29 August 1929. Pioneering poet, Thom Gunn, was born in Gravesend, Kent. After moving to San Francisco, he wrote about gay-related topics, particularly in his most famous work, The Man With Night Sweats. He won major literary awards. pic.twitter.com/qVlVFGBh2v

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) August 29, 2023

30 August 1797. Mary Shelley was born in London. She’s best known as the author of the 1818 Gothic novel, Frankenstein, which tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a large monster during an unorthodox scientific experiment. pic.twitter.com/s6IoKwVjdz

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) August 30, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 2013, poet (Death of a Naturalist), playwright Seamus Heaney died in the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin, aged 74. Cemetery of St Mary's Church, Bellaghy, Northern Ireland https://t.co/SdpohmjyBh pic.twitter.com/fj8yc7PvfU

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) August 30, 2022

31 August 1688. John Bunyan died (aged 59). He’s best known as the author of the classic Christian allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, which is one of the most important religious novels of all time. pic.twitter.com/iLFCybixXV

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) August 31, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1867, poet (Les Fleurs du mal), essayist, art critic, translator, Charles Baudelaire died in Paris at the age of 46. Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris https://t.co/eUzGwXnc7O pic.twitter.com/ZJ5c9I8lHO

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) August 31, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1941 Russian poet (Poem of the End, In the Inmost Hour of the Soul, Other Shepherds) Marina Tsvetaeva died by hanging herself in Yelabuga, Russia aged 41. Petropavlovskoe Cemetery, Yelabuga https://t.co/eUzGwXnc7O pic.twitter.com/2snB8HgBHS

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) August 31, 2023

1 September 1967. Siegfried Sassoon, died (aged 80). Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry described the horrors of the trenches and satirised jingoism. pic.twitter.com/d4VIhlrRQl

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) September 1, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 2006, graduate of the University of Texas, former First Lady of Texas, author and passenger of the Lincoln limousine JFK was assassinated in, Nellie Connally died at her home in Austin, Texas at the age of 87. Texas State Cemetery in Austin https://t.co/dXbKX53urh pic.twitter.com/0TnJSsubSu

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 1, 2022

#RIP #OTD in 1944 writer, first wife of Marc Chagall, subject of his paintings (Bella au col blanc, Bouquet près de la fenêtre) Bella Rosenfeld died; bacterial infection; Tupper Lake, New York aged 48. Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson NY https://t.co/XOw1LhAa6I pic.twitter.com/OgrfwdUKUd

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 2, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1973 writer (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion), poet, philologist, and university professor, J.R.R. Tolkien died in Bournemouth, England at the age of 81. Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford, England https://t.co/XOw1LhAa6I pic.twitter.com/rHqRsJ8oFN

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 2, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1962, poet ("Forward to an Exhibit: II", "i like my body", "since feeling is first "), painter, E. E. Cummings died; stroke; North Conway, New Hampshire, Memorial Hospital, aged 67. Cremated remains; Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston https://t.co/yy7TjruQiP pic.twitter.com/arDPLyQKv7

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 3, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 2017 poet ("The Skaters", "Into the Dusk-Charged Air", "Litany", "Bridge Poem", "At North Farm", "A Snowball in Hell") John Ashbery died at his home in Hudson, New York aged 90 https://t.co/yy7TjruQiP pic.twitter.com/29JqSr1f8E

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 3, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1914, poet, essayist, and editor Charles Péguy died in battle, shot in the forehead, in Villeroy, Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France, France during World War I. Communal grave in the Grande Tombe de Villeroy https://t.co/1TRWEuueT7 pic.twitter.com/I3vUfJWezQ

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 4, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1857, philosopher, founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism, Auguste Comte died in Paris at the age of 59 from stomach cancer. Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris https://t.co/LEtpk1wNwc pic.twitter.com/J3Dw9tlQvv

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 5, 2023

5 September 1957, Jack Kerouac’s cult novel, On the Road, was first published in the USA. It follows Kerouac and his friends on a journey across the USA, against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use. It’s a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation. pic.twitter.com/J1dXVCIUQq

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) September 5, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1907, poet and essayist, recipient of the first Nobel Prize in Literature, Sully Prudhomme died at Châtenay-Malabry, France at the age of 68. Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris https://t.co/RVFGcUKwRV pic.twitter.com/chPQl7sX1e

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 6, 2022

#RIP #OTD in 1892, influential Quaker poet, ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States, John Greenleaf Whittier died at the age of 84 at a friend’s home in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. Union Cemetery in Amesbury, Massachusetts https://t.co/OInS61JeV8 pic.twitter.com/QI2IPZVofR

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 7, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1962, author (Out of Africa under the pen name Isak Dinesen) Karen Blixen, died at Rungstedlund, her family’s estate in Denmark, at the age of 77. Rungstedlund https://t.co/OInS61JeV8 pic.twitter.com/24kkRSl092

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) September 7, 2023

8 September 1886. The acclaimed World War One poet, Siegfried Sassoon, was born in Matfield, Kent. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry described the horrors of the trenches and satirised jingoism. pic.twitter.com/MpKBKqICy6

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) September 8, 2023