Robert Winkworth Norwood

Born in New Ross, Nova Scotia, on March 27, 1874, Robert Winkworth Norwood grew up in a religious household and went on to study in Quebec, Nova Scotia, and later at Columbia University in New York. He was ordained in the Anglican Church in 1898, and from the start he balanced ministry with a serious commitment to poetry and literary writing.

Norwood served parishes in Canada before moving to the United States, where he became especially well known as a preacher at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York. His sermons drew large crowds, and his reputation spread beyond church circles because of his gift for vivid language, moral energy, and emotional directness. Alongside his church work, he published books of poetry and reflective prose, including The Piper and the Reed and Issa.

His life also touched wider spiritual and cultural movements of his time, and he remained a recognizable literary and religious figure until his death in New York City on September 28, 1932. Today he is remembered as a writer-clergyman whose work joined devotion, imagination, and a very human sense of longing.