and Mary Caroline all died in childhood. Ralph Waldo Emerson was traumatized as a youngster when his father died from stomach cancer on May 12, 1811, less than two weeks before his eighth birthday. Emerson was raised by his mother and other intellectual and spiritual women in his family who had a profound impact on the young Emerson. Emerson's formal schooling began at the Boston Latin School in 1812 when he was nine years old. In October 1817, at age 14, Emerson went to Harvard College and was appointed freshman messenger for the president, a job which required Emerson to fetch delinquent students and send messages to faculty. He did not stand out as a student and graduated in the exact middle of his class of 59 students. After graduating from Harvard, Emerson assisted his brother in the finishing school for young ladies that they established in their mother's house. Emerson took charge of the school and, over the next several years, Emerson made his living as a schoolmaster, and then went to Harvard Divinity School. Boston's Second Church invited Emerson to serve as its junior pastor and he was ordained on March 11, 1829. Emerson soon met his first wife, Ellen Louisa Tucker, in Concord, New Hampshire and married her when she was 18. The couple then moved to Boston; Emerson's mother, Ruth, moved with them to help take care of Ellen, who already had with tuberculosis. Sadly less than two years later, Ellen died at the age of 20 on February 8, 1831. Emerson was deeply affected by her death and often visited her grave. He toured Europe in 1832 and later wrote of his travels in English Traits , which was published in 1856. Emerson returned to the United States on October 9, 1833, and lived with his mother in Newton, Massachusetts until November 1834. He married his second wife, Lydia Jackson, in her home town of Plymouth, Massachusetts on September 14, 1835. Their four children were Waldo, Ellen, Edith and Edward Waldo Emerson. Ellen was named for his first wife, at Lydia's suggestion. It was during this time of happiness and stability that Emerson focused on his prolific writing career. His body of work became immense as he wrote about several subjects of interest. Beginning as early as the summer of 1871 or in the spring of 1872, Emerson began losing his memory and suffered from aphasia. By the end of the decade, he would forget his own name at times and, when anyone asked how he felt, he responded, "Quite well; I have lost my mental faculties, but am perfectly well". The problems with his memory had become increasingly embarrassing to Emerson and. by 1879, he stopped appearing in public. On April 19, 1882, Emerson went out walking despite having an apparent cold and was caught in a sudden rain shower. Two days later, he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He died on April 27, 1882 and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts. He was placed in his coffin wearing a white robe given to the family by American sculptor Daniel Chester French. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/ralph_waldo_emerson_biography_18591.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/ralph_waldo_emerson_biography_18591.php Biographies Ralph Waldo Emerson biography_ of_ Ralph _Waldo_ Emerson Emerson life_ of_ Ralph_ Waldo_ Emerson Ralph _Waldo_ Emerson Transcendentalism Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:44:55 -0800 He had very little regular schooling and got much of his education from his father, who taught his children reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history and also wrote for them A Manual Of Christian Belief. After a few years of home schooling, Burns was sent to Dalrymple Parish School during the summer of 1772 before returning at harvest time to full-time farm laboring until 1773. By the age of 15, Burns was the principal laborer at Mount Oliphant. He became old enough to try his hand at several different professions-none which worked out for him. In addition during this time he began writing poetry that reflected the people and events that were important in his life. He continued to write poems and songs and began a Commonplace Book in 1783. His continued on as well with half-hearted attempts at farming. His casual love affairs did not endear him to the elders of the local community and created for him a reputation for dissoluteness amongst his neighbors. His first illegitimate child, Elizabeth Paton Burns was born to his mother's servant, Elizabeth Paton as he was embarking on a relationship with Jean Armour. Jean bore him twins in 1786, and although her father initially forbade their marriage, they were eventually married in 1788. She bore him nine children in total, but only three survived infancy. During a rift in his relationship with Jean Armour in 1786, and as his prospects in farming were declined, he began an affair with Mary Campbell to whom he dedicated the poems The Highland Lassie O, Highland Mary and To Mary in Heaven. Their relationship has continued to be the subject of much conjecture, and it has been suggested that they may have married. They are reported to have planned to immigrate to Jamaica, where it has been widely claimed Burns would have worked as a bookkeeper on a slave plantation. Before the plans could be acted upon, Mary Campbell died suddenly of a fever in Greenock, Scotland. That summer, he published the first of his collections of verse, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect, which created a sensation and has been recognized as a significant literary event. Burn's next romantic conquest was Jenny Clow who bore him a son, Robert Burns Clow in 1788. His relationship with Nancy concluded in 1791 with a final meeting in Edinburgh before she sailed to Jamaica for what transpired to be a short-lived reconciliation with her estranged husband. Before she left, he sent her the manuscript of Ae Fond Kiss as a farewell to her. It was at this time that Burns became a collector of old Scots songs and was filled with a determination to preserve them. On his return to Ayrshire on February 18, 1788, he resumed his relationship with Jean Armour and took a lease on the farm of Ellisland near Dumfries but quickly gave up farming as he was writing at his best, and in November 1790 had produced Tam O' Shanter. As his health began to deteriorate, Burns began to age prematurely and fell into long fits of despondency. The habits of his youth are said to have aggravated his long-standing rheumatic heart condition. Supposedly his death was caused by bacterial endocarditis exacerbated by a streptococcal infection reaching his blood following a dental extraction in the winter of 1795, and it was no doubt further affected by the three months of famine that affected the countryside. His funeral took place on July 25, 1796, the day his son Maxwell was born. A memorial edition of his poems was published to raise money for his wife and children, and, shortly after his death, money started pouring in from all over Scotland to support them. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/robert_burns_biography_18592.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/robert_burns_biography_18592.php Biographies Robert Burns biography_ of_ Robert_ Burns Burns life_ of_ Robert_ Burns Robert_ Burns Scottish_ poets Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:46:41 -0800 San Francisco Evening Bulletin and an unsuccessful candidate for city tax collector. After his father's death in May 5, 1885, the family moved across the country to Lawrence, Massachusetts under the patronage of Robert's grandfather, William Frost, Sr., who was an overseer at a New England mill. Frost graduated from Lawrence High School in 1892. Despite his later association with rural life, Frost grew up in the city, and published his first poem in his high school's magazine. He attended Dartmouth College but returned home to teach and work at various jobs including delivering newspapers and working in a factory. He did not enjoy these jobs at all, as he felt that being a poet was his true calling. In 1894, he sold his first poem, My Butterfly: An Elegy, for fifteen dollars. First was very proud of himself and this accomplishment. He subsequently proposed marriage to Elinor Miriam White, but she demurred, wanting to finish college at St. Lawrence University, before they married. On his return from an excursion to Virginia, Frost asked Elinor again. Having just graduated she agreed, and they were married at Harvard University where he attended liberal arts studies for two years. He did well at Harvard, but had to leave to support his growing family. For nine years, Robert worked the farm his grandfather had purchased for him, while writing early in the mornings and producing many of the poems that would later become famous. Ultimately farming proved unsuccessful for him, and he returned to education as an English teacher. In 1912, Frost sailed with his family to Great Britain, where they first lived in Glasgow, before settling in Beaconsfield outside London. His first book of poetry, A Boy's Will, was published in 1913. It is widely felt that Frost wrote some of his best work while in England. As World War I began, Frost returned to America in 1915 where he bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire and launched a career writing, teaching and lecturing. Frost also taught English at Amherst College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, notably encouraging his students to account for the sounds of the human voice in their writing. Robert Frost's personal life was plagued heavily with grief and loss. His father died of tuberculosis in 1885, when Frost was just 11, leaving the family with just $8. Frost's mother then died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, Frost had to commit his younger sister, Jeanie, to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness seemed to run in Frost's family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter, Irma, was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost's wife, Elinor, is also reported to have experienced bouts of depression. Elinor and Robert Frost had six children including Elliot, Lesley, Carol, a son, Irma , Marjorie and, finally, daughter Elinor Bettina . Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost's wife, who had heart problems throughout her life developed breast cancer in 1937, and died of heart failure in 1938. Frost was 86 years old when he spoke and performed a reading of his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961. Just two years later, on January 29, 1963, he died in Boston of complications from prostate surgery. He was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. His epitaph reads, "I had a lover's quarrel with the world." ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/robert_frost_biography_18593.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/robert_frost_biography_18593.php Biographies Robert Frost American_ poets biography_ of _Robert_ Frost Frost life_ of_ Robert_ Frost Robert_ Frost Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:51:55 -0800 The Pentland Rising: a Page of History, 1666. It was expected that Stevenson's writing would remain secondary to his career joining the family business. In November 1867, he entered the University of Edinburgh to study engineering. From the beginning, he demonstrated a complete lack of enthusiasm for his studies and devoted much energy to avoiding lectures. This time was more important for the friendships he developed with other students. In April 1871, he announced his decision to pursue a life of writing to his father . Years later, in his 1887 poetry collection, Underwoods, he looked back on how he turned away from the family profession. It was at this time Stevenson rejected his family heritage and religion in favor of a more Bohemian attitude in behavior and dress. He also began to write in earnest, producing a prolific body of work that would cover the next 20 years. While his health would often interfere with his writing, and sometimes force him to move to warmer climates, he steadily wrote as much as possible. On one of his travels he met Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne (1840-1914), who had three children from another marriage. Despite being ill and nearly penniless in May, 1880, Stevenson married Fanny. They honeymooned in Napa Valley and then returned to Europe. Between 1880 and 1887, Stevenson searched in vain for a place of residence suitable for his state of health. In 1890, he finally found what he was searching for when he purchased four hundred acres of land in Upolu, one of the Samoan Islands. His influence spread to the natives, who consulted him for advice. He soon became involved in local politics as he was widely popular among the natives. In addition to building his house, clearing his land and helping the natives in many ways, he found time to write. During the morning of December 3, 1894, he had worked hard as usual on Weir of Hermiston. During the evening, while conversing with his wife he was straining to open a bottle of wine, he suddenly exclaimed, "What's that!" He then asked his wife "Does my face look strange?" and collapsed beside her. He died within a few hours, probably from a cerebral hemorrhage, at the age of 44. The natives insisted on surrounding his body with a watch-guard during the night and on bearing him upon their shoulders to nearby Mount Vaea, where they buried him on a spot overlooking the sea. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/robert_louis_stevenson_biography_18594.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/robert_louis_stevenson_biography_18594.php Biographies Robert Louis Stevenson biography_ of_ Robert_ Louis_ Stevenson life_ of_ Robert_ Louis_ Stevenson Robert_ Louis_ Stevenson Stevenson Treasure_ Island Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:53:28 -0800 The Jungle Book, which has inspired numerous other literary works and several adaptations to television and film. Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born to Alice MacDonald (1837-1910) and John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911) on December 30, 1865 in Bombay, now Mumbai, India. His father was head of the Department of Architectural Sculpture at the Jejeebhoy School of Art and Industry in Bombay. Some of Kipling's earliest and fondest memories were of his and sister Alice's trips to the bustling fruit market with their ayah, or nanny, or her telling them Indian nursery rhymes and stories before their nap in the tropical afternoon heat. His father's art studio also provided many creative opportunities using clay and paints. Those idyllic days were to end when in 1871 Rudyard and Alice were sent to Southsea, England, to live with Captain Holloway and his wife, while attending school. She ruled the boarding house with a heavy hand and Kipling was often beaten by her and her son. Kipling soon learned to read and was able to find solace in literature and poetry, voraciously turning to the magazines and books his parents sent him. Kipling got a brief respite from the Holloway household each December when he visited with his mother's kind sister Aunt Georgie and her husband, pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne Jones, and their children, in London. Those Decembers were paradise to Kipling as North End House was constantly brimming with visiting friends and relatives, and the homey and artistic effects of the affectionate couple were everywhere. In 1877, Kipling's mother returned to England and immediately collected him from 'The House of Desolation' as he grimly refers to the Holloway's over sixty years later in his autobiography, so that he could attend the United Services College in Westward Ho!, Devon. Now armed with spectacles, because Kipling was nearly blind without them, Mrs. Holloway and his schoolteachers gave him grief about his undiagnosed vision problems. He learned to defend himself from bullies and settled into the life of a student, became the editor of the school paper and, in his second year, started writing his own Schoolboy Lyrics , published in 1881, that was printed by his parents. In 1881, Kipling moved back to Lahore, India to live with his parents. It was a happy homecoming. He had his own office because he became the assistant editor for the Anglo-Indian Civil and Military Gazette and later The Pioneer. He had suffered frail health as a child and his penchant for working ten or more hours a day may have led to a nervous breakdown later on in life. Thus began Kipling's career as a roving reporter. He wrote dozens of essays, reviews and short stories including The Man Who Would Be King in 1888 and Gunga Din in 1890. These works would later be collected in such volumes as the poetry volume, Departmental Ditties, published in 1886, and the volumes of short stories titled, Plain Tales From the Hills , published in 1888, and Wee Willie Winkie, published in 1888. Other volumes written by Rudyard Kipling include the 1891 non-fiction volume, American Notes and his first major success, the 1892 poetry volume, Barrack-Room Ballads. On January 18, 1892, during the influenza epidemic, Kipling married Caroline 'Carrie' Balestier, the sister of his American publisher. Their first child, daughter Josephine, was born in 1892, daughter Elsie in 1896 and son John was born "on a warm August night of '97'". In 1902, he and Carrie purchased Bateman's House in Burwash, which he purchased and lived in for the rest of his life. Rudyard Kipling hemorrhaged and died on January 18, 1936 in London; his ashes are interred in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey, London, England near to T. S. Eliot. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/rudyard_kipling_biography_18595.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/rudyard_kipling_biography_18595.php Biographies Rudyard Kipling biography_ of_Rudyard_ Kipling Jungle_ Book Kipling life_ of_ Rudyard_ Kipling Rudyard_ Kipling Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:54:39 -0800 Foster's Ethiopian Melodies; included in that work was the song "Nelly was a Lady," which was made famous by the Christy Minstrels. After publishing his latest work, he moved back to Pennsylvania and signed a contract with the Christy Minstrels. During this period in his life, he wrote most of his best-known songs. In 1850 he wrote "Camptown Races, De" and "Nelly Bly," in 1851 he published "Old Folks at Home," which is also known as "Swanee River". During 1853, he wrote and published "My Old Kentucky Home," and "Old Dog Tray." In 1854, he wrote "Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair" for his wife, Jane Denny McDowell. The majority of Foster's songs were of the blackface minstrel show tradition, which was popular at the time. In Foster's own words, what he wanted to do was "build up taste... among refined people by making words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs of that order." While most of Foster's songs had Southern themes, he never lived in the South. In fact, Foster only visited the South once in 1852 when he was on a river-boat voyage on his brother Dunning's steamboat, for his honeymoon. The biggest problem Foster faced with trying to make a living as a professional songwriter was that they did not exist in the modern sense. Due to the inadequate provisions for music copyright and composer royalties at the time, Foster realized very little of the profits that his works generated for sheet music printers. Many times competing editions of Foster's tunes were published by multiple printers and Foster was never paid anything. For the song "Oh! Susanna." Foster received a total of $100. In 1860, Foster and his family moved to New York City. About a year later, Foster's wife and daughter left him and returned to Pittsburgh. Starting in 1862, Foster's fortunes decreased along with the quality of his songs decreased. Stephen Foster died in New York City at the age of thirty-seven. At the time of his death at Bellevue Hospital, where he had been admitted three days before he died, he had thirty-seven cents to his name. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/stephen_foster_biography_18597.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/stephen_foster_biography_18597.php Biographies Stephen Foster biography_of_Stephen_Foster facts_on_Stephen_Foster information_on_Stephen_Foster Stephen_Foster Stephen_Foster_biography the_life_of_Stephen_Foster what_you_need_to_know_about_Stephen_Foster who_is_Stephen_Foster Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:57:22 -0800 Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. Shakespeare's Sonnets were published in 1609, and were the last of his non-dramatic work to be published. Nobody knows for sure when each of the 154 Sonnets was composed, but the evidence strongly suggests that Shakespeare wrote the Sonnets throughout his career for private readership rather than for the public. Critics praise the Sonnets as a profound reflection on the nature of love, sexual passion, procreating, death and time. When Shakespeare first began to write, his plays were written in the conventional style of the day. He used a stylized language that did not always come naturally from the needs of the characters or the drama. His writing contained elaborate metaphors and conceits, and the language is most often rhetorical. Most of what was written in his plays was written for the actors to declaim rather than speak, the words often held up the action. Not too long after he began writing, he began to adapt the traditional styles to his own purposes. Shakespeare's poetic form was a blank verse and he composed his poems in iambic pentameter, which means that, in poetry terms, verse was usually unrhymed and consisted of ten syllables to a line, spoken with a stress on every second syllable. If you look at Shakespeare's work, you will notice that his blank verse in his early days is quite different from that of his later ones. In the beginning, while his writing was beautiful, the sentences tended to start, pause and finish at the end of lines, with the risk of monotony. Soon he was able to master the traditional blank verse, which allowed him to interrupt and vary the flow. His new technique allowed him to release the power and flexibility of the poetry in plays such as Julius Caesar and Hamlet. After Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, he decided to vary his poetic style even further, especially in the more emotional passages of the late tragedies. His later writing was described by A.C. Bradley as "more concentrated, rapid, varied, and in construction, less regular, not seldom twisted or elliptical." During the last part of Shakespeare's career, he adopted many techniques to achieve those effects. The techniques that he adopted included run-on lines, irregular pauses and stops, and extreme variations in sentence structure and length. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616; he was survived by his wife and two daughters. Two days after he died, Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church. Before 1623, a monument was erected in Shakespeare's memory on the north wall of the church. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/shakespeare_biography_18596.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/shakespeare_biography_18596.php Biographies Shakespeare biography_about_Shakespeare facts_on_William_Shakespeare information_on_Shakespeare life_on_Shakespeare Shakespeare who_was_William_Shakespeare William_Shakespeare Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:55:58 -0800 Poems, which was accepted by T.S. Elliot for Faber and Faber; this firm also published all of his later books. After publishing his first book, Auden became a schoolmaster in boys' schools until 1935. From 1935 until he left Britain in 1939, Auden worked as a freelance reviewer, essayist and lecturer. He began working with the G.P.O. Film Unit, which was a documentary filmmaking branch of the post office. It was through this work that he met Benjamin Britten, whom he collaborated with on plays, song cycles and a libretto in 1935. During the 1930s, most of his poems were inspired by unconsummated love. In January of 1939, Auden and Isherwood sailed to New York where they entered on temporary visas. Many people in Britain viewed their departure as a betrayal and Auden's reputation in Britain suffered from it. Around April of 1939, after Isherwood moved to California, Auden met Chester Kallman, a poet. The two of them became lovers for the next two years. Although Kallman ended their sexual relationship in 1941, the two remained companions, sharing houses and apartments from 1953 until Auden's death. In 1941-42, Auden taught English at the University of Michigan. He was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1942, though he didn't use it. Instead, he choose to teach at Swarthmore College from 1942-45. In 1945, Auden published an edition of his collected poetry and dedicated it to both Isherwood and Kallman. He later published a second edition of his collected poetry in 1966; it too was dedicated to Isherwood and Kallman. In 1956-61, Auden was a Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, where he was only required to give three lectures each year. This light workload allowed him to continue to winter in New York and to summer in Europe, where he spent three weeks lecturing in Oxford. In 1972, he moved his winter home from New York to Oxford, where his old college, Christ Church, offered him a cottage. He continued to summer in Austria. In 1973, Auden died in Vienna he was buried in Kirchstetten. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/wh_auden_biography_18600.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/wh_auden_biography_18600.php Biographies W. H. Auden biography_of_W.H._Auden facts_on_W.H._Auden information_on_W.H._Auden life_of_W.H._Auden W.H._Auden W.H._Auden_biography who_is_W.H._Auden Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:02:27 -0800 The Bluest Eye. She wrote the story while she was teaching at Howard and raising two children. In 2000, The Bluest Eye was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club. In 1975, Morrison's novel, Sula, was nominated for the National Book Award and her third novel, Song of Solomon, published in 1977, brought her national attention. Her third novel was a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month club; it was the first novel by a black writer to be chosen since Richard Wright's Native Son in 1940. Song of Solomon also won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1987, Morrison's novel, Beloved, became a great success. The book did not win the National Book Award nor did it the National Book Critics Circle Award, but it did win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Beloved was also adapted into the 1998 film of the same name, which starred Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. In May 2006, The New York Times Book Review named Beloved the best American novel published in the past twenty-five years. Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993; she was the first black woman to win it. In 1996, the National Endowment for the Humanities chose Morrison for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. Toni Morrison is still alive and while most of her books concentrate on black women, she does not identify her works as feminist. In addition to her novels, she has also co-written children's books with her youngest son, Slade Morrison. Toni Morrison is currently a member of the editorial board for The Nation magazine. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/toni_morrison_biography_18599.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/toni_morrison_biography_18599.php Biographies Toni Morrison biography_of_Toni_Morrison facts_about_Toni_Morrison life_of_Toni_Morison Toni_Morrison Toni_Morrison's_life Toni_Morrison_biography who_is_Toni_Morrison Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:01:02 -0800 The Patriot. It was here that Whitman learned about the printing press and typesetting; it has been speculated that he wrote sentimental bits of filler material for occasional issues. The following summer Whitman worked for another printer in Brooklyn. When Whitman's family decided to move back to West Hills in the spring, Whitman made the decision to stay behind and continue working. He took a job at Alden Spooner's shop; Spooner was the editor of the leading Whig newspaper the Long-Island Star. Whitman published some of his earliest poetry in the New York Mirror while working for Spooner. When Whitman was 16, he left the Star and Brooklyn so that he could move to New York City, where he worked as a compositor. In May 1836, Whitman rejoined his family, who were now living in Hempstead, Long Island. Until the spring of 1838, Whitman taught intermittently at various schools, but he was never satisfied being a teacher. After his teaching attempts, Whitman went back to Huntington, New York to found his own newspaper. After ten months, he sold the publication to E.O. Crowell, found a variety of other jobs, such as a typesetter, and even went back to teaching for a while. After years of trying to make a living doing other jobs Whitman finally determined that he was meant to be a poet. When he first began writing, he experimented with a variety of popular literary genres that appealed to the cultural tastes of the period. Beginning in 1850, Whitman began writing what would become known as Leaves of Grass. This was his main collection of poetry and he would continue editing and revising it until he died. Whitman's idea was to write a distinctly American epic and he used free verse with a cadence based on the Bible. Whitman paid for the publication of Leaves of Grass himself and had it printed at a local print shop during their breaks from commercial jobs. There were 795 copies printed and not one of them had an author given, though Whitman did refer to himself in the body of the text. During the first publication of Leaves of Grass, Whitman was faced with financial difficulties and was forced to work as a journalist again. He did this until he left the position to seek work in Washington during the Civil War period. In early 1873, Whitman suffered a paralytic stroke and his mother passed away. The combination of these two events left Whitman depressed. He moved to Camden, New Jersey to live with his brother, George, until he bought his own house in 1884. On February 24, 1885, Mary Oakes Davis, who brought with her an assortment of animals, moved in to serve as Whitman housekeeper in exchange for free rent. During this period, Whitman produced further editions of Leaves of Grass in 1876, 1881 and 1889. Whitman died on March 26, 1892. Before his death, he had prepared a final edition of Leaves of Grass; it was nicknamed the "Deathbed Edition." In anticipation of his death, he commissioned a granite mausoleum shaped like a house. He was buried in this tomb at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/walt_whitman_biography_18601.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/walt_whitman_biography_18601.php Biographies Walt Whitman biography_of_Walt_Whitman facts_on_Walt_Whitman information_on_Walt_Whitman life_of_Walt_Whitman Walt_Whitman Walt_Whitman_biography who_is_Walt_Whitman Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:06:01 -0800 Between Walls, was published. Although Williams was primarily a doctor, he still had a full literary career. Throughout his literary career, he wrote short stories, plays, poems, novels, critical essays, an autobiography, translations and correspondence. Williams could not dedicate very much time to his writing during the day due to his busy medical career, so he did most of his writing at night. On the weekends, he spent time with his friends in New York City. Williams also became involved in the Imagist movement, developing opinions that differed from those of his poetic peers, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. His willingness to be a mentor for younger poets was one of Williams's most notable contributions to American literature. In fact, a number of important poets in subsequent generations were either personally tutored by Williams or named Williams as a major influence. Williams significantly influenced many of the American literary movements of the 1950s including poets of the beat Generation, the San Francisco Renaissance, the Black Mountain School and the New York School. Williams personally mentored Charles Olsen, who helped develop the poetry of the Black Mountain College and subsequently influenced many other poets. When Spring and All was published in 1923, Williams had already rejected the Imagist movement, although his most anthologized poem, The Red Wheelbarrow, considered an example of the Imagist movement's style and principles, was included in the publication. By 1923, Williams's strongest association was with the American Modernist movement in literature. Williams tried to invent a new, American form of poetry, where the subject matter was focused on everyday occurrences of life and the lives of ordinary people. This led to his creation of the concept of the variable foot, which resulted from years of visual and auditory sampling of his world as a physician. The variable foot is now rooted within the multi-faceted American Idiom. Williams didn't write poetry using traditional meter, instead his breaks in the poem were a natural pause spoken in the American Idiom. Williams experimented with different types of lines until he found the "stepped triadic line," which is a long line divided into three segments. In 1912, Williams married Florence Herman; they moved to Rutherford, New Jersey. His health began to decline in 1948, when he had a heart attack. After 1949, Williams suffered a series of strokes and his health declined further until he finally passed away on March 4, 1963, at the age of seventy-nine. He was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in May 1963. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/william_carlos_williams_biography_18603.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/william_carlos_williams_biography_18603.php Biographies William Carlos Williams biography_of_William_Carlos_Williams facts_about_William_Carlos_Williams information_on_William_Carlos_Williams life_of_William_Carlos_Williams who_is_William_Carlos_Williams William_Carlos_Williams William_Carlos_Williams_biography Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:09:29 -0800 Dublin University Review. From 1884 to 1886, Yeats attended the Metropolitan School of Art on Thomas Street. Yeats first known work was written when he was seventeen and includes a poem that was influenced by Percy Bysshe Shelley, a draft of a play and love-poems and narrative lyrics on medieval German knights. His earliest work drew heavily on Shelley, Edmund Spenser and on the diction and coloring of pre-Raphaelite verse, though it soon turned to Irish myth and folklore, in addition to the writings of William Blake. After his family had returned to London in 1890, Yeats co-founded the Rhymers' Club, a group of London based poets who met on a regular basis at the Fleet Street tavern to recite their poems, with Ernest Rhys. This collective published two anthologies, one in 1892 and another in 1894. Yeats had an intense interest in mysticism, spiritualism, occultism and astrology, which he fueled by reading extensively on these subjects throughout his life. This theme showed in his writing. His first significant poem was The Isle of Statues, a fantasy work that used Edmund Spenser for its model. The poem was only published in the Dublin University Review. Yeats first solo publication, published in 1886, was the pamphlet Mosada: A Dramatic Poem. One hundred copies of this pamphlet were made and the copies were paid for by Yeats father. The collection The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, Yeats' next work, was published in 1889. The poem The Wanderings of Oisin was based in the lyrics of the Fenian Cycle of Irish Mythology; it also displays influence of both Sir Samuel Ferguson and the Pre-Raphaelite poets. This was the only long poem Yeats attempted; it took him two years to complete. In 1889, Yeats met Maud Gonne, a 23-year-old heiress who was eighteen months younger than Yeats. Yeats developed an infatuation, which was borderline obsessed, with her beauty and outspoken manner; in fact, she had a significant and lasting effect on Yeats life and poetry. Yeats proposed to her three times; she rejected him all three times. Maud Gonne ended up marrying Major John MacBride although Yeats and Gonne's friendship persisted; they finally consummated their relationship in Paris in 1908. He later married George Hyde-Lees, whom he met through occult circles In December of 1923, Yeats was awarded the Noble Prize for literature. When he won the prize, he saw a significant increase in the sales of his books, mainly because his publishers Macmillan sought to capitalize on the publicity. This was the first time that he had money and was able to repay his and his father's debts as well. Yeats died on January 28, 1939 at the Hotel Ideal Sejour in Menton, France. Yeats had a discreet and private funeral at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and was buried right afterwards. In September 1948, his body was moved to Drumcliffe, County Sligo. His epitaph was taken from the last lines of one of his final poems, Under Ben Bulden." ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/william_butler_yeats_biography_18602.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/william_butler_yeats_biography_18602.php Biographies William Butler Yeats biography_of_William_Butler_Yeats facts_on_William_Butler_Yeats information_on_William_Butler_Yeats life_of_William_Butler_Yeats who_is_William_Butler_Yeats William_Butler_Yeats William_Butler_Yeats_biography Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:07:51 -0800 The Blazing World. Cavendish left Paris and moved to Rotterdam in 1628. Despite his intention of joining the Prince of Wales in commanding the rebellious navy, he decided instead to take up residence at Antwerp where he lived until the Restoration. In Anterwerp, he lived in the Rubenshuis, where he established his horse riding school and published his first work on horsemanship titled A General System of Horsemanship. After the Restoration, he returned to England, where he succeeded in regaining the greater part of his estates, although he suffered losses in the war of 941,303 pounds. In March 1665, William Cavendish was made a duke. With John Dryden's assistance, in 1688 William Cavendish translated Moliere's L'Etourdi as Sir Martin Mar-All. He also contributed scenes to his wife's plays and his poems are also found throughout many of her works. Cavendish never fully recovered from Margaret's sudden death. During his later years, William Cavendish suffered from Parkinson's disease and died at Welbeck Abbey on Christmas Day 1676. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/william_cavendish_biography_18604.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/william_cavendish_biography_18604.php Biographies William Cavendish biography_of_William_Cavendish facts_on_William_Cavendish information_on_William_Cavendish life_of_William_Cavendish who_is_William_Cavendish William_Cavendish William_Cavendish_biography Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:10:55 -0800 BAAL, which was produced in 1923. The play celebrated life and sexuality and was a widely popular success. Brecht's association with Communism began in 1919, when he decided to join the Independent Social Democratic party. As a result of a brief affair with Fräulein Bie Banholzer, Brecht's son Frank was born. In 1922, he married the opera singer Marianne Zof; they divorced five years later, in 1927. Brecht, who abhorred bathing, was also famous for being promiscuous. At this time Brecht had become involved with both Elisabeth Hauptmann and Helene Weigel. Brecht and Weigel's son, Stefan, was born in October 1924 and they later married. After repeated persecution from the invading German forces Brecht made the decision to leave Germany. Brecht continued in May 1941, with his wife, children and secretary, through Russia to the United States, eventually ending up in Santa Monica. Ruth Berlau, a Danish actress and Brecht's mistress, had joined the family in Helsinki and traveled with them from Finland to America. Margarete Steffin, a German writer and Brecht's secretary and mistress, died in Moscow; she had tuberculosis when she left Germany. Like Berlau, she made contributions to Brecht's exile plays. In the US, Brecht tried to write for Hollywood, but the only script that found partial acceptance was Hangmen Also Die, in 1942. This anti-Nazi film was directed by Fritz Lang, based on a screenplay written by John Wexley. Brecht complained bitterly about the enormous amount of intellectual isolation in Hollywood. His ideas, such as "the production, distribution and enjoyment of bread," were not taken seriously by movie moguls. In 1947, Brecht was accused of un-American activities, but managed to confuse with half-truths, the chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, who praised Brecht for being an exemplary witness. However, Brecht had seen the writing on the wall and he fled to Switzerland, without waiting for the opening of his play, Galileo, in New York. Throughout his life Bertolt Brecht was a prolific writer who wrote poetry, theater, movie scripts and many dramatic works of varying lengths. His impact continues to be felt as Brecht left the Berliner Ensemble to his wife, the actress Helene Weigel, which she ran until her death in 1971. It was perhaps the most famous German touring theatre of the postwar era, it was primarily devoted to performing Brecht's plays. His son, Stefan Brecht, became a poet and theatre critic who was primarily interested in New York's avant-garde theater. Brecht has always been a controversial figure in Germany, and, in his native city of Augsburg, there were objections to creating a birthplace museum. By the 1970s, however, it was interesting to note that Brecht's plays had surpassed Shakespeare's in the number of annual performances in Germany. In addition Brecht's influence can be seen in the cinema as modern filmmakers still credit him today. Brecht died of a heart attack, at the age of 58, on August 14, 1956. The residence he shared with Helene Weigel overlooks the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin, where he is buried. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/bertolt_brecht_biography_18572.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/bertolt_brecht_biography_18572.php Bertolt Brecht Biographies Bertolt_ Brecht biography_ of_ Bertolt_ Brecht Brecht German_ poets who_ is_ Bertolt_ Brecht Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:36:40 -0800 Poems of 1912-13 reflected upon her passing. In 1914, two years after his estranged wife, Emma, passed away, Thomas Hardy married his secretary Florence Emily Dugdale, though she was 39 years his junior. Thomas Hardy was still preoccupied with his first wife's death in spite of having remarried. To try to overcome his remorse, Thomas Hardy continued writing poetry. He published his first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems, a collection of poems written over 30 years, in 1898. Thomas Hardy's poetry was not as well received by his contemporaries as his novels were, but in recent years, they have been applauded considerably, in part because of their influence on Philip Larkin. The majority of Thomas Hardy's poems deal with themes of disappointment in love and life, as well as humankind's long struggle against indifference to human suffering. Thomas Hardy's compositions range in style from the three-volume epic The Dynast to the smaller, and hopeful or even cheerful ballads of the moment like The Children and Sir Nameless. A few of Thomas Hardy's poems even display his love of the natural world and his firm stance against animal cruelty. No matter how well his poetry is regarded, it is still not regarded as highly as his prose. Thomas Hardy continued publishing his collections of poetry until his death in 1928. In December 1927, Thomas Hardy became ill with pleurisy and died in January 1928. On his deathbed, Thomas Hardy dictated his last poem to wife. Thomas Hardy's interment was a controversial affair because he wished for his body to be interred at Stinsford in the same grave as his first wife, but his executor insisted that he be placed in the famous Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. Finally, a compromise was reached, Thomas Hardy's heart was buried in Stinsford with Emma, and his ashes were buried in Poets' Corner. ]]> http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/thomas_hardy_biography_18598.php http://www.friendshippoemsonline.com/thomas_hardy_biography_18598.php Biographies Thomas Hardy biography_on_Thomas_Hardy facts_on_Thomas_Hardy information_on_Thomas_Hardy life_and_times_of_Thomas_Hardy life_of_Thomas_Hardy Thomas_Hardy what_you_need_to_know_about_Thomas_Hardy Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:59:25 -0800