The history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th century to the present day. Over this period, English poets have written some of the most enduring poems in Western culture. Moreover, the language and its poetry have spread widely around the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is unavoidably ambiguous. It can mean poetry written in England, or poetry written in the English language. Here are some of the famous poets.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England. He was a great friend of Wordsworth, along with whom he published a volume of poems called “The Lyrical Ballads”. His poems, though less in number, lack no quality.
John Keats (1795-1821), renowned poet of the English Romantic Movement, wrote some of the greatest English language poems including “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”, “Ode to a
Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), English poet is often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. He began to write poetry at an early age in the style of Lord Byron. "In Memoriam" , an elegy for his lost friend-took seventeen years to complete. "The Lady of Shaloot", " The Lotus-eaters", "Morted Arthur " and "Ulysses" appeared in 1842 in the two-volume Poems and established his reputation as a writer. Tennyson succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850.
(December 1822 - April 1888)
Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. His notable work are "Dover Beach","The Scholar-Gipsy" and "Thyrsis". Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with Alfred , Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning. He died sudenly in 1888.
Lord George Gorbon Byron
Lord George Gorbon Byron commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. He was born with a clubfoot and became extremely sensitive about his lameness. Among Byron's best-known works are the brief poems ' She Walks in Beauty'; 'When We Two Parted' , and 'So, we'll go no more a Roving' ; in addition to the narrative poems 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' and 'Don Juan'. Byron's influence on European poetry, music, novel, opera, and painting has been immense, He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read as well as influential.
Christina Georgina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic,devotional, and children’s poems. She is best known for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem ‘Remember’, and for the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter.She dictated her first story to her mother before she had learned to write. Rossetti was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, an important Victorian poet and painter. A short lyric written about her death is worth quoting:
John Milton was born on December 9, 1608, in London. His father was also a composer of church
educated at St Paul’s School and Christ’s College, Cambridge. He began writing poetry at university, where he gained the nickname of “The Lady of Christ’s”. He wrote in Latin, Italian as well as in English, and had an international reputation during his lifetime. He is best known for his epic poem, Paradise Lost.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822) was one of the major English romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron. The novelist Mary Shelley, was his second wife. He is most famous for such classic anthology verse works as ‘Ozymandias’, ‘Ode to the West Wind’, ‘To a Skylark’, ‘Music’, ‘When Soft Voices Die’, ‘The Cloud’ and ‘The Masque of Anarchy’, which are among the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language.
William Wordswort
William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850) was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth’s magnum opus is generally onsidered to be ‘The Prelude’, a semi-autobiographical poem of his early years, which he
which it was generally known as the poem “to Coleridge”. Wordsworth was Britain’s Poet
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In later life, he became an opium-addict, which affected his poetic career. He is now remembered, mainly for his three great poems, “The Ancient Mariner”, “Christabel”and
“Kublakhan’.
“Kublakhan’.
Nightingale”, and “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. He was born at Finsbury, London, in 1795 as the son of a stable keeper. He was gifted with a rare poetic talent. Though qualified to be a surgeon, he was determined to be a poet. Among the romantic poets, Keats was the last to be born and the first to die, at an early age of twenty five. Keats, during his very brief poetic career of just three years, wrote many famous poems. He was a worshipper of beauty who said, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.’
Keat’s life was unhappy because of the terrible
disease, tuberculosis, which was prevalent in
his family. He too fell a victim to it and died
on February 23, 1821. His early death and
great promise inspired poet Shelley to compose his beautiful elegy 'Adonais'. The epitaph on his grave had been written by Keats himself which read, " Here lies one whose name was writ in water."
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
(December 1822 - April 1888)Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. His notable work are "Dover Beach","The Scholar-Gipsy" and "Thyrsis". Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with Alfred , Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning. He died sudenly in 1888.
Lord George Gorbon Byron
Christina Georgina Rossetti
“When I am dead my dearest
Sing no sad songs for me
Plant thou no roses at my head
Nor shady cypress tree
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dew drops wet
And if thou wilt remember
And if thou wilt forget.”
John Milton
John Milton was born on December 9, 1608, in London. His father was also a composer of church
music, and Milton
himself experienced
a lifelong delight in
music.
Milton was
educated at St Paul’s School and Christ’s College, Cambridge. He began writing poetry at university, where he gained the nickname of “The Lady of Christ’s”. He wrote in Latin, Italian as well as in English, and had an international reputation during his lifetime. He is best known for his epic poem, Paradise Lost.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822) was one of the major English romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron. The novelist Mary Shelley, was his second wife. He is most famous for such classic anthology verse works as ‘Ozymandias’, ‘Ode to the West Wind’, ‘To a Skylark’, ‘Music’, ‘When Soft Voices Die’, ‘The Cloud’ and ‘The Masque of Anarchy’, which are among the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language.
William Wordswort
revised and expanded a number of times. It
was posthumously titled and published, prior to
Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.
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