im miscontrueded earlier on, guess they deleted it as such. what i meant was other than cs lewis, were there any other poets, writers etc whose love lives are more interesting and famous than their works.

apologies.

this is literature = poetry. im not going off topic.

That seems to be dependent on the reader- I'm more interested in C.S. Lewis's works rather than his relationships myself.

Think-

Shakespeare- the Dark Lady

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning- especailly her relationship with her father


Oscar Wilde- the man went to jail for his love life

pam

There have been many interesting characters who wrote poetry:

[www.kirjasto.sci.fi]

[www.poedecoder.com]

[www.rotten.com]

[www.neuroticpoets.com]


and equal time for those who were pretty mundane:


[ssl.pro-net.co.uk]

[www.incompetech.com]

[www.polymernotes.org]

[www.poemhunter.com]



Les

Lord Byron, whose life is detailed on that neuroticpoets website cited by Les, was a philanderer who had some notorious affairs, but I'm not sure that they were MORE interesting and famous than his poetry.

Yeats was famously gone on Maud Gonne, but didn't win her. Does that count? Anyway, his poetry is better known and probably more interesting than the relationship.

The classical Roman poet Catullus was infatuated with a lady whom he nicknamed Lesbia, and wrote some memorable poems about her; but he wrote about other subjects too.

Trying to compare the fame and interest aroused by literary work with the fame and interest aroused by the writer's love life does seem like comparing mangoes with avocados. What criteria or units do you use to compare them with?

Ian



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2005 03:31AM by IanB.

Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain were both in the public eye extensively because of their writing. But there aren't any writers who come to mind as more famous for their personal life than their writing. Oscar Wilde probably comes the closest because his behavior was so far afield from that of the Victorians.


Les



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2005 10:03PM by lg.

Love lives more interesting than their poetry, huh? Well, Byron, um, springs immediately to mind, right. Let us also not forget both Emily Dickinson and Lewis Carroll, both of whom apparently had no love life at all. Dorothy Parker certainly had at least her fair share of fun in the sack.

Just to throw a few more names into the bag, consider John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Speaking of Lesbia, what about the most talked-about of all though? Sappho.

Here's a link to Sappho's biography if anyone is interested: [www.sappho.com]


Les