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Scanning the favourites
Amrita Pritam
(B 1919, D 2005)
AMRITA PRITAM was amongst the outstanding literary figures of present-day India, she was the only woman recipient of the Sahitya Akademi’s award for literature. Amrita had published over two dozen collection of poems, short-stories and novels. The Skeleton(pinjar) is the first Punjabi novel to be translated into English. She was an eminent Punajbi poet and a prolific writer. She had to her credit twenty-four novels, fifteen collections of short stories and twenty-three volumes of prose. Her works had been defined as a 'woman's lyric cry against existential fate and societal abuse', and have been widely translated. She was conferred the D.Litt. Degree by five universities. She was the first woman recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and was honored with Padma Shree in 1969. Two of her novels have been made into films. She received the Vaptarow Award in 1980 and the Bhartiya Jnanpith Award in 1982. She passed away in year 2005.
Daily wages (Lekhni-July-2007)
I will meet you again! (Lekhni-July-2007)
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Alan Seeger.
(1888-1916)
Alan Seeger was a young, early 20th century U.S. poet, a contemporary of T.S. Eliot, although very different in poetic style. Seeger died at Belloy-en-Santerre on July 4, 1916 while serving in the French Foreign Legion. "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" was one of John F. Kennedy's favorite poems and he often asked his wife to recite it.
Seeger's poetry was not published until 1917, a year after his death. Alan Seeger, as one who knew him can attest, lived his whole life on this plane, with impeccable poetic dignity; everything about him was in keeping." The man who wrote this review of 'Poems' was T. S. Eliot, Seeger's classmate at Harvard.
I have a Rendezvous with death (Lekhni-August-2007)
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Dylan Marlais Thomas
1914-53
Born in Swansea, Wales, he was famous for his heavy drinking and innovative and new imagery. Most talked about poems: And Death shall have no dominon and Do not go gentle into the goodnight; which keep on resurfacing in different anthologies. Born 27th october 1914 , Swansea, Wales. Died Greenwich village , Manhattan, New york city on the 9'th of nov(aged 39). We can clearly see the influences of D.H.Lawrence, Welsh mythology and James Joyes in his creative thought process and he influenced John Lennon and Bob Dylon.Dylan Thomas died in Manhatten, Newyork city; aged 39. Literary movement Romanticism and Modernism.
That sanity be kept- (Lekhni-November-2007)
The force that through the green fuse-(Lekhni-November-2007)
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George Gordon Byron
(22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824)
6th Baron Byron was an Anglo-Scottish poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. Among Lord Byron's best-known works are the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. The latter remained incomplete on his death. He was regarded as one of the greatest European poets and remains widely read.
Lord Byron's fame rests not only on his writings but also on his life, which featured extravagant living, numerous love affairs, debts, separation, and allegations of incest and sodomy. He was famously described by Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know."
He created the concept of the 'Byronic hero' - a defiant, melancholy young man, brooding on some mysterious, unforgivable event in his past. Byron's influence on European poetry, music, novel, opera, and painting has been immense, although the poet was widely condemned on moral grounds by his contemporaries.
So we'll go roving no more (lekhni-June-2007)
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Frederick Louis MacNeice
(12-9- 1907 – 3-9- 1963)
Frederick Louis MacNeice a British and Irish poet and playwright was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and C. Day Lewis; nicknamed MacSpaunday as a group. His body of work was widely appreciated by the public during his lifetime, due in part to his relaxed, but socially and emotionally aware style. Never as overtly (or simplistically) political as some of his contemporaries, his work shows a humane opposition to totalitarianism as well as an acute awareness of his Irish roots.
He wrote in the introduction to his Autumn Journal:
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Poetry in my opinion must be honest before anything else and I refuse to be 'objective' or clear-cut at the cost of honesty. |
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Poem- Autobiography-(LEkhni-March-2008)
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Jenny Joseph
Warning (Lekhni-March-2007)
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Sir John Betjeman
(28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984)
Sir John Betjeman CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack". He was born to a middle-class family in Edwardian Hampstead. Although he claimed he failed his degree at Oxford University, his early ability in writing poetry and interest in architecture supported him throughout his life. Starting his career as a journalist, he ended it as British Poet Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television.
Christmas (Lekhni-December-2007)
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John Clare
(13 July 1793– 20 May 1864)
John Clare was an English poet, in his time commonly known as "the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet", born the son of a farm labourer at Helpston near peterborough . His poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in the late 20th century and he is often now considered to be one of the most important 19th-century poets.
First Love (Lekhni-12-feburary-2008)
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John Lennon
(9-10- 1940 – 8-12- 1980)
John Ono Lennon, MBE (born John Winston Lennon; an English rock musician, singer and songwriter, gained worldwide fame as one of the founders of The Beatles. In his solo career, Lennon wrote and recorded songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".
Lennon revealed his rebellious nature and irreverent wit on television, in films such as A Hard Day's Night, in books such as In His Own Write, and in press conferences and interviews. He channelled his penchant for controversy into his work as a peace activist, artist, and author.
Imagine-(Lekhni-March-2008)
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John Masefield
1-6-1878- 1967
Poet, novelist, dramatist and journalist, John Masefield's literary career was rich and varied, and although his reputation waned in later years, he is again being recognized for his wide range, encompassing ballads, nature poetry and mythological narrative, and for his attempt to make poetry a popular art.
To many, John Masefield is simply known as the poet who wrote about the sea. Some also know him as one of the Poet Laureates. It is certain however that one is not appointed Poet Laureate by simply writing verse about ships, salt water, and wind.
It would be far better, if it is needed to describe Masefield in very few words, to call him the poet who wrote of beauty and experience.
Sea Fever (Lekhni-11-january 2008)
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Percy Bysshe Shelley
One of the finest English Romantic Poet; he became the idol of the next two or three generations of poets, including the major Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets Robert Browning, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, as well as William Butler Yeats and poets in other languages such as Jibanananda Das and Subramanya Bharathy. He was also admired by Karl Marx, Henry Stephens Salt, and Bertrand Russell. Famous for his association with his equally short-lived contemporaries John Keats and Lord Byron, he was married to novelist Mary Shelley. Shelley's unconventional life and uncompromising idealism, combined with his strong skeptical voice, made him a notorious and much denigrated figure during his life.
Love's Philosophy(Lekhni-12-feburary-2008)
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Rabindranath Tagore
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| 7-5-1861-7-8-1941 |
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Ravindra Nath Tagore, born And died in Calcutta is a towering figure in literature. A cultural icon of Bengal and India, he became Asia's first Nobel laureate when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. He established Viswa-Bharti or Shanti-Niketan... a gift to the world of his undying love and dedication to Art and literature.
Tagore's works included numerous novels, short-stories, collection of songs, dance-drama, political and personal essays. Some prominent examples are Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World). His verse, short stories, and novels—many defined by rhythmic lyricism, colloquial language, meditative naturalism, and philosophical contemplation—received worldwide acclaim. Tagore was also a cultural reformer and polymath who modernised Bengali art by rejecting strictures binding it to classical Indian forms. Two songs from his rabindrasangeet canon are now the national anthems of Bangladesh and India: 'the Amar Shonar Bangla' and the 'Jana Gana Mana'.
Ordinary woman (Lekhni-March-2007)
Ferry-boat (Lekhni-October-2007)
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Robert Frost
(1874-1963)
Robert Frost, four-time Pulitzer Prize winning American poet, teacher and lecturer wrote many popular and oft-quoted poems including “After Apple-Picking”, “The Road Not Taken”, “Home Burial” and “Mending Wall”;
The Road Not taken (Lekhni-April-2007)
Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening ( Lekhni-December2007)
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Rudyard Kipling
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Born: |
December 30, 1865 Bombay, India |
Died: |
January 18, 1936 (aged 70)
Middlesex Hospital, London, England |
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Occupation: |
Short story writer, novelist, poet, Journalist |
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Nationality: |
British |
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Short story, novel, children's literature, poetry, travel literature
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If-(Lekhni-October-2007)
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Rupert Brook
Rupert Brook born in Rugby England was famous for his poetry as well as his good looks.
The Hill (Lekhni-June-2007)
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Stevie Smith
(1902 - 1971 )
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Florence Margaret Smith was born on September 20, 1902 in Hull, England. Her father left the family to join the North Sea Patrol when she was just a young girl. She moved at the age of three to Palmers Green where she attended the North London Colliegate School. While still only a teenager her mother died and she and her sister went to live with their spinster aunt. The aunt became an important figure in her life, affectionately known as "The Lion".
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While Smith's volatile attachment to the Church of England is evident in her poetry, death, her "gentle friend," is perhaps her most popular subject. Much of her inspiration came from theology and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. She enjoyed readingTennyson and Browning and read few contemporary poets in an attempt to keep her voice original and pure. Her style is unique in its combination of seemingly prosaic statements, variety of voices, playful meter, and deep sense of irony. Smith was officially recognized with the Chomondeley Award for Poetry in 1966 and the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1969. Smith died of a brain tumor in 1971. ..
Not waving but drowning (Lekhni-August-2007)
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Wystan Hugh Auden
(21-2 1907– 29 -9-1973)
W. H. Auden was born in york city and grew up in Birmingham in a middle class educated family . He himself went to Oxford to read English literature. Auden an Anglo-American poet, regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. His work is noted for its stylistic and technical achievements, its engagement with moral and political issues, and its variety of tone, form, and content. The central themes of his poetry are: personal love, politics and citizenship, religion and morals, and the relationship between unique human beings and the anonymous, impersonal world of nature.
Oh tell me the truth about love - (Lekhni-12-Feburary 2008)
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William Henry Davies
(1871-1940)
William Henry Davies, poet and author, was born in Pillgwenlly, Newport, Monmouthshire. After leaving school he trained as a carver and gilder, but remained dissatisfied with his life. He left his work and spent a period working and begging his way across the United States of America and Canada, but in March 1899 he lost his foot while jumping from a train. He returned to Britain and resolved to make his mark as a poet. After experiencing many setbacks he eventually published his first book, 'The Soul's Destroyer and Other Poems' in March 1905. Subsequent volumes included 'New Poems' (1907), 'Nature Poems' (1908), 'Farwell to Poesy' (1910), 'Songs of Joy' (1911), 'Foliage' (1913), and 'The Bird of Paradise' (1914). He also wrote prose and his 'Autobiography of a Super-Tramp' (1908) was based on his experiences of living hand-to-mouth in England and north America. In 1923 he married Helen Payne, a prostitute who was thirty years his junior. They settled in Sussex and later Gloucestershire. He was awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of Wales in 1929 and a plaque in his honour was unveiled at the Church House Inn, Newport, in 1938.
The Moon And A Cloud (Lekhni-7-September-2007)
Shooting Stars (Lekhni-7-September-2007)
Leisure (Lekhni-11-January 2008)
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William Wordswrth
7-4-1770-23-4-1850
William Wordsworth was a major English romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their 1798 joint publication, Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth's masterpiece is generally considered to be The Prelude, an autobiographical poem of his early years that was revised and expanded a number of times. It was never published during his lifetime, and was only given the title after his death. Up until this time it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge". Wordsworth was England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.
Daffodils (Lekhni-May-2007)
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William Butler Yeats
(13-6-1865-28-1-1939)
W.B. Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and together with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre and served as its chief playwright during its early years. Yeats was a pillar of the Irish literary establishment and was an Irish Senator for two terms. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation".
Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers whose greatest works were completed after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929).
Yeats was educated in London, but spent his childhood holidays in Sligo. He studied painting in his youth, and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. These topics feature heavily in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1887, and these slowly paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as to the lyricism of the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He renounced the transcendentalism of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual existence, masks and cyclical theories of life. Over the years Yeats adopted many different political positions, including, in the words of the critic Michael Valdez Moses, "those of radical nationalist, classical liberal, reactionary conservative, and millenarian nihilist".
He wishes for Clothes of heaven ( Lekhni-April-2007)
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