Joseph Brodsky proved that English could be entered late yet inhabited fully. Writing from exile, he transformed a second language into a moral homeland, sharpening its capacity for precision, ethical seriousness, and sustained thought. His English endures as disciplined refuge rather than inherited possession.
Death of Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) – The Poet Who Made English a Language of Exile and Moral Precision
Born in Detroit, Philip Levine taught American poetry to listen to labor. His plainspoken English carried factories, fatigue, and moral clarity into verse, proving working-class speech could bear philosophy, anger, and dignity. Poetry learned to speak without ornament, for lives previously unheard, and the language never narrowed again afterward ever.
Philip Levine (1928–2015) – The Poet Who Gave Working-Class English Its Permanent Voice
Born December 29, 1809, William Ewart Gladstone shaped nineteenth-century English prose through moral argument and classical discipline. His speeches and essays demonstrated how complex sentences could carry ethical weight, intellectual rigor, and persuasive force, defining a serious register of English that influenced political, academic, and public discourse.
Birth of William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) – The Statesman Who Gave English Prose Its Victorian Gravity
Born in St. Petersburg in 1872, Teffi (Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya) went on to become a celebrated writer in early 20th-century Russia, publishing poems, short stories, satirical sketches and plays to great acclaim. In the autumn of 1918, with the Russian Civil War intensifying around her, Teffi was persuaded to leave Moscow for a short series of […]
Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi (tr. R Chandler, E Chandler AM Jackson & I Steinberg)
Comme photographe et comme personne, nous sommes souvent les témoins involontaires et indiscrets de plusieurs instants de vie pour lesquels l’intimité des gens semble compromise par l’impertinence de notre présence. Dans cette partie d’image captée lors de mon récent et bref séjour à Paris j’ai d’abord remarqué cette scène remarquable de désespoir et de tendresse […]
Fragment de vie dans un fragment d’image …
William Blake, born on November 28, 1757, transformed English poetry through visionary imagery, symbolic language, and prophetic intensity. His fusion of lyric clarity and mythic imagination reshaped Romanticism, expanded English’s expressive power, and left a linguistic legacy that continues to influence literature, art, philosophy, and modern cultural discourse.
Birth of William Blake (1757–1827) – The Visionary Poet Who Transformed the Imagination of English Literature
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