The Selected Works of Edward Carpenter

Edward Carpenter (1844 - 1929) was an English socialist poet socialist philosopher anthologist and early gay activist. A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party. A poet and writer he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore corresponding with many famous figures such as Annie Besant Isadora Duncan Havelock Ellis Roger Fry Mahatma Gandhi James Keir Hardie J. K. Kinney Jack London George Merrill E D Morel William Morris E R Pease John Ruskin and Olive Schreiner. A strong advocate of sexual freedom living in a gay community near Sheffield he had a profound influence on both D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster.