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Biography

Rose Amy Fyleman was born on the outskirts of Nottingam on 6 March, 1877 to Emilie (née Loewenstein) and John Feilman. Her mother had immigrated from Russia, while her father's family was situated in Germany seventeen years prior to Rose's birth. As a young girl, Fyleman was educated at a private school, and at the age of nine first saw one of her compositions published in a local paper. Although she entered University College, Nottingham, she failed in the intermediate and was thus unable to pursue her ambition of becoming a schoolteacher. Despite this, Fyleman had a good singing voice, and therefore decided to study music. She studied singing in Paris, Berlin and finally at the Royal College of Music in London, where she received her diploma as associate of the Royal College of Music. She returned to Nottingham shortly afterward, where she taught signing and helped in her sister's school. Along with other members of her family, she Anglicized the spelling of her name at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. When she was forty, Fyleman sent her verses to Punch magazine and her first publication "There are Fairies at the Bottom of Our Garden" appeared in May of 1917. The immense response from publishers prompted Fyleman to submit several other fairy poems. Her verses enjoyed tremendous success among readers and her first collection Fairies and Chimneys (1918) was reprinted more than twenty times over the next decade. During the 1920s and early 1930s Rose Fyleman published multiple verse collections, wrote drama for children, and for two years, edited the children's magazine Merry-Go-Round. Fyleman was also a skilled linguist who translated books from German, French and Italian. Rose Fyleman was one of the most successful children's writers of her generation and she saw much of her earlier poetry become proverbial. She died at a nursing home in Hertfordshire on 1 August, 1957.

  • Opie, Iona. “Fyleman, Rose Amy (1877–1957).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004.
  • Fyleman, Rose. The Sunny Book. Il. Millicent Sowerby. London: Oxford University Press, 1918.
  • --.Fairies and Chimneys. London: Methuen, 1918; New York: Doran, 1920.
  • --.The Fairy Green. London: Methuen, 1919; New York: Doran, 1923.
  • --.The Fairy Flute. London: Methuen, 1921; New York: Doran, 1923.
  • PR6011 .Y5 F34 1922 Robarts Library

  • --.A Small Cruse. Il. Katy Kruse. London: Methuen, 1923.
  • --.The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book. New York: Doran, 1923.
  • --.Fairies and Friends. London: Methuen, 1925; New York: Doran, 1926.
  • --.The Rose Fyleman Calendar. Il. Lisl Hummel. London: Methuen, 1927.
  • --.The Princess Comes to Our Town. Il. Gertrude Lindsay. London: Methuen, 1927; New York: Doubleday, 1928.
  • --.Old-Fashioned Girls, and Other Poems.Il. Ethel Everett London: Methuen, 1928.
  • --.A Garland of Rose's: Collected Poems of Poems Fyleman. Il. René Bull. London: Methuen, 1928.
  • --.Gay Go Up. Il. Decie Merwin. London: Methuen, 1929; New York: Doubleday, 1930.
  • --.Fifty-one New Nursery Rhymes. Il. Dorothy Burroughes. London: Methuen, 1931; New York: Doubleday, 1932.
  • --.Runabout Rhymes. Il. Margaret Tempest. London: Methuen, 1941.
  • --.Number Rhymes. Leeds, England: Arnold, 1946.
  • --.Rhyme Book for Adam. London: Methuen, 1949.
  • --.A Fairy Went A-Marketing. Il. Jamichael Henterly. New York: Dutton, 1986.
Biography

John Betjeman, son of Ernest Edward Betjemann (a furniture manufacturer) and Mabel Bessie Dawson, was born at Parliament Hill Mansions, north London. John adopted his style of spelling the family name around the age of twenty-one (the name can be traced back to Dutch or German origin). After attending Byron House Montessori School, where he was briefly taught by T. S. Eliot, Betjeman went on to enroll in Magdalen College, Oxford where he studied for three years. After refusing his father's offer to enter the family business, Betjeman worked in various jobs including a position as private secretary to Sir Horace Plunkett, as an assistant editor of the Architectural Review, as a film critic of the London Evening Standard, and as the British Press attaché in Dublin during World Ward II. During this time Betjeman also proved to be a prolific writer. He published frequently during the 1930s and 1940s and achieved great success when the first edition of his Collected Poems (1958) sold over 100,000 copies. Readers were very receptive to Betjeman's work as it was easily accessible and presented them with the nearly forgotten pleasures of rhyme and metre - qualities that were rarely found in modern poetry. Furthermore, Betjeman's poetry focuses on the everyday experiences of his readers, another rarity amongst his contemporaries. By in the 1950's, Betjeman focused on book reviewing, broadcasting and writing poetry. His position as a broadcaster enabled him to attract public attention on his personal passion for architecture; he even managed to save many buildings that were being threatened with demolition. A celebrated national figure, John Betjeman received many honours, including being chosen as poet laureate in 1972 and receiving a knighthood in 1969. During his later years the poet suffered from the onset of Parkinson's disease, and after a series of strokes he died at his home in Trebetherick, Cornwall, on 19 May 1984.

  • Amis, Kingsley . “Betjeman, Sir John (1906–1984).” Rev. M. Clare Loughlin-Chow. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004.
  • Betjeman, John. Mount Zion; or, In Touch with the Infinite. London: James Press, 1931.
  • --. Continual Dew: A Little Book of Bourgeois Verse. London: J. Murray, 1937. PR6003 .E77 C65 1977 Robarts Library
  • (Under pseudonym Epsilon) Sir John Piers. Mullingar, Ireland: Westmeath Examiner, 1938.
  • --. Old Lights for New Chancels: Verses Topographical and Amatory. London: J. Murray, 1940.
  • --. New Bats in Old Belfries. London: J. Murray, 1945. PR6003 .E77 N4 Robarts Library
  • --. Slick but Not Streamlined: Poems and Short Pieces. Selected and with an introduction by W. H. Auden. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1947. aud .A844 Z5B48 1947 Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
  • --. Selected Poems. Compiled and with an introduction by John Sparrow. London: J. Murray, 1948, 1952. PR6003 .E77 A6 1952 John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael's College
  • --. A Few Late Chrysanthemums: New Poems. London: Murray, 1954. PR6003 .E77 F4 1954 John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael's College
  • --. Poems in the Porch. London: S.P.C.K., 1954. PR6003 .E77 P6 John W. Graham Library at Trinity College
  • --. Collected Poems. Compiled and with an introduction by the Earl of Birkenhead. London: J. Murray, 1958; Boston, M.A.: Houghton, 1959; 3rd enlarged edition published as John Betjeman's Collected Poems. London: J. Murray, 1970; Boston, M.A.: Houghton, 1971; 4th edition, London: J. Murray, 1979. PR6003 .E77 A17 1963, PR6003 .E77 A17 1970, PR6003 .E77 A17 1972, PR6003 .E77 A17 1979 Robarts Library
  • --. John Betjeman (selected poems). London: E. Hulton, 1958.PR6003 .E77 A6 1958 Robarts Library
  • --. Poems. London: Vista Books, 1960. PR6003 .E77 A173John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael's College
  • --. Summoned by Bells (autobiography in verse). Boston, M.A.: Houghton, 1960; new edition, London: J. Murray, 1976. PR6003 .E77 Z52 1976 Robarts Library
  • --. A Ring of Bells. Selected and with an introduction by Irene Slade. London: J. Murray, 1962; Boston, M.A.: Houghton, 1963.
  • --. High and Low. London: J. Murray, 1966; Boston, M.A.: Houghton, 1967. PR6003 .E77 H5 1966 John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael's College
  • --. A Nip in the Air. London: J. Murray, 1974; New York, N.Y.: Norton, 1976. PR6003 .E77 N5 Robarts Library
  • --. Metro-land. New York, N.Y.: Warren, 1977.
  • --. The Best of Betjeman. Selected by John Guest. London: J. Murray, 1978. PR6003 .E77 A6 1978 John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael's College
  • --. Church Poems. London: J. Murray, 1981. PR6003 .E77 C5 Robarts Library
  • --. Uncollected Poems. London: J. Murray, 1982. PR6003 .E77 U6 1982 John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael's College
Biography
  • Newbolt, Henry. Admirals All and Other Verses. London: Elkin Mathews, 1897. PR 5103.N4 A6 1981 Robarts Library
  • --. The Island Race. London: Elkin Mathews, 1899. PR 5103.N4 I8 Robarts Library
  • --. The Sailing of the Long-Ships and Other Poems. London: John Murray, 1902. PR 5103.N4 S3 University of Toronto Libraries at Downsview
  • --. Clifton Chapel and other school poems. London: John Murray, 1908.
  • --. Songs of Memory and Hope. London: John Murray, 1909. PR 5103.N4 S73 University of Toronto Libraries at Downsview
  • --. Poems New and Old. London: John Murray, 1912. PR 5103.N4 A17 1912 Robarts Library
  • --. St. George's Day and Other Poems. London: John Murray, 1918. PR.N427s Victoria University E.J. Pratt Library
  • --. A Perpetual Memory and Other Poems. London: John Murray, 1939. PR 5103.N4 P4 1939 University of Toronto Libraries at Downsview
  • --. Selected Poetry of Henry Newbolt. Ed. Patrick Dickinson. London: Hodder and Stroughton, 1981. PR 5103.N4 A6 1981
Biography
  • French, Percy. Prose, Poems and Parodies of Percy French. Ed. Mrs. de Burgh Daly. Dublin: Talbot Press, 1929. PR6011 .R45P7 1930 St. Michael's College
  • --. Best Irish Songs of Percy French. Ed. Tony Butler. London: Wolfe Publishing Ltd., 1971. 16-17. ML54.6 .F7B4 Robarts Library
  • Healy, James N. Percy French and His Songs. London: The Mercier Press, 1966. ML423 .F74H4 1966 Robarts Library
Biography

Lynn Crosbie has a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Toronto and is a Toronto-based writer. The author of five collections of poems, most recently, Missing Children (McClelland and Stewart, 2003), Crosby is also an anthologist, editing The Girl Wants To: Women's Representations of Sex and the Body (Coach House: 1993), Click: Becoming Feminists (MacFarlane Walter & Ross: 1997), and Plush:5 Gay Poets, with Michael Holmes (Coach House, 1995). She has written two novels, Paul's Case (Insomniac, 1997) and Dorothy L'Amour (HarperCollins, 1999), and a screenplay for Bruce McDonald's company, Shadow Shows. She is a regular columnist for the Globe and Mail.

 

  • Missing Children. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2003.
  • Queen Rat: new and selected poems. Toronto: Anansi, 1998.
  • Pearl: poems. Concord, Ont.: Anansi, 1996.
  • I eat your flesh: poems. Toronto: Streetcar Editions, 1993.
  • Villain Elle. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1994.
  • Miss Pamela's Mercy. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1992.
Biography

George Elliott Clarke is the E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. His works include the poem-novel, Whylah Falls (1990), the narrative lyric sequence, Execution Poems (2001), and the verse-play and opera, Beatrice Chancy (1999). Clarke's awards include the Governor-General's Award for Poetry (2001), a Bellagio (Italy) Center Fellowship (1998), and the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry (2002). He has also published a major critical book, Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature (University of Toronto Press, Summer 2002).

He is a member of the Black Cultural Society of Nova Scotia, the League of Canadian Poets, the Modern Languages Association, the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, the Writer's Guild of Canada, and the Writers Union of Canada.

 

  • Blue. Vancouver: Polestar Book Publishers, 2001.
  • Beatrice Chancy. Victoria, BC: Polestar Book Publishers, 1999.
  • Execution Poems. Wolfville, NS: Gaspereau Press, 2001.
  • Lush Dreams, Blue Exile. Lawrencetown Beach, NS: Pottersfield Press, 1983.
  • Saltwater Spirituals and Deeper Blues. Porters Lake, NS: Pottersfield Press, 1983.
  • Whylah Falls. Vancouver: Polestar Book Publishers, 1990.

Sources:

  • Canadian Who's Who 2003 Vol. XXXVIII
  • Clarke, George Elliott. Whylah Falls. Polestar, 1990.
Biography
  • Morris, George P. Poems. New York: Charles Scribner, 1860.
  • --. The Deserted Bride and Other Poems. New York: Adlard & Saunders, 1838.
  • --. The Whip-poor-will. 1843.
  • --. The Songs and Ballads of George P. Morris. New York: Cady & Burgess, 1852 [ca. 1845].
  • --. Poems by George P. Morris. 1853.
  • Barnard, Philip. "Morris, George Pope." American National Biography Online. American Council of Learned Societies: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Biography
  • Pierpont, John. Airs of Palestine, a Poem. Baltimore: Printed for the author, 1816; Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1817.
  • Pierpont, John. Airs of Palestine and Other Poems. Boston: James Munroe, 1840.
  • Pierpont, John. The Anti-Slavery Poems of John Pierpont. Boston: Oliver Johnson, 1843; Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Literature House, 1970.