Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was born #onthisday in 1840. He was an English novelist and poet influenced by Romanticism. Many of his novels concern tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances, and they are often set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex; initially based on the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Hardy's Wessex eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire and much of Berkshire, in south-west and south central England.

ADRIENNE RICH

Born #onthisday in 1929 Adrienne Rich was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century".   Rich criticised rigid forms of feminist identities, and valorised what she coined the "lesbian continuum", which is a female continuum of solidarity and creativity that impacts and fills women's lives.

DANTE GABRIELLE ROSSETTI

Born #onthisday in 1828 Dante Gabrielle Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.  His early poetry was influenced by John Keats and William Blake, while his later poetry was characterised by the complex interlinking of thought and feeling.

ROBERT BROWNING

Robert Browning was born #onthisday in 1812. An English poet and playwright whose mastery of the dramatic monologue made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. His poems are known for their irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings, and challenging vocabulary and syntax.