Toru Dutt, Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hidnustan, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. (fifth edition,
1927; reprinted several times by various publishers since then);
Indian poet, writing
in English, published in the United Kingdom[2]
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), whose contributions to science were profound (including formulation of
Maxwell's equations which for the first time expressed the basic laws of electricity and magnetism in a unified fashion, and other discoveries that helped usher in modern physics), this year became a published poet when a collection of his poems was published by his friend Lewis Campbell, two years after Maxwell's death.
As a great lover of British poetry, Maxwell memorized poems and wrote his own. The best known is Rigid Body Sings closely based on Comin' Through the Rye by
Robert Burns, which he apparently used to sing while accompanying himself on a guitar. It has the immortal opening lines
[1]:
Gin a body meet a body
Flyin' through the air.
Gin a body hit a body,
Will it fly? And where?
(Maxwell is also known for creating the first true-colour photograph in
1861.)
Toru Dutt (died 1877), Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hidnustan, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. (fifth edition,
1927; reprinted several times since by various publishers),
Indian poet, writing
in English, published in the
United Kingdom[2]
January 18 –
A. A. Milne (died
1956),
English author, playwright and writer of children's poetry best known for his books about the teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, and for various children's poems
February 2 –
James Joyce (died 1941),
Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century
February 9 –
James Stephens (died
1950),
Irish novelist and poet (said he was born on this date; some think it may have been two years earlier (
1880))
November 26 –
Ikuma Arishima, 有島生馬
pen-name (together with Utosei and then Jugatsutei) of Arishima Mibuma (died
1974),
Japanese novelist, poet and painter; member of the
Shirakaba literary circle
^
abcdefghLudwig, Richard M., and Clifford A. Nault, Jr., Annals of American Literature: 1602–1983, 1986, New York: Oxford University Press ("If the title page is one year later than the copyright date, we used the latter since publishers frequently postdate books published near the end of the calendar year." — from the Preface, p vi)
^Paniker, Ayyappa,
"Modern Malayalam Literature" chapter in George, K. M., editor, Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology, pp 231–255, published by Sahitya Akademi, 1992, retrieved January 10, 2009.