The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England was born on this day in 1820, Anne Brontë lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a boarding school. At the age of nineteen, she left Haworth working as a governess between 1839 and 1845. After leaving her teaching position, she fulfilled her literary ambitions. She wrote a volume of poetry with her sisters and in short succession she wrote two novels. Agnes Grey, based upon her experiences as a governess, was published in 1847. Her second and last novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall appeared in 1848. Anne's life was cut short with her death of pulmonary tuberculosis when she was 29 years old.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/anne-bront/biography/

The poem I’m reading is “Appeal”.

​Rudyard Kipling died on January 18th, 1936. He was one of the most popular writers in England, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient. Among other honors, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/rudyard-kipling/biography/

The poem I’m reading is “Three Friends”.

Richard Le Gallienne (born January 20, 1866) was an English author. The American actress Eva Le Gallienne (1899-1991) was his daughter, by his second marriage. He was born in Liverpool. He started work in an accountant's office, but abandoned this job to become a professional writer. The book My Ladies' Sonnets appeared during 1887, and during 1889 became for a brief time literary secretary to Wilson Barrett.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/richard-le-gallienne/biography/

The poem I’m reading is “Soldier Going to the War”.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, died this day in 1898. He was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, and fantasy.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/lewis-carroll/biography/

The poem I’m reading is “A Strange Wild Song”.

Horatio Alger, born this day in 1832, was a prolific 19th-century American author, most famous for his novels following the adventures of bootblacks, newsboys, peddlers, buskers, and other impoverished children in their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of respectable middle-class security and comfort. His novels were hugely popular in their day.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/horatio-alger-jr/biography/
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The poem I’m reading is “Carving a Name”.

​Robert Graves was born in 1895 in Wimbledon, a suburb of London. Graves was known as a poet, lecturer, and novelist. He was also known as a classicist and a mythographer. Perhaps his first known and revered poems were the poems Groves wrote behind the lines in World War One. He later became known as one of the most superb English language 'Love' poets. He then became recognized as one of the finest love poets writing in the English language.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/robert-graves/biography/

The poem I’m reading today is “A Dead Boche”. Note that the word “Boche” refers to a German soldier.

Thomas Hardy died this day in 1928, and was born in the village of Upper Bockhampton, located in Southwestern England. His father was a stonemason and a violinist. His mother enjoyed reading and relating all the folk songs and legends of the region. Between his parents, Hardy gained all the interests that would appear in his novels and his own life: his love for architecture and music, his interest in the lifestyles of the country folk, and his passion for all sorts of literature.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/horatio-alger-jr/biography/

The poem I’m reading is “I said to Love”.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an African American abolitionist and poet. Born free in Baltimore, Maryland, she had a long and prolific career, publishing her first book of poetry at twenty and her first novel, the widely praised Iola Leroy, at age 67.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/frances-ellen-watkins-harper-2/biography/

The poem I’m reading is “Bury Me in a Free Land”.

Marianne Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. She was the daughter of construction engineer and inventor John Milton Moore and his wife, Mary Warner. She grew up in her grandfather's household; her father having been committed to a mental hospital before her birth. In 1905, Moore entered Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and graduated four years later. 

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/marianne-moore/biography/

The poem I’m reading is “A Jelly-Fish”.

Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian, and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.

For more information, access www.poemhunter.com/charles-kingsley/biography/

The poem I’m reading is “A Farewell”.