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Year 1 Poetry Anthology: Index of Poets

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 1836-1907: American newspaper and magazine editor, poet.

Alexander, Cecil Frances, 1818-1895: Anglo-Irish hymnwriter and poet. She was best known for "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and "Once in Royal David's City."

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1809-1892: Poet Laureate of England for most of Queen Victoria's reign.

Allingham, William, 1824-1889: Irish poet, editor.

Bangs, John Kendrick, 1862-1922: American author known most for humor and satire.

Belloc, Hilaire, 1870-1953: Anglo-French writer, historian, poet, sailor, soldier, activist.

Betham-Edwards, Matilda, 1836-1919: English poet, novelist, travel-writer, and author of many books about France. Born Matilda Betham, she hyphenated her name to include her mother's surname of Edwards.

Blake, William, 1757-1827: English poet, mystic, and ardent abolitionist who argued for fair treatment for all people.

Braithwaite, William Stanley, 1878-1962: Black American writer, poet, literary critic, anthologist, and publisher. His father died while he was still young. At twelve he quit school to help his family. He became an errand boy. Then he apprenticed with a publishing house to learn typesetting. He read as he typeset and proofed the pages, and "the 15-year-old fell under the spell of poetry--prompted, he later recalled, by John Keats's 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.'" He began to write his own poems, and published his first book in 1904. As a magazine editor and newspaper columnist, he launched the careers of many poets, Black and white; and his anthologies rekindled an interest in poetry across all of America.

Brown, Thomas Edward, 1830-1897: poet, scholar, schoolmaster and theologian from the Isle of Man.

Browne, Jane Euphemia, 1811-1898: English poet and hymnist.

Browning, Robert, 1812-1889: English poet and playwright. His most popular poem for children was "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."

Burr, Amelia Josephine, 1878-1968: American poet, playwright, lyricist. Served in the Red Cross during WWI.

Canton, William, 1845-1926: British poet, journalist, writer.

Carney, Julia Fletcher, 1823-1908: American educator, poet, author, and editor.

Carroll, Lewis, 1832-1898: British writer, mathematician, best known as the author of Alice in Wonderland.

Cary, Alice, 1820-1871: American poet and author.

Chesterton, G. K., 1874-1936: Well known British author, poet, and essayist.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834: English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian. Close friends with poet William Wordsworth. They were both founders of the Romantic poetry movement, and part of the group of poets known as The Lake Poets.

Coleridge, Sara, 1802-1852: Daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author, translator, writer of instructive verses for children.

Cooper, George, 1840-1927: American poet, writer, lawyer. He wrote poems as a child. He also wrote hymns.

Cotter Jr., Joseph S., 1895-1919: Black American poet of extraordinary skill. His father was also a renowned poet. Unfortunately, Joseph Jr. left us only around 20 poems (of exquisite beauty), as he died of tuberculosis at age 24.

Cowper, William, 1731-1800: English poet and hymnwriter.

De la Mare, Walter, 1873-1956: English poet, writer. Known best for his children's stories. He also wrote ghost stories.

Dekker, Thomas, 1570-1632: English Elizabethan dramatist. His work spans several decades, with a seven-year break while he was in debtor's prison.

Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886: American poet. Only about ten of her nearly 2000 poems were published while she was alive.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882: American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist and poet who led the transcendentalist movement.

Fauset, Jessie Redmon, 1882-1961: Black American poet, editor, writer, teacher. She worked for W. E. B. Dubois editing The Crisis and The Brownies Book (a magazine for Black children). A gifted writer herself, she had an eye for talent. She was the first to bring a number of key Black writers and poets to print for the first time. Langston Hughes said she was "the midwife for the Harlem Renaissance."

Field, Eugene, 1850-1895: American poet, journalist, newspaper editor. Devoted family man.

Frost, Robert, 1874-1963: American poet. He was invited to read one of his poems at the inauguration ceremony of John F. Kennedy, the first time a poet participated in an American presidential inauguration.

Fyleman, Rose, 1877-1957: English poet, writer, singer and singing teacher. There were fairies in the bottom of her garden.

Gifford, Fannie Stearns nee Davis, 1884-1958: American poet, English teacher.

Grahame, Kenneth, 1859 -1932: British writer born in Scotland. Best known for his delightful book The Wind in the Willows.

Greenaway, Kate, 1846-1901: English illustrator and writer. Born to a working class family, her mother was a seamstress who ran a children's dress shop, and her father was an engraver. As a child she loved reading fairy tales and Shakespeare.

Hemans, Felicia Dorothea, 1793-1835: English poet who grew up in Wales. Published her first poems when she was 14.

Herford, Oliver, 1863-1935: English writer and illustrator who moved to America after he finished college.

Hickson, William, 1803-1870: British educator, editor, writer.

Hovey, Richard, 1864-1900: American poet, playwright, translator.

Howitt, Mary, 1799-1888: English writer. Married to William Howitt. Together they wrote and published numerous stories and books. She was also a poet, and she translated many of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales.

Howitt, William, 1792-1879: English writer. Married to Mary Howitt. Author of numerous books on history, literature, travel, and religion.

Hughes, Langston, 1901-1967: Black American, member of the Harlem Renaissance. Prolific and powerful poet. Jessie Redmon Fauset published his first poems.

Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885: French author of essays, poems, novels, and plays. Still widely read, and his most popular novel, Les Miserables, has been produced as a musical.

Hunt, Leigh, 1784-1859: English poet, author, he introduced many of the best-known poets to the public.

Ingelow, Jean, 1820-1897: English poet and author. Mopsa the Fairy is one of her more popular characters.

Jackson, Helen Hunt, 1830-1885: American writer, poet, and activist who fought for fair treatment of American Indian tribes.

Janvier, Margaret Thomson, 1845-1913: American poet and author of children's stories. She published using a pseudonym, Margaret Vandegrift.

Keats, John, 1795-1821: English poet who died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. His poems have inspired many.

Ken, Thomas, 1637-1711: English poet, hymn-writer, Anglican priest.

Kilmer, Joyce, 1886-1918: American poet best known for a poem called "Trees." He was also a journalist, critic, and lecturer. His writing included references to his devout Roman Catholic faith. He died in WWI, shot by a sniper.

Kingsley, Charles, 1819-1875: English poet, reformer, author, historian and professor with a wide range of interests.

Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936: English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. Born in India, he lived there until he was five, and then again as a young man. He borrowed liberally from all traditions, and several of his Just So Stories are reworked folk tales and myths from Malaysia and other countries.

Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834: English essayist, poet. Wrote Tales from Shakespeare with his sister Mary. Friend and correspondent with many famous writers of his day.

Le Gallienne, Richard, 1866-1947: English poet and newspaperman. He was born in Liverpool, but spent much of his later life in Paris.

Lear, Edward, 1812-1888: English poet, writer, illustrator. Popularized the limerick.

Lee, Marie Effie (later Newsome), 1885-1979: Black American poet known especially for her nature poetry for children. Published Gladiola Garden: Poems of Outdoors and Indoors for Second Grade Readers, which is back in print thanks to Living Books Press.

Lindsay, Vachel, 1879-1931: American poet and early performance artist. Early in his career he traveled the country, trading his poems for food.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882: American poet, author, linguist, translator, abolitionist.

Lowell, Amy, 1874-1925: American poet; her family was upper class and influential. She was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer for her poetry in 1926.

Lowell, James Russell, 1819-1891: American poet, professor, diplomat to Spain, abolitionist.

MacDonald, George, 1824-1905: Scottish author, poet, minister. Early writer of fantasy novels.

Masefield, John, 1878-1967: English poet and writer. Served as English Poet Laureate for 37 years.

McClellan, George Marion, 1860-1934: Black American poet, writer, minister, educator. Graduated from Fisk University. His first volume of poetry was published in 1895.

McCrae, John, 1872-1918: Canadian poet, physician, soldier. Served in WWI. Best known for "In Flanders Fields." He died of pneumonia near the end of the war.

Millay, Edna St. Vincent, 1892-1950: American poet and playwright.

Milnes, Richard Monckton, Lord Houghton, 1809-1885: Poet, politician, member of the aristocracy, patron of the arts. He courted Florence Nightingale for seven years, but she refused to marry him. (They remained friends.)

Moore, William H. A., 1871-1938: Black American poet and newspaperman, working for both Black and white newspapers. Born in New York, retired to Chicago.

Morley, Christopher, 1890-1957: American novelist, journalist, poet.

Morris, George Pope, 1802-1864: American editor, poet, songwriter.

Nesbit, Edith, 1858-1924: English author and poet. She wrote nearly sixty books, most of them for children.

Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849: American writer, poet, short story writer, journalist.

Rands, William Brighty, 1823-1882: English poet, writer, and reporter for the House of Commons. He wrote under nearly thirty different pseudonyms, so his works are hard to track down. Best known now for his two volumes of Chaucer's World and his verses for children. His parents were quite poor, and he largely taught himself through reading books at secondhand bookstores..

Richards, Laura E. or Elizabeth, 1850-1943: American writer, poet, author of around 90 books, including a biography she wrote with her sister about their mother, who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Riley, James Whitcomb, 1849-1916: American poet, known as the Hoosier poet because he is from Indiana and Indiana is the Hoosier state. Best known for his dialect poems featuring the accents of people native to the border of Kentucky and Indiana.

Roberts, Elizabeth Madox, 1881-1941: American writer and poet. She enrolled in college in 1917 when she was 36 years old, studying literature and philosophy.

Rossetti, Christina, 1830-1894: English poet. She also wrote two Christmas carols. Youngest of four children, one of her brothers was the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Sangster, Margaret, 1838-1912: American poet and author, book reviewer, editor, journalist.

Saxe, John Godfrey, 1816-1887: American poet and satirist. He was known for his amusing poems and stories, until three of his four children and a daughter-in-law died of tuberculosis, and his wife died within the same year. He then retired from public life.

Scott, Sir Walter, 1771-1832: Scottish novelist, writer, poet, historian. He wrote a number of historical novels known as the Waverly series. He was the youngest of nine children. He contracted polio when he was two, which left him with a lifelong limp, but he did not let this discourage him.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616: English. The Bard. His sonnets and plays have stood the test of time, having been performed, studied, read, and loved by the world for five hundred years. His characters are timeless and insightful. His vocabulary is rich and extensive. He added hundreds of new phrases and words to the English language. His plays are memorable and speak to the universal human spirit. Never trust the literary opinions of anybody who says Shakespeare is not a big deal.

Smyth Edward Jones, 1881-1968: Black American poet. He attended a mechanical school for 14 months and then published a volume of his poetry. He tried to study at Harvard, supporting himself by working as a janitor, but he was unable to earn and save enough money to enroll. He worked as a waiter and a general laborer.

Stein, Evaleen, 1863-1923: American poet, author, illustrator. Her family had been well to do, but her father died while she and her brother were still young, and they struggled after that. Evaleen published poetry and wrote stories to help support the family. She wrote poems about nature. She was a talented artist as well. She wrote a series of books about how children around the world live.

Stephens, James, 1880/2-1950: Irish poet. His father died when he was two. At six, he was found begging on the streets and was sent to a boys' reform school. He worked various low paying jobs, and then managed to join a gymnastics club which subsequently won the Irish Shield championship. He told stories of having been a tramp wandering the countryside, fighting dogs for bread and chasing ducks at city parks hoping to catch one and eat it. He was considered a radical, and his poems were often about working-class people and ideas.

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894: Scottish poet, travel writer, novelist, author of numerous adventure tales. He lived in Samoa the last years of his life and was a passionate supporter of Samoan independence.

Swett, Susan Hartley, 1843-1907: Not much is known about her. She wrote poems which were often published in Harpers and similar magazines. Her sister Sophie or Sophia wrote historical fiction for children.

Tadema, Laurence Alma, 1864-1940: British poet and daughter of the pre-Raphaelite painter Lawrence Alma-Tadeema. She did not marry anyone. We do not know if she kept a squirrel and a rabbit.

Talley, Thomas W., 1870-1952: Black American, chemist, professor, collector of poetry and folk rhymes in the Black tradition. He was one of 8 children born to two former slaves. He chaired the chemistry department of Fisk University for 25 years. He began collecting folk tales, rhymes, and folk songs from Black traditions and published his collection of over 300 examples in 1922. It was the first such collection ever compiled by a Black scholar, and was also the first collection of folk songs of any kind from Tennessee. We have adapted poems from his anthology Negro Folk Rhymes (Wise and Otherwise) for this collection.

Taylor, Ann: English poet and abolitionist. Sister to Jane. Her family was poor, and since he could not provide them a dowry, their father apprenticed the sisters to an engraver so they would be able to make their own living if necessary. They became authors when the girls sent some of their poetry to a newspaper and the editor wrote their father asking if his children could write more poems for him to publish.

Taylor, Jane, 1783-1824: English poet and novelist. Sister to Ann. She is best known today for her poem "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Teasdale, Sara, 1884-1933: American poet.

Tennyson, Alfred Lord, 1809-1892: British poet, England's poet laureate through most of Queen Victoria's reign. He is one of the most frequently quoted poets, and contributed many phrases to the English language.

Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1868: English novelist, journalist, lecturer, and poet.

Turner, Elizabeth, 1775-1846: We could find no information about this poet except the names of some of her poems, dates of birth and death, and it seems she was English.

Wadsworth, Olive, 1835-1886: American poet. Wadsworth was a pen name. Her real name was Katherine Floyd Dana. She often just used the initials, O. A. W. which secretly stood for 'Only a Woman.' She helped her husband by writing articles and editing his financial and business newspaper.

Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748: English hymn writer and poet, Author of "Joy to the World."

Wheeler Wilcox, Ella, 1855-1919: American poet and author. Much beloved by the general reading public, less popular with critics. By the time she finished high school, she was already a popular poet in her native state of Wisconsin.

Whitman, Albery Allson, 1851-1901: Black American poet. Born into slavery in 1851. Orphaned at 12. Emancipated during the Civil War. Supported himself and his family working as a handyman, a teacher, a railroad worker, a financial representative, a minister, and a poet. He published three volumes of poetry before his death from pneumonia at age 50. Often they include themes of Black and Native Americans working together.

Whitney, Adeline, 1824-1906: American poet, author of popular novels for girls.

Wordsworth, Dorothy, 1771-1855: English diarist, poet, sister to William. She and her brother William were very close as children, but when their mother died, their father sent William away to school. They were seven and eight at the time, and would not meet in person again for nine more years. When they were adults they were able to afford a cottage together, with another brother who often was at sea. She kept a journal about their walks and travels and the things they saw. William would often consult it later as a sort of writing prompt for his poems. She wrote prolifically in private life, diaries, letters, stories, poems, but had no desire to be a published writer. Her friends and family admired and loved her dearly.

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850: English poet, brother to Dorothy; helped found the Romantic movement, which was a change from the decorum and formal poetry of the 18th century. He wanted to write about everyday people and everyday events in words ordinary people might use.

Wylie, Elinor, 1885-1928: American poet and novelist.

Wynne, Annette: American children's poet. Her best-known book, For Days and Days: A Year Round Treasury of Child Verse, was published in 1919.

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