Literary Lunch

John Keats died of tuberculosis on February 23, 1821. He was 25-years-old. He is one of the most well-known poets of the Romantic movement along with Shelley and Byron.

The poem The Human Seasons was written in 1818 and was published in Literary Pocket-Book by Leigh Hunt in 1819.

 The Human Seasons

Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring’s honied cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness–to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.

John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California. He was married three times and had one son. In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Among his most famous novels are The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden and Tortilla Flats. John Steinbeck died on December 20, 1968.

I have a confession to make. When I was in high school I spent more time in the public library than actually in school. I did not get on well at high school and took solace in books. One year I must have gone to the library at least once a week to hide out instead of being in school where my parents expected me to be. I started reading through the novels of John Steinbeck. I just got lost in the magnificence of his writing, his great characterizations, and descriptive verse that made me think I was there in California, or Oklahoma. Reading Steinbeck made me feel I did have a place in the world.

Of all his novels, I still like East of Eden best. It is a book I can read again and again. And after I eventually saw the movie with James Dean I became an even bigger fan of the novel.

If you haven’t read Steinbeck, I recommend you pick up one of his books promptly. You will not be disappointed.

East of Eden 11×17 Mini Movie Poster

Natalie Barney was born in Dayton, Ohio on October 31, 1876 to wealthy parents. She was openly lesbian and said that she had known of her feelings for women since she was 12-years-old. She moved to France as an adult and lived there for the rest of her life. Natalie Barney did not believe in monogomy but she did have a long-term relationship with writer Romaine Brooks which ended only with Brooks’ death.

In 1900, Natalie Barney published her first book of poems Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes. The poems had mostly lesbian themes. 1900 was also the year Natalie Barney began holding a literary salon in her home. The salon went on for 60 years, with a brief break during World War II. Everyone who was anyone visited Natalie Barney’s salon. She also founded the Academy of Women, a group of poets, artist and novelists.

Natalie Barney died of heart failure on February 2, 1972 in Paris.