Born: March 31, 1621, Winestead, England Died: August 16, 1678 (aged 57), London, England Notable Works: “To His Coy Mistress”, “The Garden”, “An Horatian Ode” Andrew Marvell (31 March 1621 — 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician. He is remembered for his style of writing and satirical and religious themes […]

Born: March 6, 1806, Kelloe, Durham, England Died: June 29, 1861 (aged 55), Florence, Kingdom of Italy Notable Works: “How Do I Love Thee?”, Aurora Leigh Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett) (6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet, famous both in the United Kingdom and the United States during her time. […]

Born: c. January, 1572, London, England Died: March 31, 1631 (aged 59), London, England Notable Works: “Holy Sonnets”, “Death, Be Not Proud”, “The Canonization”, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”, “Batter My Heart”, “Anniversaries”, “Pseudo-Martyr”, “Songs and Sonnets”, “Paradoxes and Problems”, “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions” John Donne (c. January 1572 — 31 March 1631) was an English […]

Born: baptised November 1567, Lowetoft, Suffolk Died: c. 1601 (aged 33-34) Notable Works: Summer’s Last Will and Testament Thomas Nashe (baptised November 1567 – c. 1601) was an Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer. His most famous works are The Unfortunate Traveller and Summer’s Last Will and Testament. Very little is known about […]

Born: July 28, 1844, Stratford, England Died: June 8, 1889 (aged 44), Dublin, Ireland Notable Works: “Binsey Poplars”, “Pied Beauty”, “The Windhover: To Christ our Lord”, The Wreck of the Deutschland Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest. While he did not gain fame during […]

Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, classical scholar and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge, best known for his poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published in 1751. While Gray is regarded as the foremost English-language poet of the mid-18th century, he was very self-critical and published only […]

Born: November 30, 1554, Kent, England Died: October 17, 1586 (aged 31), Zutphen, Netherlands Notable Works: Astrophel and Stella, The Defence of Poesy, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier. While he did not write much poetry and certainly […]

Born: May 21, 1688, London, England Died: May 30, 1744 (aged 56), Middlesex, England Notable Works: The Dunciad, The Rape of the Lock, An Essay on Criticism, His translation of Homer Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 — 30 May 1744) was an English poet, considered the foremost English poet of the early 18th century and […]

Born: baptised August 24, 1591, London, England Died: buried October 15, 1674 (aged 83), Devon, England Notable Works: Hesperides Robert Herrick (baptised 24 August 1591 – buried 15 October 1674) was an English poet and cleric. While not particularly famous during his lifetime, he wrote over 2,500 poems, about half of which appear in his […]

Born: April 17, 1621, Brecknockshire, Wales Died: April 23, 1695 (aged 74), Brecknockshire, Wales Notable Works: Silex Scintillans Henry Vaughan (17 April 1621 — 23 April 1695) was a Welsh metaphysical poet, author, translator and physician. He is best known for his poem Silex Scintillans which was published in 1650, with a second part in […]