International Protect a Poet Day

By Jason Boog 

200px-Shakespeare.jpgThe world lost six poetic souls on this date over the past few centuries, making April 23 a good day to protect (and appreciate) the poets you love.

As the Guardian notes, two of England’s greatest poets died today: William Shakespeare and William Wordsworth. In addition Spanish novelist and poet, Miguel de Cervantes, Welsh poet Henry Vaughan, English poet Rupert Brooke, and American songwriter Harold Arlen all died on this date.

Here’s more from the article: “Poets are notoriously sensitive souls, of course, so it could just be that if you’re a poet death is catching, like flu. That would explain, in a pseudo-scientific way, the number of dead poets littering the ground on 23 April.”