Poetry

Lithograph portrait of Scottish poet Robert Burns. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)

7 facts about Robert Burns, Scotland’s national bard

Portrait by Sherril Schell of British poet Rupert Brooke. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

First World War

5 influential WW1 poets you should know about

During his time in Oxford, Wilde fully embraced ‘aesthetic flair’: growing his hair long; dressing in flamboyant fashions and assuming exaggerated affectations. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

7 facts you (probably) didn’t know about Oscar Wilde

Mary, Queen of Scots and her ladies-in-waiting. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: what happened to her ladies-in-waiting?

British former field marshal Douglas Haig, inspects poppies before Armistice Day, October 1922. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

First World War

Remembering the First World War: blood, poppies and poetry

Vera Brittain, who worked as a nurse during the First World War and went on to become one of the leading writers of the interwar years. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

First World War

Love, loss and distorted memories

Bust of Homer c850 BC. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“We are all Trojans…”: Homer’s poetic legacy

Photo of a remembrance poppy

First World War

Q&A Where do the red poppies come from?

Photo of a woman putting a finger to her lips

Q&A Why do we say 'mum's the word'?

Scottish poet Robert Burns. His poetry captured a familiar if rapidly disappearing rural way of life, says Christopher Whatley. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Robert Burns: the people’s poet