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William Blake Birth:
William Blake was born in London on November 28,
1757. He was the third son of a London hosier.
Largely self-taught, Blake read the Bible, John
Milton, Greek classics, Latin texts, William
Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson.
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William Blake
William Blake Death:
William Blake died on August 12, 1827. He was
buried in an unmarked grave at the public cemetery
of Bunhill Fields. At the time of Blake's death,
Wordsworth wrote, "There was no doubt that this
poor man was mad, but there is something in the
madness of this man which interests me more than
the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott."
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William Blake Occupations/Training:
William Blake became an Engraver's apprentice in
1771 (to James Basire). After 1779, he became an
engraver for a local Bookseller. With the help of his
a friend, he was eventually able to set up his own
engraving business in 1784. He continued to work
as an engraver-poet-prophet.
He also spent all but three years of his life in
London. And, from the time he was four years old,
Blake saw visions. He created poetry and
engravings that were a mix of vision, cruelty and
death, beliefs, and dreams.
Biography taken Aug. 3rd, 2007 from:
http://classiclit.about.com/cs/profileswriters/p/aa_wblake.htm
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Birth:
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst,
Massachusetts on December 10, 1830. She was the
second child of Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson.
Her family was prominent in Amherst. Her father was a
lawyer, and her grandfather was one of the founders of
Amherst College.
Emily Dickinson
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Education:
Emily Dickinson attended Amherst Academy, and then
left home to attend Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, in
South Hadly. Her misery and homesickness were too
much to endure, however. Here studies at the seminary
only lasted one year.
Dickinson returned home to her own personal reading,
writing, and living in isolation.
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Marriage:
Emily Dickinson never married, though her poetry is
often filled with passion and intensity. Some critics
believe that some of her love poems were directed
toward Reverend Charles Wadsworth.
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Death:
Death is a theme or thread that runs through Emily
Dickinson's poetry. She writes: "Death is a dialogue
between / The spirit and the dust..." In another poem,
she writes, "Because I could not stop for Death, / He
kindly stopped for me..."
3rd,
Biography taken Aug.
2007 from:
http://classiclit.about.com/cs/profileswriters/p/aa_edickinson.htm
Death was a traumatic force in her life, particularly
toward the end, as she lost her father, nephew, mother,
and others. On June 14, 1884, she suffered from an
attack. On May 15, 1886, she died.
Birth:
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Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963) was born in San Francisco
Education:
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He studied at Dartmouth College and Harvard but never
graduated; he worked in a mill, as a teacher and a farmer
until 1912 when he moved to England for three years where
he published his first volume of poems, A Boys Will.
Robert Frost
Career:
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He served as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress in
1958 and read his poem A Gift Outright at President John F.
Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.
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His poems are marked by naturalist qualities, a New England
setting, and the language of the common man.
Robert never in truth had any jobs, except being a poet, but
he published many poems in his lifetime.
Personal life:
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Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco,
California.
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When Frost was two years old, his mother fled to Lawrence,
Massachusetts, to get away from her husband, who was a
drunkard.
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She stayed there until her second baby was born, Jeannie,
Robert's sister.
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Then they went back to San Francisco on a train.
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A few years later, Robert's father died, so they took the body
to Lawrence to be buried in the family cemetery.
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By the time he was 11, Robert Frost had crossed the U.S.
three times.
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After this rough beginning, Robert went on to become a great
poet.
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He married Elinor White and had 2 kids.
Death:
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He died on January 29, 1963 of a heart attack. He was 88
years old.
Biography taken Aug. 3rd, 2007 from:
http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/poets/frost.htm
Personal Life:
Christina Rossitti
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Christina Georgina Rossetti (December 5, 1830 – December
29, 1894)
Her father was an Italian poet & her siblings were artist s
Rossetti was born in London and educated at home by her
mother.
In the 1840s her family was stricken with severe financial
difficulties due to the deterioration of her father's physical and
mental health.
When she was 14, Rossetti suffered a nervous breakdown
which was followed by bouts of depression and related illness.
During this period she, her mother, and her sister became
seriously interested in the Anglo-Catholic movement that was
part of the Church of England.
Writing Career:
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Rossetti began writing at age 7 but she was 31 before her first
work was published
Rossetti continued to write and publish for the rest of her life
although she focused primarily on devotional writing and
children's poetry.
She maintained a large circle of friends and for ten years
volunteered at a home for prostitutes.
She was ambivalent about women's suffrage but many
scholars have identified feminist themes in her poetry.
She was opposed to war, slavery (in the American South),
cruelty to animals (in the prevalent practice of animal
experimentation), the exploitation of girls in under-age
prostitution and all forms of military aggression.
Death:
Biography taken Aug. 3rd, 2007 from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti
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In 1893 Rossetti developed cancer and Graves' disease then
died the following year due to the cancer on December 29,
1894; she is buried in Highgate Cemetery.
Birth:
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Born to a working class family in Freehold, New Jersey
in 1949.
The Career:
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Springsteen fell in love with rock ‘n roll after watching
the Ed Sullivan Show one night.
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Elvis performed that night, and inspired the “Boss” to
start a career in music.
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He joined his first band in 1965, and despite the wishes
of his father, began jumping around with different bands
in the New Jersey seaside town of Asbury Park.
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Those battles with his father inspired his best loved
songs.
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As he played with these different bands, he started to
hook up with the musicians who would eventually
comprise the E-Street Band.
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When the family moved to California, Springsteen joined
them, but only briefly.
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In 1972, he returned to the East Coast and signed a
management deal with a producer named Mike Appeal.
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Springsteen to this day is still know for the album he
released in 1984, Born In The USA. One of the biggest
selling records of all-time, Born In The USA produced
seven top 10 singles, including Dancing In The Dark
and the title song, Born In The USA.
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At the peak of his popularity, Springsteen married
Julianne Phillips
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The Phillips marriage did not last, and in 1991
Springsteen married backup singer Patti Scialfa.
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The years of hard work and long tours finally paid off in
1999 when he was inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall Of
Fame.
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To this day, Springsteen continues to stay strong. B
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Bruce Springsteen will forever be a legend in the rock ‘n
roll world.
Death:
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Not yet!
Bruce Springsteen
Biography taken Aug. 3rd, 2007 from:
http://wvwv.essortment.com/springsteenbrus_rvnx.htm
Theodore
Roethke
Biography taken Aug. 3rd, 2007 from:
http://classiclit.about.com/cs/profiles
writers/p/aa_edickinson.htm
Birth:
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Theodore Roethke was born May 25, 1908, in Saginaw, Michigan.
Education:
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He attended Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw where he wrote a
speech for the Junior Red Cross that was published in 26 languages.
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His fathers death in 1923 and his intelligence made him insecure.
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This insecurity lead him to start drinking.
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From 1925 to 1929 he attended the University of Michigan where he
continued to drink heavily.
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He graduated magna cum laude and attempted law school for a
semester.
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He then attended graduate courses at University of Michigan and later
Harvard Graduate School where he worked with poet Robert Hillyer.
Career:
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When the Great Depression came Roethke was forced to take a
teaching job where he also coached tennis.
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This job lasted until 1935 where he then picked up a job teaching
English.
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He had his first occurrence of mental illness at this time. He was then
diagnosed with manic depression.
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During these times of depression Roethke would look inside himself
and use what he found in his poems.
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In 1941 Roethke finally came out with his first volume of verse called
Open House.
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The material in the volume was based heavily on himself.
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His second breakdown happened in 1945 and became more frequent
in his later years.
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His mental illness was eventually accepted as being part of his
personality.
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Words for the Wind was written in 1957 and won the Bollingen
Death:
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While visiting some friends in Brimbridge Island, Washington
Theodore Roethke died of a heart attack in 1963.
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Before for this fatal incident Roethke wrote 61 poems that were
published after his death in The Far Feild in 1964, which won the
National Book Award, and in The Collected Poems in 1966.
Birth:
• Born on January 25, 1933 at Windsor, Nova
Scotia
Education:
• Alden Nowlan left school before graduating
and during his adolescent years worked at a
variety of jobs, all of them menial, manual, or
both.
Career:
• He was a pulp cutter, a farmhand, a sawmill
worker, a night watchman, a ditch digger and a
logger.
• Primarily self-educated, he later went on to
work as a newspaperman, and published
poetry, plays, short stories, and novels.
• he is widely recognized as one of the most
important poets to appear in Canada in the
last thirty years.
• His poetry collection Bread, Wine and Salt won
the Governor’s General award in 1967.
• Much of his work reflects his regional roots
and an affection for the ordinary people.
Death:
• He died in Fredericton June 27, 1983.
Alden Nowlan
Biography taken Aug. 3rd, 2007 from:
http://classiclit.about.com/cs/profileswriters/p/aa_wblake.htm
Carl
Sandburg
Biography taken Aug. 3rd, 2007 from:
http://carl-sandburg.com/biography.htm
Birth:
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Carl Sandburg was born in the three-room cottage at 313 East Third Street in
Galesburg on January 6, 1878.
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was born the second of seven children
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The modest house, which is maintained by the Illinois Historic Preservation
Agency, reflects the typical living conditions of a late nineteenth century workingclass family.
Career:.
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Carl Sandburg worked from the time he was a young boy.
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He quit school following his graduation from eighth grade in 1891 and spent a
decade working a variety of jobs. He delivered milk, harvested ice, laid bricks,
threshed wheat in Kansas, and shined shoes in Galesburg's Union Hotel before
traveling as a hobo in 1897.
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His experiences working and traveling greatly influenced his writing and political
views.
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As a hobo he learned a number of folk songs, which he later performed at
speaking engagements.
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He saw first-hand the sharp contrast between rich and poor, a dichotomy that
instilled in him a distrust of capitalism.
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Writer, Political Organizer, Reporter
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As the first decade of the century wore on, Sandburg grew increasingly concerned
with the plight of the American worker.
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At party headquarters in Milwaukee, Sandburg met Lilian Steichen, whom he
married in 1908.
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The responsibilities of marriage and family prompted a career change.
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Sandburg returned to Illinois and took up journalism.
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For several years he worked as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News, covering
mostly labor issues and later writing his own feature.
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More poetry followed, along with Rootabaga Stories (1922), a book of fanciful
children's tales.
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He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940.
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Sandburg continued his prolific writing, publishing more poems, a novel, and an
autobiography.
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He won a second Pulitzer Prize in 1951.
Death:
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Sandburg died at his North Carolina home July 22, 1967.
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His ashes were returned, as he had requested, to his Galesburg birthplace.
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In the small Carl Sandburg Park behind the house, his ashes were placed beneath
Remembrance Rock, a red granite boulder.
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Ten years later the ashes of his wife were placed there.
Birth:
• Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in
Ottawa, Ontario.
Education:
• She earned a B.A. from Victoria College,
University of Toronto, and an M.A. from
Harvard.
Career:
• Waitress, lecturer
She is the author of over fifteen books of
poetry
• Atwood's work has been translated into
many languages and published in more
than twenty-five countries.
• Among her numerous honors and awards
are a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Molson
Award, the Ida Nudel Humanitarian Award,
and a Canada Short Fiction Award.
• In 1986 Ms Magazine named her Woman
of the Year.
• She has served as a Writer-In-Residence
and a lecturer at many colleges and
universities.
Death:
• Not Yet! Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto.
Margaret Atwood
Biography taken Aug. 3rd, 2007 from:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/746