POETRY

His work reads through the urban imperatives of human landscapes in the city. He has twice been awarded the Jabuti Prize, one of the greatest literary honours in Brazil (firstly in 1986, and later in 2010). He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1940. Follower of the modernist poetic tradition (but also strongly influenced by the works of …

Before dying, he dictated to his personal secretary, Ariel Silva what would become his last poem. In the Spanish-speaking world he was considered one of Latin America’s most important writers from the latter half of the 20th-century. At age four the boy was taken to Montevideo, where he received a superior education at a private school. Mario Benedetti was born …

Chinese critics prefer to interpret Li Shangyin’s love poetry as allegory. Li Shangyin, is the love poet par excellence in the Chinese tradition. His poems set a trend for later Chinese love poetry. He was born into the lower aristocracy but lost his father, a low-ranking official, when he was 10 years old. Much of his love poetry has a …

It was in the 10th century that authentic Hindi poetry took its form. About 500 million people speak Hindi, in India and abroad, and the total number of people who can understand the language may be 800 million. Hindi can be traced back to as early as the seventh or eighth century. Hindi is the Fifth most spoken language in …

He perfected the ottava rima, and was among the first scholars of the Renaissance, and a poet of unfailing artistry. Angelo Poliziano (or Angiolo), was born at Montepulciano. He was tutor to the sons of Lorenzo de’ Medici, becoming in 1480 Professor of Greek and Latin Literature at Florence. Held many benefices, which were withdrawn from him on the death …

EXPLORING THE KNOWN – Between the eye and the way there is an abyss; and before and behind another. And no return, not knowing what to watch, I try to focus pended between abysses. I am seeking a vanishing point, a fountain, the horizon on grass and blue setback, another point, the expansion of a beach. Look for the half-naked …

HORSEHAIR GOLD CRESPO – Pietro Bembo Horsehair crape gold and amber clear and pure, which has the aura of the snow floats and flies, gentle eyes and lighter than the sun, to do serene day the dark night. Rice, who could dispel any harsh punishment and harsh, rubies and pearls, where to go out so sweet words, that other good …

His personal life was made difficult by his conflicts with the authorities who disapproved of his liberal views. He is the greatest of all Russian writers, and major part of his lyrical poetry was written between 1820 and 1830. Some of his poetical masterpieces were composed in the last seven years of his life. By effecting a new synthesis between …

Emily Dickinson, poet of the interior life. Nothing about her adult appearance or habitation revealed such a militant soul. Only poems, written quietly in a room of her own, often hand-stitched in small volumes, then hidden in a drawer, revealed her true self. She did not live in time but in universals, an sensitive nature reaching out boldly from self-referral …

THE MORNING PIERCED Shovelling ashes and chunks of clinker from the fireplace, I found a bloody nail, whose suffering warmed me through the centuries. It’s cold outside. ICE AGE We were cutting logs together, planks from the demolished byre, thick blocks of books, page by page splinters shredded, bark my uncle at the saw, saint anthony, father and myself, merely …