Today would have been Amy Lowell's birthday. Amy Lawrence Lowell was a member of the same Boston Lowell family that later spawned Robert Lowell, who was Poet Laureate of the United States for a while. But she’s not a direct ancestor, on account of family names don’t pass that way. Also, she was a lesbian. She had a long-time affair (then called a ( Read more... )

A follow-up to yesterday's post about rhymed couplets. Here are some snippets so you can see them in action:

Oft has our poet wisht, this happy Seat
Might prove his fading Muse's last retreat.
~John Dryden: from "Epilogue to Oxford"

And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,
One truth is clear, "Whatever is, is right."
~Alexander Pope: from ( Read more... )

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