THEOGNIS, Greek poet, born (d: ?); This elegiac poet was an aristocrat who apparently lost his wealth and property during one of the many conflicts between the aristocracy and the lower classes that are characteristic of this period in the Greek states. Embittered by these losses and convinced that all virtue resides in aristocracy, Theognis expressed in a number of poems his hatred for plebeians and his nostalgia for the past when the power of aristocracy was unquestioned. The poems are really moral precepts addressed to his young boyfriend, Cyrnus. Given his reactionary daydreams, if Theognis were reincarnated today, he’d probably be one of those highly moral Republicans who are arrested in Washington (or Minneapolis) restrooms every now and then.

On this date the British poet, scholar and aesthete GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, was born (d.1889).  Hopkins was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose 20^th century fame established him posthumously among the leading Victorian poets. His experimental explorations in prosody (especially sprung rhythm) and his use of imagery established him as a daring innovator

in a period of largely traditional verse. In 1868 he entered a Jesuit Novitiate and burned all his early poems, resolved to write no more till he should by ecclesiastical authority, be enjoined to do so. After seven years, the silence was lifted by a superior's suggestion that some member of the community should elegize the five Franciscan nuns who perished in the wreck of the Deutschland. The Jesuit poet is a master of word painting, who in freshness of diction and elliptical approach is generally considered the first modern poet.

He seems much closer to the 20th century than he does to the Victorians, and, in fact, his poems were only first collected and published in 1918. The constant conflict between Hopkins' desire to be an artist is central to his poetry, but it produced the "nervous prostration" from which he suffered and which led to his failure as a parish priest, teacher, and classical lecturer – his real "occupations."

It is now acknowledged that what Hopkins called his "nervous prostration" was in reality his repressed homosexuality. The poet-priest was completely homosexual in inclination and perfectly celibate in life, a state which resulted in great misery for him and great poetry for us.

JOHN ASHBERY  is an American poet born on this date (d: 2017). He won nearly every major American award for poetry and is recognized as one of America's most important, though still controversial, poets. In an article on Elizabeth Bishop in his Selected Prose, he characterized himself as having been described as "a hare-brained, homegrown surrealist whose poetry defies even the rules and logic of Surrealism."

"No figure loom[ed] so large in American poetry over the past 50 years as John Ashbery", Langdon Hammer, chairman of the English Department at Yale University, wrote in 2008. "[N]o American poet has had a larger, more diverse vocabulary, not Whitman, not Pound". Stephen Burt, a poet and Harvard professor of English has compared Ashbery to T. S. Eliot, the "last figure whom half the English-language poets alive thought a great model, and the other half thought incomprehensible."

Ashbery lived in New York City and Hudson, New York, with his husband, David Kermani. He died of natural causes on September 3, 2017, at his home in Hudson, at the age of 90

COLIN HIGGINS (d.  1988); American actor, director, producer and screenwriter, was born.

 Higgins studied a Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting at UCLA, where his classmates included Paul Schrader. While there he made two short films, Opus One (1968), a satire on student films, and Retreat, an anti-war statement. His M.F.A. thesis would serve as the basis for the film Harold and Maude (1971).

After graduating he went to work for a wealthy family in Los Angeles as a part-time chauffeur and pool cleaner in exchange for free accommodation, where he met a film producer; Higgins showed a draft of Harold and Maude to the producer, who then showed it to Robert Evans at Paramount. Higgins wanted to direct the script himself and was allowed to shoot a director's test for $7,000 but Paramount were not sufficiently impressed, and Hal Ashny was hired. Higgins collaborated well with Ashby and both were pleased with the final film, but it was not a large box-office success on original release.

Harold and Maude was an even larger success in France than in the U.S.— so much so that it was adapted for the theater in French by Higgins himself, and productions of the play have flourished there since the seventies, including one directed by Children of Paradise star Jean-Louis Barrault  In 1976 he had a hit with the movie Silver Streak.

The success of Silver Streak enabled Higgins to direct his next script, Foul Play (1978). It was enormously popular at the box office and launched his directing career. He was writing a comedy-thriller, The Man Who Lost Tuesday when he received an offer to re-write and direct 9 to 5 (1980). It was a big hit, as was the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) which Higgins directed.

In 1986 he was reportedly writing a script, Washington Girls, as a vehicle to reunite Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. His last credit was a TV movie, Out on a Limb (1987) which he co-wrote and co-produced.

Higgins died of an AIDS-related death at his home in August 1988. Established in 1986, the Colin Higgins Foundation provides support for LGBT youth. It was established by Higgins following his diagnosis with HIV in 1985. His writing is said to have inspired filmmakers like Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, Wes Anderson and Paul Feig..

SARAH SCHULMAN, American playwright and author, born in New York. Her books include: People In Trouble, describing the lives of AIDS activists; Empathy, My American History (1994), Rat Bohemia (1995), Shimmer (), Girls, visions and everything: a novel (1999) Truly her output is too much to catalogue here. She is the very definition of prolific. Her most recent work is the acclaimed Ties that Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences (2009). Schulman is a Professor of English at the City University of New York (CUNY), the College of Staten Island and a Fellow at The New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU.

ALEXIS ARQUETTE, American actor born (nee Robert/d:  2016); An American male-to-female transgender actress. Musician, and cabaret drag performer, Arquette's siblings were actors Patricia, Rosanna, Richmond and David Arquette. Arquette was also Courteney Cox’s' sister-in-law, as Cox is married to Alexis' brother David.

Arquette appeared in supporting roles in mainstream films, including Pulp Fiction, Threesome, Bride of Chucky and a memorable appearance as a Boy George fanatic in The Wedding Singer singing “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” over and over. In 2001, Arquette played the emperor Caligula in two episodes of the television show Xena: Warrior Princess. 

Alexis Arquette died from AIDS complications and was living as a man again just before his death it has been revealed. 

IMKE DUPLITZER born.  Duplitzer is a German épée fencer and soldier, born in Karlsrühe. She is a four time Olympian (2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012) where she placed 10th, 5th, 5th, and 29th respectively (in the individual competition).

She also fenced in three team events at the Olympics, and at the 2004 Summer Olympics she won the silver medal in the team epee competition with Britta Heidemann and Claudia Bokel. During the2006 World Fencing Championships she won the bronze medal after beating Romania in the épée team event together with her team mates. She is also a two time European Champion in the individual event (1999 & 2010) as well as being a part of the Gold medal winning team in 1998.

In addition to her Olympic appearances, Duplitzer is known for her film work in The Three Musketeers (2011) and television on Die Harald Schmidt Show (1995) a celebrity talk show hosted by "Dirty Harry" Schmidt.