Share this page :
William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1902 / Gloucester / England)
|
 |
|
William Ernest Henley (August 23, 1849 - July 11, 1903) was a British poet, critic and editor.
Henley was born in Gloucester and educated at the Crypt Grammar School. The school was a poor relation of the Cathedral School, and Henley indicated its shortcomings in his article (Pall Mall Magazine, Nov. 1900) on T. E. Brown the poet, who was headmaster there for a brief period. Brown's appointment was a stroke of luck for Henley, for whom it represented a first acquaintance with a man of genius. "He was singularly kind to me at a moment when I needed kindness even more than I needed encouragement." Brown did him the essential service of lending him books. Henley was no classical ... more »
Click here to add this poet to your My Favorite Poets.
Popular Poems
- A Child
- A Dainty Thing's The Villanelle
- A Desolate Shore
- A Late Lark Twitters From The Quiet Skie...
- A Love By The Sea
- A New Song to an Old Tune
- A Thanksgiving
- A Wink From Hesper
- After
- Allegro Maestoso
- Andante Con Moto
- Anterotics
- Anterotics
- Apparition
Quotations
more quotations »-
''What have I done for you,
William Ernest Henley (1849-1903), British poet, critic, editor. England, My England (l. 1-4). . . Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250-1918. S...
England, my England?
What is there I would not do,
England, my own?''
-
For it's home, dearie, home—it's home I want to be.
William Ernest Henley (1849-1903), British poet, critic, editor. Falmouth (l. 23-26). . . Modern British Poetry. Louis Untermeyer, ed. (7th rev. e...
Our topsails are hoisted, and we'll away to sea.
O, the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree
They're all growing gre...
-
O, there's a wind a-blowing, a-blowing from the west,
William Ernest Henley (1849-1903), British poet, critic, editor. Falmouth (l. 19-22). . . Modern British Poetry. Louis Untermeyer, ed. (7th rev. e...
And that of all the winds is the one I like the best,
For it blows at our backs, and it shakes our pennon free,
And it soon w...
-
''Madam Life's a piece in bloom
William Ernest Henley (1849-1903), British poet, critic, editor. Madam Life's a Piece in Bloom (l. 1-4). . . Oxford Book of Death, The. D. J. Enri...
Death goes dogging everywhere:
She's the tenant of the room,
He's the ruffian on the stair.''
to me this poet had a will to fight. he did not let his struggles no matter how hard it seemed conquered him. He seem very much in touch with pain and hardship and some how his spirit is unbreakable.
I find that the life of this man is very interesting and sad.
Invictus:
Can someone elaborate the line about the 'Horror of the shade'? Is this a biblical reference?
I just saw the phenomenal movie Invictus five hours ago. This movie, about Nelson Mandela and his ressurrection from being a prisoner to being the president of South Africa, show that iron bars can not stop some men.
He rehearsed the words of hope from his prison cell in the Poem Invictus, and the power of spirit over matter was manifested. As president, he also quelled the post-apartheid tension, transforming enemies into friends. It is a story about someone with a vision of an ideal world who was able to embrace his nation, both black and white, as his family. His heart will not be forgotten, because without people like him a better world will never come. You will feel so uplifted by this movie! ! !