Literature and Understanding Texts

Albert Camus

Albert Camus was a French philosopher, poet, novelist, and playwright who explored the philosophy of the absurd through his work. He examined man's existence in an indifferent moral universe and stressed the need for humanistic and moral values in this situation. His success was born from his novel The Stranger (1942) and his essay "The Myth of Sisyphus (1942). Both works explored the absurd. His other significant works include The Plague (1947) and The Fall (1956), both novels, and "The Rebel," an influential essay (1951). Camus was born in Algiers in 1913 to a middle-class family. He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers and later worked as a journalist. While France was under Nazi occupation, Camus was an intellectual leader of the French Resistance and served as the editor of the underground paper Combat. In 1957, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in an automobile accident in 1960.

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley was an English novelist and social critic who is most known for his novel Brave New World, published in 1932. Set in a future riddled with technology and social control, Huxley was able to capture the generations fear of the future. This novel, as well as his earlier novels, included his satire and personal criticism of society. Later works include Island (1962), a novel reflecting his interest in Eastern spirituality and metaphysics and After Many A Summer Dies The Swan (1939), a novel that shows Huxley's distrust of politics and social trends. He had a stint with hallucinogenic drugs, and two other works reflected that experience. Huxley was born in Surrey, England in 1894. He was educated in both Eton and Oxford before emigrating to America in 1937. He had other jobs as a teacher, a writer, and a social critic until he died in 1963.

Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin was an immensely Russian talented poet, playwright, and short-story writer. He began his career with narrative poetry and wrote "The Prisoner of Caucasus" and "The Gypsies." He wrote his famous verse-tragedy "Boris Godunov" in 1831 and his most important work, "Eugene Onegin," in 1833. He was also known as a master of the short story and produced great ones, including "The Queen of Spades" in 1834. Pushkin was born in Moscow in 1799 and was educated at the Imperial Lyceum before serving in the Russian government until his exile for writing poetry critical of the Tsar. The new Tsar allowed him to return in 1826 where he married and continued his literary career. He was killed in 1837, only 37 years old, as a result of a dull with his wife's lover.

Edith Wharton

Born Edith Newbold Jones, Wharton was a prolific American novelist, poet, short-fiction writer, and essayist. She was expert at narrating the foibles of Old New York society, of which she was a member. Wharton's first success was The House of Mirth (1905), a novel depicting an individual's struggles against society's mores. Writing in France, she published Ethan Frome (1911) and her most popular work, The Age of Innocence (1920), which won a Pulitzer Prize for Literature. The Age of Innocence chronicles a long and stormy love affair. Wharton was born in New York in 1862 and raised in elite society. Her marriage to Edward Wharton ended after he suffered a number of nervous breakdowns and was caught embezzling her accounts. She divorced Wharton, which presaged her most productive writing period. She moved to France in 1907, and her writing career became the focus of her life. Wharton, much honored and loved, died in 1937.

Bram Stoker (Abraham Stoker)

Bram Stoker was an Irish novelist whose reputation is based on the creation of the one of the most feared and imitated characters in literature, Count Dracula of Transylvania. Count Dracula was a polished and urbane aristocrat and a supernatural creature who feasted on human blood to transform his victims into monsters. The Gothic novel Dracula, published in 1897, is based on folklore and the historical figure Vlad the Impaler. Born in Dublin in 1847, Stoker received a classical education at Trinity College, Dublin. He worked in local government for a short time and then became secretary and manager of Sir Henry Irving, a prominent actor in London. Their association would last 27 years before Stoker retired to concentrate on his writing. Bram Stoker died in 1912, his legacy assured in the ever popular figure of Dracula.

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire was a French essayist, poet, and critic whose reputation as one of the great French poets of his time was based on his seminal work The Flowers of Evil (1857). This work combined macabre imagery and a profane, cynical tone to produce a book of much power. He was prosecuted and fined for obscenity following its publication, and some of his poetry was banned from future editions. Baudelaire was born in Paris in 1821 and turned to writing almost immediately along with forming friendships with Courbet, Delacroix, and Manet. He became addicted to opium and alcohol as a result of squandering a large inheritance. The publication of The Flowers of Evil alientated the public, and his later years were poverty stricken and debt ridden. He died of syphilis in 1867 at the age of 46.

Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte was a beloved English novelist who wrote stories of independent women in a very personal voice. Her characters were enmeshed in romance and love affairs, even as they lived lives of creativity unusual for the period. Her first novel, The Professor, was not published until after her death. Her most powerful work was Jane Eyre (1847), a narrative of a young woman and her travails in love and society. Other works include Shirley (1849) and Villete (1853), based on her sister Emily's experiences living in Europe. Bronte was born in 1816, the daughter of a Yorkshire clergyman. She was sent to a boarding school with harsh living conditions and strict rules of behavior. She would later use the school as a model in Jane Eyre. The death of her three siblings in quick succession clouded her life with sadness. She died in England in 1855 at the age of 38.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an American writer of short stories, essays, and poetry. She was an early feminist and leader in the women's movement in the early part of the 20th century. She challenged gender stereotypes in her writing. Her most influential work was The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), a tale of the abuse of women, medical science, and madness. Other important works include Women and Economics (1898) and her utopian novel, Herland, published in 1915. Gilman was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1860 to a family that included Lyman Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. An unhappy childhood and difficult first marriage contributed to her clinical depression. She divorced her husband and moved to California, where she did her best work. Gilman committed suicide in 1935 after a period of failing health. Her autobiography was published soon after her death.

Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti was an accomplished English Victorian poet. Her best known poetry is contained in Goblin Market and other Poems (1862) and The Prince's Progress and other Poems (1862). She published a successful book of children's poetry, Sing-Song, in 1872. Her later work is highlighted by Time Flies (1855). In 1904, William Rossetti compiled his sister's Poetical Works (1904) followed by a collection of her letters. A devout high Anglican, Rossetti's work often reflected her piety. Rossetti was born in England in 1830 into a cultured and well-to-do family. After her initial successes, Rossetti was afflicted with Graves' disease and never really recovered her health. Increasingly reclusive, she devoted herself to melancholy religious prose. She never married, spurning several Catholic suitors, and died at her family home in 1894 when she was 64.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was one of the best known American poets of the 1920s. She won a poetry contest in 1902 with her poeam "Renascence," considered her best known poem. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her poem "The Ballad of the Harp Weaver" in 1923. She also published a number of successful collections of poems including A Few Twigs from Thistles (1920), Fatal Interview (1931), Wine From These Grapes (1934), Conversation at Midnight (1937), and Make the Bright Arrows (1940). She also published the posthumously Collected Poems in 1956. She is known for infusing traditional sonnets with the voice of an independent, modern woman. Millay was born in Rockland, Maine in 1892 and was educated in liberal arts at Vassar College. She worked as a reporter for Vanity Fair magazine in New York until her death in 1950.

E. M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster was an English novelist, essayist, and critic and was considered a major figure in modern literature. He published his first four novels between 1905 and 1910: Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908), and Howard's End (1910). He addressed subjects such as social justice, materialism and spirituality, and the dissolution of the English upper classes. His masterpiece is considered A Passage to India (1924) which was inspired by several visits to India and his service in Egypt during World War I. He also published volumes of literary criticism and essays. Forster was born in 1879 in London and was educated at King's College, Cambridge, before becoming a contributor to a number of literary journals. His eclectic and prolific work made him a major figure in world literature. He died in English in 1970 at the age of 91.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a well-known poet of Victorian England and is best remembered for her lyrics of love in her Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850). Her verse "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" has inspired lovers for over 150 years. Her other major works include "Aurora Leigh" (1857), a verse novel, clearly autobiographical, and Last Poems (1852). Her poetry evokes England and Italy, where she also lived, and has themes of social justice throughout. Browning was form in Hertfordshire in 1806 and reared on the family farm. Smothered by an overly protected father, the poet suffered poor health and was a semi-recluse. She met Robert Browning in 1845 and wed him the next year. They moved to Italy, where Browning improved both her health and disposition. She spent the next sixteen years with Browning in a devoted and tender marriage before dying in 1861 at the age of 55.

Emile Zola

Emile Zola was a French novelist who wrote finely detailed narratives with a realistic eye. He believed objective observation was necessary to maintain the integrity of his work. His first novel, Therese Raquin (1867), was written in this dispassionate style. His reputation rests on a mammoth 20 volume novel cycle called Les Rougon-Macquart, narrating the fortunes of a 19th century family over several generations. Topics in this series often involve the seamy side of life: prostitution, labor unrest, and alcoholism. Zola was born in Paris in 1840 and was raised in Provence. His education was mediocre, and he worked in a publishing house before becoming a journalist. He wrote for several French periodicals on a variety of topics as he honed his new style of writing. His mature novels were very successful and provided Zola with a comfortable life. He died in France in 1902.

Erich Maria Remarque

Erich Maria Remarque is the pen name of Erich Paul Remark, German novelist and literary figure. His experiences as a solid in WWI formed the subject of his first and greatest novel, "All Quiet on the Western Front," published in 1929. Detailing the experiences of ordinary works to emerge from the war. Remarque was born in small town in northern Germany in 1898. Drafted into the German army, he was gravely wounded and abandoned behind the French lines. He survived to write his fictional history of the conflagration that impacted millions of lives. Remarque never again achieved the fame following his first novel, but he remained active and lived in Europe until his death in 1970 at the age of 72. Erich Maria Remarque (Erich Paul Remark): -1898-1970 (Age 72) -German Novelist -First and most famous novel: "All Quiet on the Western Front" +Published in 1929 +About the experience of ordinary works to emerge from war +Based off his experiences as a solider in WWI (German Army)

Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty was an American novelist, short fiction writer, critic, and essayist who was one of the great writers of the South. She mastered the Southern vernacular and the culture and customs of the South, and produced an impressive body of work. Her first collection, A Curtain of Green (1941), contained many of her most popular stories. The Ponder Heart (1954) is a classical absurdist humor novel, and The Optimist's Daughter (1972) won her a Pulitzer Prize that year. She hel many honors including the French Legion of Merit and the American Medal of Freedom. Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1909 and attended Mississippi State University and the University of Wisconsin. She lived in New York until her father's early death caused her to return to Jackson where she lived our the rest of her days. She was a literary figure of great importance in the South until her death in 2001.

Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound was a controversial American poet, critic, and editor in terms of world literature. His most famous work of poetry was titled The Cantos and was published very late in his career. He influenced the works of Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and T.S. Eliot. He was an important Imagist and advocated using free meter and very detailed imagery. His first poetry was self published and titled A Lume Spento. Pound was born in Idaho in 1885 but was raised in Pennsylvania. He was educated at both Hamilton College and the University of Pennsylvania. After college, he moved to Europe and became an influential critic and editor. Pound was arrested for treasonable propaganda as a result of his association with Mussolini and his fascist regime. For 12 years, he was imprisoned in an asylum before returning to Italy. He died in 1972.

Gerald Manley Hopkins

Gerald Manley Hopkins was an English poet who published his first successful poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland" in 1875. A series of sonnets followed: "The Windhover," "Pied Beauty,"God's Grandeur," and "Carrion Comfort." His later poems were written during a period of personal depression and religious doubt. He developed a style called sprung rhythm, which attempts to duplicate human speech. Poems, published 30 years after his death, was his first collection of work. Hopkins was born in Stratford, Essex, in 1844. He attended Oxford where he received a classical education. Hopkins abandoned poetry for seven years following his decision to convert to Catholicism and study for the priesthood. For the remainder of his life, he was haunted by poverty and spiritual doubt before dying in 1889 in England.

Gertrude Stein (The Horse Faced Woman)

Gertrude Stein was an American poet, essayist, novelist, and short-story writer. Her major work is Three Lives (1909), a novel of working class women. Her poetry collection Tender Buttons: Objects Food, Rooms was published in 1914 and was well received. Her autobiography The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was published in 1937 and has become an icon to millions of individuals. Stein was born in America in 1874 but spent most of her childhood in Europe. She studied psychology with William James in Baltimore before moving to Paris for good. Stein became the center of the Modernist literary scene in Paris with the help of her secretary and partner Alice B. Toklas. She was a close friend of Picasso, Hemingway, and Ford Madox Ford. She was a flamboyant figure in Paris and was famous for her acid tongue and repartee. She died in Paris in 1946.

Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert was a French author of fiction, a master of the novel and adept at short stories. After an unsuccessful first manuscript, Flaubert spent fiver years writing his best known work, Madame Bovary, published in 1857. This narrative of the adulterous affairs of a middle class French woman shocked much of France, and Flaubert was prosecuted for the book's "immortality." His other novels include Salaambo (1862) and A Sentimental Education (1869). Flaubert is recognized as a pioneer in modern fiction writing. Flaubert was born in Rouen, France in 1821 and began writing fiction as a child. He enrolled in law school but soon suffered a breakdown and abandoned his education. He committed himself to writing with great energy and gave up many of the distractions of Paris life to concentrate on his craft. Flaubert died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage at his home in Croisset, France, in 1880. He was 58 years old.

H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells was an English journalist and novelist. Known as a founding father of science fiction, he is know best known for The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1886), and The War of the Worlds (1898), futuristic novels that captured the fancy of the public. He was also admired in his day for his traditional novels, chief of which is Tono-Bungay (1909). Wells wrote the respected The Outline of History (1920, which is a warning to society to recognize and remedy its problems. Wells was born in London in 1866 and attended the Normal School of Science. He incorporated his scientific knowledge in his work, which gave it a ring of truth. Wells was a socialist who believed the salvation of society would be its technology. He was active politically his entire life and became an influential advocate of socialism. Wells died in London in 1946, having witnessed the birth of the atomic age.

Hart Crane

Hart Crance was an American poet who left behind one work on which his reputation rests. "The Bridge," Hart's 18 part epic poem based on the Brooklyn Bridge, celebrates America's muscular industrial strength in a manner that precedes Carl Sandburg. The poem, published in 1930, was a popular and critical success. Combining bold imagery with technical dexterity, the sweeping American themes captured the fancy of the public and critics alike. His complete works including a manuscript found after his death were published in 1966. Crane was born in Ohio in 1899, and was an industrial worker during World War I. Hart suffered from depression his entire life, and committed suicide when returning from a trip to Mexico by jumping off the ship into the ocean. This bizarre death ended a promising talent in 1932 when Hart was only 32 years old.

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian poet and playwright known for his realistic descriptions of modern social problems and psychological dilemmas that haunt his characters. His most popular work is Peer Gynt (1876). His more mature work is composed of a number of plays written with marked realism and include A Doll's House (1879), Hedda Gabler (1891), The Wild Duck (1885), and his final play The Master Builder (1893), considered his most autobiographical drama. Ibsen was born near Oslo in 1828 who was apprenticed to a pharmacist after his father's business failed. He abandoned his apprenticeship and moved to Oslo where he worked in the theatre. He became a jack-of-all-trades, managing and directing groups of players. He died in 1906 at the age of 78.

Henry Adams

Henry Adams was an American editor, biographer, and historian famed for his autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams (1907). He produced two novels, Democracy, an American Novel (1880) and Esther (1884), both published anonymously. His life's work was the nine-volume History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (1889-91). Adams was born in 1838 in Boston, the grandson of John Quincy Adams. Educated at Harvard, he chose a profession of scholarship rather than government service. Editor of the North American Review for six years, he then accepted an appointment as medieval history professor at Harvard. He remained there until he retired to write full time. He died in Washington D.C. in 1918.

James Boswell

James Boswell was a Scottish biographer and essayist. His most important work is The Life of Samuel Johnson, still regarded as one of the finest biographies in the English language. He also wrote a political history, An Account of Corsica, which narrates that island's movement for independence. Boswell's diaries, which include astute observations on society and manners of his day, were published after his death. Born in Edinburgh in 1740, he immigrated to England, where he met Samuel Johnson in 1763. Boswell neglected his own law practice to devote his life to Johnson and his biography. He spent much of the next 25 years traveling and living with Johnson. This was a unique friendship of two notable literacy figures that resulted in a biography of great power and feeling. Boswell died at age 54, leaving a legacy for all future biographers.

James Joyce

James Joyce was an Irish novelist and short-story writer who developed a style rich in innovative literary technique and creative language. The Dubliners, a collection of short stories published in 1914, was his first major work and was followed four years later by his autobiographical novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and a drama, Exiles (1918). His famous novel Ulysses was published in 1922 to critical acclaim. His novel Finnegans Wake was published in 1939. Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882, the same city most of his novels are set. He rebelled against the constraints of Catholic society and left Ireland to live in a number of European cities with his wife Nora Barnacle. He was plagued by an eye disorder that caused near blindness and died in 1941.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist of enduring popularity. Considered by some to be a founder of the modern novel, Austen narrated the everyday life of country gentry in the latter part of the 18th century. She combined keen observation, sharp wit, and memorable characters to create a much-loved body of work. Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice were written in the 1790s but not published until 10 years later. Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion were the fruits of her later work. Her parodies of Gothic romances and novels of courtship are unequaled in English literature. A brilliant plotter, her view of character relationships against the complex web of social manners and mores of the day is unequaled. Austen was born in 1775. She was educated at home in the Bath area, where she lived her entire life. All of her novels were published anonymously, and she wrote productively until her death in 1817. Austen's works wer a critical success as well as being loved by the public. They have been adapted for the theatre, television, and the cinema.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a novelists, essayist, philosopher, and intellect from Switzerland. He is most famous for The Social Contract, a French document discussing his method for changing society. The Social Contract is credited with influencing both the French and American revolutions. Along with his essay, Rousseau also wrote two other novels, Julie and Emilie as well as his autobiography Confessions. Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1712 before moving to Paris where he established his reputation as a writer with his famous essay "Discourse on the Science and Arts". This essay discussed the problems with science and the arts. He believed that they degraded the natural man. His works became very controversial, causing him to be exiled from many different countries. He finally found a peaceful home in England, but he struggled with paranoia and other mental illnesses before dying in Ermenonville in 1778.

J.D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger, American novelist and short-fiction writer, is one of the most enigmatic figures in 20th-century literary history. Salinger wrote one novel, The Catcher In The Rye, published in 1951, which has been a bible to coming-of-age youth ever since. His hero, Holden Caulfield, seeks meaning in a world he finds contrived and artificial. The book has been required reading in countless college courses over the years. Salinger also wrote several collections of short stories, including Nine Stories (1953) and Franny and Zooey (1961), which narrate young people's alienation from society. Salinger was born in New York in 1919 and little is known about his early life. After his success in the early 1950s, Salinger became a recluse in New England and withstood all attempts to interview or even meet him. He has published almost nothing since the early 1960s.

John Bunyan

John Bunyan was an English writer who is famous for his 1684 religious allegory The Pilgrim's Progress, a depiction of the spiritual journey of mankind. Bunyan was opposed to Quakerism and vocalized this opposition in A Vindication in 1657. Bunyan was born in Bedford in 1628 before serving in Cromwell's army during the English Civil War. He joined a nonconformist church in 1653 where he became a very popular preacher. He was arrested for preaching without a permit in 1660 and spent 12 years in prison where he was able to productively write and publish Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and The Holy War. He died in 1688.

John Donne

John Donne is considered the greatest of the Metaphysical poets and wrote highly original verses on both religious and secular poetry. His love verses were written prior to his secret marriage to 17 year old Ann More. The best known are "The Sunne Rising," "The Bait," and "To Catch a Falling Star." His reputation as a religious poet rests on "The Holy Sonnets" which were written during a period of spiritual search. Donne was born into a Catholic family with strong ties to the Church. He converted to Anglicanism in 1614 after suffering a crisis of faith. His marriage to Ann without her father's consent caused a scandal for which he served a short prison sentence. His ambitions for a government career were dashed by this incident, and he turned to a career as an Anglican priest and dean of London's St. Paul's Cathedral. His reputation as a passionate preacher grew, but his poetry was not published until two years after his death. He wrote his own funeral sermon, delivered in 1631.

John Dos Passos

John Dos Passos was an American novelist who wrote sobering fiction and prose about the decline of the United States, both spiritually and socially. His literary reputation rests on a triology of novels published as U.S.A. in 1937. He based his view of America on his observations of a country deeply divided by class and coarsened by commercialism. Early novels polished his stream-of-consciousness style he would effectively emply in U.S.A. Dos Passos was born in Chicago in 1896, and he was educated at Harvard. After, he worked with Hemingway as an ambulance driver in France during World War I. His negative view of American society is a recurring theme in his work. He worked as a journalist most of his life and published several works of biography and history before his deat in 1970 at the age of 74.

John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck, American novelist and short-story writer, wrote with a realistic style about the lives of common people. Stenbeck's most important work describes the plight of itinerant workers set in rural and industrial California. His best-known works include Of Mice and Men (1837) and his Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939). The latter evokes the depression-stricken Dust Bowl and a refugee family's travails. Other important books include Cannery Row (1945), East of Eden (1952), and his whimsical Travels with Charley (1962). Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. John Steinbeck was born in California in 1902. He was educated at Stanford University, where he studied marine biology. Most of his fiction is set in California, and the themes of the sea are evident in his early work. His writing exhibits a lyrical quality combined with a stark realism that was his trademark. Steinbeck died in New York City in 1968.

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist who wrote on a variety of subjects including economics, politics, society, and manners. He is most known for his 1726 satirical novel Gulliver's Travels, which critiques the human condition. Other known works include Tale of a Tub, a satire on church; Drapier's Letters, an influential tract on Irish politics; and A Modest Proposal, a suggestion that Irish children be fattened and used as food for the rich. Swift was born in Dublin in 1667 and attended Trinity College and Oxford. In 1694, he was ordained as a priest in the Church of Ireland where he served for ten years before he became a secretary to a very important diplomat. When he died in 1745, a mental illness hospital was founded by his estate and was granted a large sum of money.

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges - Argentinean poet, novelist, essayist, and short-story writer - combined fantasy, myth, and philosophy in the fabric of daily life. His work is highly original, and his collection of essays, Other Inquisitions (1852), explains the writer's philosoophy of life and art. Other important works are a book blending poetry and porse, The Book of Sand, and a collection of his poetry in English translation. Born in Argentina in 1899, Borges studied abroad and received his degree from College de Geneva in Switzerland before returning home. During the dictatorship of Juan Peron, Borges was a vocal critic of the government. After the fall of Peron, Borges was appointed director of the National Library of Argentina in Buenos Aires. Borges died in 1986.

Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin was an American novelist and short fiction writer whose breakthrough work was the novel The Awakening (1899). This novel was the story of a woman's struggle to attain independence, and this story has become a landmark in feminist literature. The book was roundly condemned for its bold use of sexuality, particularly the heroine's illicit affairs. The criticism was so overwhleming it almost ended her writing career. Her later works are collections of stroes of Creole and Cajun life. Chopin was born in St. Louis in 1850, and she married and moved to New Orleans in 1870. Nowadays, she is regarded as an early victim of antifeminist opinion in literary circles, and her inquiries into the nature of female identity are remarkable for the period and prepared ground for future feminist literature. She continued to live and write in St. Louis until her death in 1904.

Lillian Hellman

Lillian Hellman was a playwright and diarist. Her career began with her play The Children's Hour, 1934. Her plays dealt with political activism, and she was blacklisted in the 50s as a result. The Children's Hour was about two schoolteachers accused of lesbianism, and her next famous play was The Little Foxes about a horrible southern family. Two other notable works were Watch On the Rhine (1941) and Toys in the Attic (1960). She also published her autobiography which was met with praise. Hellman was born in 1905 in New Orleans to a Jewish family. When blacklisted, she fought hard to clear her name and succeeded. She died in 1984, a famous liberal icon.

Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust was a French novelist who owes his reputation to his epic seven-part masterpiece, Remembrance of Things Past (1913-27). This monumental work examines the existential problem of finding meaning and value in the maelstrom of life. Using the device of interior monologue, Proust views the transient nature of life and the flux of consciousness, using observation of minute detail in a manner rarely done with such skills. He was forced to publish the first volume himself, but subsequent books were well received. The final three volumes were published after his death. Proust was born in Paris in 1871 and was educated at the Lycee Condorcet. As a young man, he was a favorite in the literary salons of Paris, a setting he used repeatedly in his novels. Suffering from chronic asthma and the early death of his mother, Proust withdrew into semi-seclusion, where he devoted himself to his life's work. He died in Paris in 1922.

Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell rests her reputation on one book, Gone with the Wind (1936). The novel won Mitchell a Pulitzer Prize and was made into one of the most popular films of all time, starring Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh. The book narrates a Southern belle's rise and fall set against the panorama of the plantation South and the American Civil War. The protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara, suffers the end of her Southern society and her values before becoming a resilient and successful survivor. Mitchell was born in 1900 in Atlanta and lived all her life there. She attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and worked as a journalist in Atlanta. She wrote Gone with the Wind over a 10 year period, completing it in 1934. The unprecedented success of the book and film changed her life forever. She spoke, taught, and lectured over the next 10 years until her death in Atlanta in 1949.

Stendhal (Marie Henri Beyle)

Marie Henri Beyle, known under the pen name "Stendhal," was a French novelist of great technical skill. His novels reflected deep and subtle psychological themes, using irony, cool, detached prose, and great realism. The Red and the Black (1830) and The Charterhouse of Parma (1839) are two of his greatest works that narrate the adventures of young men and their rise and fall. Other novels include an autobiographical novel, The Life of Henry Brulard, and another novel Memoirs of an Egoist. Beyle was born in Grenoble and joined the Ministry of War before fighting with Napolean in his European and Russian campaigns. From 1831 to 1842, the year of his death, he worked as a minor diplomat in Italy.

Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Gogol was a Russian playwright, novelist, and short-story author who wrote sharp satirical prose innovatively. Mirgorod and Arabesques were published in 1835 are are both collections of short stories. His best known work is the novel Dead Souls (1842). This novel was a biting satire on feudal Russia. The sequel to Dead Souls was to have been his crowning work, but he burned the manuscript in 1852 shortly before he died, and only fragments remain. Gogol was born in Ukraine in 1809 and moved to St. Petersburg where he worked in civil service and teaching while writing. He began displaying symptoms of mental illnes in the 1840s, and he became obssessed with religion. During his obsession, he fell under the influence fo a fanatical priest who urged him to destroy the the sequel to Dead Souls in order to atone for the original. As time passed, Gogol became more and more delusional. After destroying the manuscript, he starved himself to death in 1852.

Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and journalist who who his initial success with The Naked and the Dead, an autobiographical novel of World War II (1948). Blending gritty realism with a unique and arresting writing style, Mailer was granted instant celebrity. His later novels never approached the success of The Naked and the Dead, and his reputation today rests largely on his journalism. He wont the Pulitzer Prize for Armies of the Night and The Executioner's Song, both nonfiction books. Significant later works include Ancient Evenings and Harlot's Ghost. Mailer was born in New Jersey in 1923 and was educated at Harvard University. After his initial success, he developed his own blend of journalism, political commentary, fictional allusions, and autobiography into a rich style with colorful language. He died in 2007.

Oscar Wilde (Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde)

Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer, poet, critic, and playwright. Famed for his wit, repartee, and flamboyant lifestyle, Wilde's first success was The Importance of Being Earnest, produced in 1895. Some of Wilde's most famous works include The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), a moral allegory, An Ideal Husband (1895), The Happy Price (1888), and a French drama Salome (1896). "De Profundis" (1905) was taken from a letter written in prison. His final work "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" (1897), is his most famous poem. Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854 and had a classical education. He moved to London, becoming a leader in the Aesthetic movement. Wilde was imprisoned for his homosexual activity, after losing a libel suit against the father of his lover, and spent two years at hard labor. On his release from prison, he moved to France, where he resided until his death in 1900 at the age of 46.

Paul Verlaine

Paul Verlaine was a French poet who lead the light of the Symbolist movement. This movment stressed the importance of suggestion and shading over direct description and emphasized intuited subtle connections between the spiritual and physical worlds. His best works were "Song Without Words" (1874) and "Fetes Galantes" (1869). His poetry later in life was influenced by his conversion to Catholocism when he embraced positive values. These values are noted in "Wisdom" (1880), "Love" (1888), and "Happiness" (1891). Verlaine was born in Metz in 1844. After being educated in Paris, he joined the radical poets in the salons and cafes of literary Paris. He shocked society when he left his family for 17 year old Arthur Rimbard and carried on a tempestuous and violent affair. He embraced the Church in his forties and was able to achieve the peace he believed had eluded him. He died in Paris in 1896.

Rainer Maria Rilke (Rene Maria Rilke)

Rainer Maria Rilke was a German poet and a much beloved figure throughout the word, where his work is universally admired. Struggling with themes of life and death, Rilke explore man's relationship to the divine and particularly humanity's perception of the universal. His major works include The Book of Images (1906), Duino Elegies (1923), Sonnets to Orpheus (1923), and New Plans, his first volume published in 1908. Rilke is one of the most widely translated poets in the world, some of his, some of his translations done by well-known poets, such as Robert Bly and Randall Jarrell. Rilke was born in Prague in 1875. He lived across Europe, with sojourns in Germany, France, and Switzerland. Rilke visited Russia twice, which inspired his first book of poetry. Rilke died in Switzerland in 1926, a giant man of letters.

Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison was an American novelist and essayist who published only one novel in his lifetime: The Invisible Man (1952). His novel was a candid and realistic examination of race relations in the U.S. The unamed protragonist, a black man, realizes his color makes him essentially invisible in American society. Winner of the National Book Award in 1952, The Invisible Man has become a classic in the study of race relations in modern America. Ellison remained a productive writer, publishing books of essays and short stories. Ralph Ellison was born in Oklahoma and was originally trained as a musician. He joined the Federal Writers' Project in 1936 and met and befriended Richard Wright. He lived most of his adult life in New York City, where he held an edowed chair at New York University. He died in New York in 1994.

Richard Wright

Richard Wright was an American novelist and short fiction writer who was one of the most influentical black voices in Americna literature His first book was Uncle Tom's Children (1938) and included fourth novellas and won critical acclaim. His publication of the best selling Native Son (1940) ensured his place in literary history. He also important works include The Outsider (1953) and his autobiography Black Boy (1945). Wright was born in rural Mississippi in 1908, the grandson of slaves. He was largely self-educated and moved to Chicago at age 19 where he entered the Federal Writers' Project. Wright joined the Communist Party during the Depression and lived in Mexico before settling in Paris. He died in Paris in 1960 at the age of 52.

Rober Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish essayist, novelist, and poet, and short story writer whose acclaim and wealth came from the publication of his novel Treasure Island (1883). He followed that novel with Kidnapped (1886), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1889). He also wrote a book of verse for children titled A Child's Garden of Verses (1885). His swashbuckling tales and colorful language engaged the fancy of the public, and he was able to reitre a wealthy man. Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850 and was educated in law. His life was tainted by chronic tuberculosis, and he sought cures and more helathy climates all over the world. He finally found relief in Samoa, where he stteled and lived the last of his years. He died there in 1894 at the young age of 44.

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was a British novelist, poet, and short-fiction writer who was considered a favorite of the British Empire. His novels of British imperialism carved a unique literary niche. These novels included Kim, published in 1901. He was also loved for his poetry. Some great examples are "Gunga Din," "Mandalay," and "Danny Deever." He wrote a collection of stories for children including The Jungle Book (1894) and Just So Stories (1902). His description of British colonial life became a window for the world to understand the glory and excesses of the empire. Kipling was born in Bombay in 1865 but was educated in England. He worked as a journalist and fledling poet after returning to India. Once again, he returned to England, and his prose collection captured the fancy of the nation. He lived for four years in Vermont before returning home for good. He was the first English writer to win a Nobel Prize for Literature and died in 1936.

Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler was an English essayist, critic, and novelist who is best known for his satire and wit. He published his first major work, Erewhon, in 1872. It was a satire on how the public was viewing universal progress. His best known work is The Way of All Flesh (1903), an autobiography that described Victorian middle-class life. Before that work was published, Burns wrote and publish The Fair Haven (1873) and Erewhon Revisited (1901). Butler was born in Nottinghamshire in 1835 and was educated at Cambridge before moving to New Zealand. He returned to England in 1864 and began writing full time. He died in England in 1902.

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson was an English poet, essayist, biographer, and lexicographer of the mid 18th century. He began to organize the first English language dictionary in 1746 and finished it in 1755, making his reputation. His other major works include Lives of the Poets and Rasselas as well as the poem "The Vanity of Human Wishes." His poem "Irene" was produced for the stage in 1746. Johnson was born in Lichfield in 1709 and was a schoolmaster for a long time before moving to London. In the novel The Life of Samuel Johnson, Johnson's friend, James Boswell, immortalized him. When he died in 1784, he was so famous that his "era" became known as the Age of Johnson.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a leading figure in English Romanticism. His partnership with the youn William Wordsworth blossomed with the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798. The first poem in this book is Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," a spectacular start to a most successful career. Coleridge's creative ideas on poetic form and his original and striking use of language are his contributions to English literature. Other poems of this period include "Christobel" and "Kubla Kahn." Coleridge was a tragic figure in English literature. Born in the West Country in 1772, and educated at Cambridge, he married hastily and unhappily. In later life, he moved to the Lake District to be close to William Wordsworth, his lifetime friend. Coleridge became an opium addict and his marriage failed during this time. He had an unrequited love affair with Sara Hutchinson, the sister of Wordsworth's fiancee. These travails prevented Coleridge from creative work for many years, and his body of poetry is small. This unhappy but brilliant figure died in 1834.

Virginia Woolf (Adele Virginia Stephen)

Virginia Woolf was an English novelist, short fiction writer, essayist, and critic. She was one of the most creative and influential writers of the 20th century. After publishing two traditional novels, Woolf wrote Jacob's Room (1922) using her stream of consciousness method of interior monologues to develop an absent character. She continued her experimentation in Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and The Waves (1931). Woolf was born in Englan in 1882 and was educated by her father, a distinguished literary figure of his own right. After his death, she and her family moved to the Bloomsbury section of London, where their home became the center of the group of authors, artists, and thinkers known as the Bloomsbury Group. She married Leonard Woolf, with whom she would found the Hogarth Press, a publisher of many important Modernist writers. Woolf committed suicide in 1941 by drowning.

W.S. Gilbert

W.S. Gilbert was an English playwright and humorist who teamed with Arthur Sullivan to produce the most popular light verse and comic opera in the English language. The partnership was formed in 1870, and they produced 17 operettas together. The most popular include The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1884), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), and The Yeoman of the Guard (1888). Gilbert and Sullivan became the most successful writers of light opera ever. Gilbert was born in London in 1836 and educated at King's College. He began his writing career as a journalist, creating humorous pieces for magazines and weeklies. In 1866, he wrote his first play, Dulcamara, for a Christmas presentation. His partnership with Sullivan lasted 20 years and proved to be one of the most successful in music history. Gilbert died in London in 1911.

Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins was an English novelist who was considered the pioneer of the mystery story and novel. His first novels were Antonia, or the Fall of Rome (1850) and Basil (1852), his first suspense novel. His reputation was made with the publication of The Woman in White in 1860, and he followed this success with the hugely popular The Moonstone (1868). His later works include Armadale (1866), The New Magdalen (1873), The Haunted Hotel (1879), and Heart and Science (1883). Collins was born in London in 1824 and studied law in college. Although admitted to the bar, he never practiced and soon turned his energies to writing. Befriended by Charles Dickens, who published much of his early work serially in his literary magazines, Collins soon became popular, and the demand for mystery and suspense fiction has never wanted. He died in London in 1889.

Willa Cather

Willa Cather was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist who found fame with her second novel O Pioneers!. This novel narrated the sotry of an immigrant family's struggle in the new world. My Antonia (1918) was the story of a woman's struggle and eventual triumph on the prairie and was met with critical acclaim. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1922 for One of Ours, and her later work bemoaned the loss of pioneering spirit in America, the theme of her novel Death Comes for the Archbishop (1917). She published a successful essay collection, Not under Forty (1936), and other topics examined art, loss, disillusionment. One such novel was Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940), a novel on the American Civil War. Cather was born in Virginia in 1873 and moved to the Nebraska frontier as a child. Her experiences furnished much of the material her work was based on. She died in 1947.

William Blake

William Blake was a poet and artist whose career began in 1789 with his publication of Songs of Innocence. The Marriage of Heave and Hell is considered his most important piece of work, and it rejects rationalism in favor of mystical faith. His masterpiece was written in 1794 and is titled Songs of Innocence and Experience. His poem "Jerusalem" tried to imagine the experience of spirit after death. He is known for pioneering the term "prophetic books" which predict the European and American futures. Blake was born in 1757 and as a young child, he experienced visions of angels, devils, and poets. H was a master illustrator and worked on illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy and others. He remained true to his vision despite being thought mad by others. He died in 1827 at the age of 69.

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright who became famous with his plays the Countess Cathleen (1892), The Land of Heart's Desire (1894), and Cathleen in Houlihan (1902). His poetry showed realistic style full of symbols. Examples of this type of poetry are "Easter 1916 (1916) and "The Second Coming" (1921). He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1865 but was raised in London. He remained particularly interested in Irish nationalism, folklore, mysticism, and painting. He fell in love with Maud Gonne, a political activist but his love was not returned. He founded the Abbey Theatre in Dublin which was a center for Irish literary life. He died in France in 1939.

William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams was an American poet, novelist, and short story author who found inspiration for his work in the experiences of everyday life. He wrote 45 volumes of prose and poetry, typically American, using his realistic, or Objectivist, style. His best poetry was his five volume Paterson (1946-58), based on the city near his home. His Pictures From Brueghel (1962), a three volume work, won Williams a Pulitzer Prize in 1962. He also published numerous works of short fiction and the Stecher trilogy of novels. His prose includes a book of essays and an autobiography. Williams was born in Rutherford, New Jersey in 1883 and studied medicine in college. He returned to his birthplace and practiced as a pediatrician for over 50 years while turning out a large body of innovative and very American work. Williams was unusual in that he literally had two full time careers his whole adult life. He is now regarded as a leading Modernist writer. He died in New Jersey in 1963.

William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was an American poet, critic, and prose writer. Thanatopsis, his most famous work, was published in 1817 and was a reverie on death. He enjoyed nature, and much of his nature touches on natural beauty. An example of his affection for the natural world is his poem "To a Waterfowl," published in 1821. Considered at milestone in American poetry, this poem viewed nature as the guiding people of life. His volume Early American Verse was instrumental in building the foundation for the American literary tradition as well as his reputation as a critic. Byrant was born in Massachuesetts in 1794 and began his career as a lawyer before realizing his stronger interest in writing. In 1825, he moved to New York and served as editor of the New York Evening Post, a liberal newspaper dedicated to the abolition of slavery and workers' rights. He became an advocate for these causes and was incredibly dedicated to them. He became the dead of American journalism and was active until his death in New York in 1878.

Describe an elegy. Name the first elegy. Give some modern examples.

An elegy is a mournful or sorrowful poem, usually lamenting the dead. It typically expresses the poet's sorrow for the loss of a friend or lover, or more generally for the sadness of the human condition. Consolation is a recurring theme in an elegy, in some way consoling the audience for the brevity of human existence. The first elegy was "The Idylls of Theocritus," in early Greek literature. More modern examples include Milton's "Lycidas," Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard," Shelley's "Adonais," and W.H. Auden's "In Memory of W.B. Yeats." In formal poetic conventional, an elegy refers to any poem, regardless of subject, written in elegiac distiches (alternating lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter). The usual understanding of the term in poetry is the sorrowful or mournful mood that is the signature of the elegy. This type of work is much less common in modern poetry although it still occurs.

List and explain three advantages of reading drama as text

An oft-heard of reading drama is that the experience pales when compared to watching a performance. There are, however, some advantages to reading drama as text: 1. Freedom of point of view and perspective: text is free of interpretations of actors, directors, producers, and technical staging. 2. Additional information: the text of a drama may be accompanied by notes or prefaces placing the work in a social or historical context. Stage directions may also provide relevant information about the author's purpose. None of this is typically available at live or filmed performances. 3. Study and understanding: Difficult or obscure passages may be studied at leisure and supplemented by explanatory works. This is particularly true of older plays with unfamiliar language, which cannot be fully understood without an opportunity to study the material.

Seven Steps in Identifying Meter in a Poem

1. Read the poem and decide where the grammatical and semantic stresses are placed 2. Mark the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables 3. Determine whether the poem follows a regular meter 4. Count the number of feet in each line 5. Identify the predominant types of foot and line 6. Read the poem again, preferably aloud, and listen for rhythm variations in the whole poem 7. Mark the changes of rhythm and the new type of feet

Three Major Stages in Drama

1. Theatre-in-the Round or the Arean Stage - allows the audience to surround the stage, which provides a much different dramatic experience for both players and audiences. Originally used in classical Roman and Greek theatre, it is now used today in smaller experimental theatres around the world; 2. Apron or Thrust Stage - seats audiences on the sides of a platform. Shakespeare's Globe theatre used an early form of this type, and it is not used much today; 3. Proscenium Stage - most common and most current stage used, the audience sits in front of a stage framed by the acting space. This stage is very common in drama, opera, and musical presentations

Give a timeline for an early chronicle of world literature from 1200 A.D. through Milton's Paradise Lost.

1200 A.D. - European mystery plays combine biblical themes with social satire. 1297 A.D. - Marco Polo's "Travels" introduces Europeans to Asian culture. 1400 A.D. - Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" collects stories of pilgrims in a rich evocation of medieval life. 1450 A.D. - Gutenberg invents movable metal type and the printing press. 1516 A.D. - Martin Luther launches the Protestant Reformation in Wittenberg, Germany. 1558 A.D. - The reign of Elizabeth I begins the golen age of English literature. 1589 A.D. - William Shakespeare's first plays are produced in London. 1611 A.D. - The King James Bible is published and will have a lasting impact on English literature. 1660 A.D. - The Restoration Period of English literature begins. 1667 A.D. - Milton's "Paradise Lost" is published in blank verse in England.

Discuss characterization in prose fiction; explain flat and round characters and how modern literature has been affected by Freudian psychology

A character is a person intimately involved with the plot and development of the novel. There is usually a physical description of the character, but this is often omitted in modern and postmodern novels. These works may focus on the psychological state or motivation of the character. The choice of a character's name may give valuable clues to his role in the work. Characters are said to be flat or round. Flat characters tend to be minor figures in the story, changing little or not at all. Round characters (those understood from a well-rounded view) are more central to the story and tend to change as the plot unfolds. Stock characters are similar to flat characters, filling out the story without influencing it. Modern literature has been greatly affected by Freudian psychology, giving rise to such devices as the interior monologue and magical realism as methods of understanding characters in a work. These give the reader a more complex understanding of the inner lives of the character and enrich the understanding of relationships between characters.

Define farce. Give some examples throughout history.

A farce is a dramatic comedy that is full of action, escapades of characters always on the brink of disaster, and stereotypical characters filling stock roles. The farce is one of the oldest forms of comedy, found in folk plays, Greek drama, the Renaissance, and modern theatre, notably in the works of Alan Ayckbourn. The theatre of the absurd uses farce to represent the essential meaninglessness and chaos of life. Specialized forms of this are tragic farce, which combines farce with tragedy. Farce is perhaps best known by the public through silent film. Charlie Chaplin, the Keystone Cops, and many other slapstick comedians made farcical silent films that were enjoyed by a wide audience.

Explain why one must use his imagination when reading drama

A play is written to be spoken aloud. The drama is in many ways inseparable from performance. Reading drama ideally involves using imagination to visualize and re-create the play with characters and settings. The reader stages the play in his imagination, watching characters interact and developments unfold. Sometimes this involves simulating a theatrical presentation; other times it involves imagining the events. In either case, the reader is imagining the unwritten to re-create the dramatic experience. Novels present some of the same problems, but a narrator will provide much more information about the setting, characters, inner dialogues, and many other supporting details. In drama, much of this is missing, and we are required to use our powers of projection and imagination to taste the full flavor of the dramatic work. There are many empty spaces in dramatic texts that must be filled by the reader to fully appreciate the work.

Define accent, meter, and feet. Discuss the use of feet in poetry.

Accent is a recurring stress in a line of verse. In poetry written in English, the number and order of accented syllables determine the meter of a line or poem. Meter is the recurrent, rhythmic, sound pattern in a poem. Each line of English verse is divided into units, each known as a foot. The most common types of feet are: 1. Iambic 2. Trochaic 3. Dactylic 4. Anapestic 5. Spondaic A line of verse is characterized by the number of feet it contains. A line may be monometer (1 foot,) diameter (2 feet), trimeter (3 feet), tetrameter (4 feet), pentameter (5 feet), hexameter (6 feet), or heptameter (7 feet). Poetry WITHOUT meter is called free verse.

Why are stage directions important when reading dramatic action?

Action is a crucial element in the production of a dramatic work. Many dramas contain little dialogue and much action. In these cases, it is essential for the reader to carefully study stage directions and visualize the action on the stage. Benefits of understanding stage directions include knowing which characters are on the stage at all times, who is speaking to whom, and following these patterns through changes of scene. Stage directions also provide additional information, some of which is not available to a live audience. The nature of the physical space where the action occurs is vital, and stage directions help with this. The historical context of the period is important in understanding what the playwright was working with in terms of theatres and physical space. The type of staging possible for the author is a good guide to the spatial elements of a production.

Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and major figure in the Beat Generation. He, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs led a group of artists in opposing the conformist society of America in the 1950s. Ginsberg's epic poem "Howl" (1956) became a rallying cry for the counterculture revolution. Ginsberg's poetry draws from traditions of free verse and symbolism in a probing voice demanding to be heard. Always socially and politically engaged, Ginsberg's later works include "Kaddish" (1961), The Fall of America: Poems of These States (1973), and Reality Sandwiches (1966). Born in New Jersey in 1926 to a working class family, Ginsberg was educated at Columbia University. He moved to San Francisco in the 1950s, where he found a flourishing counterculture of rebellion. Ginsberg and his friends lived bohemian lives and challenged all the accepted mores of society. Ginsberg died in 1997.

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie, accurately titled "Dame", is known as one of the most successful writers. During her career, she wrote over 80 detective stories which were all translated in more than 100 languages. Christie was born in West County in 1980 where she was also raised. During World War 1, Christie worked as a nurse and a chemist. She died in Wallingford in 1976. Christie created some of the most memorable characters: Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Her works were adapted for the stage, and her most famous work, The Mousetrap, is still running in London.

Explain how the device of agony has been used in drama and modern literature

Agony is the Greek word for struggle or conflict. As used in classical Greek drama, it indicates a portion of the play in which two characters engage in a heated arguments or debate. Each of the characters is supported in his arguments by a part of the Greek chorus. The agony is a device used extensively in both comedies and tragedies. It is often the part of Greek drama when climaxes of the plot unfold. The opposing characters usually represent conflicting themes or ideas in the drama. In tragedies, the agony is sometimes followed by the death or exile of the protagonist. In modern literature, the term is used in literary criticism to denote a competitive battle. Harold Bloom used the term as an element in literary history to describe the conflict between a major poet and his predecessor whom the poet feels he must displace.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope, the great English poet and satirist, was born in London in 1688. Pope's style features biting wit, excellent command of formal poetry, and a particular kind of verse that is both insightful and dramatic. Among his numerous works is his great satire, "The Rape of the Lock," narrating a feud started over a lock of hair. "An Essay on Criticism," Pope's poem about writing, launched his career in 1711. He was to produce a body of work noted chiefly for satire ad brilliant essays including translations of Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey." Pope also edited a controversial edition of Shakespeare, which won him notoriety. Pope had little formal education and was raised a Catholic at a time that anti-Catholic feeling ran high in England. He contracted an unknown illness when he was a child, leaving him a semi-invalid and stunted his growth. Despite these handicaps, Pope became one of the giants of English literature until his death in London in 1744.

Henry James

American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and essayist, Henry James is a founder of the modern American novel. His mature fiction includes The American (1877), The Europeans (1878), Daisy Miller (1879), and Washington Square (1880). James's middle period features novels of social concern and artists, such as The Bostonians (1886). James's mature works use the technique of presenting events through each character's limited perspective, as in Turn of the Screw (1898) and Wings of the Dove (1902). James was an excellent literary and art critic, writing for a number of newspapers and periodicals. James was born in New York City in 1843 but spent much of his time in Europe. From 1876 until his death, he lived in London, eventually becoming a British subject. Many of his works involve Americans living abroad, particularly in England. James died in London in 1916.

Why are speech and dialogue in drama important? Define and describe asides and soliloquies.

Analysis of speech and dialogue is important int he critial study of drama. Some playwrights use speech to develop their characters. Speeches may be long or short, and written in as normal prose or blank verse. Some characters have a unique way of speaking which illuminates aspects of the drama. Emphasis and tone are both important, as well. Does the author make clear the tone in which lines are to be spoken, or is this open to interpretation? Sometimes there are various possibilities in tone with regard to delivering lines. Asides and soliloquies can be important in plot and character development. Asides indicate that not all characters are privy to the lines. This may be a method of advancing or explaining the plot in a subtle manner. Soliloquies are opportunities for character development, plot enhancement, and to give insight to characters motives, feelings, and emotions. Careful study of these elements provides a reader with an abundance of clues to the major themes and plot of the work.

Anna Akhmatova (Andreyevna Gorenko)

Anna Akhmatoa is the pen name of Andreyevna Gorenko, a Russian poet, whose work was set against repression in the Soviet Union. She was a leading light of the Acemist school of poetry which valued accuracy, precision, and realistic clarity as a reaction to Symbolism. Her first book was a collection of lyrical love poems titled Vecher (1912). Her epic poem "Requiem" (1940) was a response to her husband's execution by the Soviets. "Poem Without a Hero" (1965) is considered her masterpiece and narrates the difficulties of an artist working in a repressive regime. Akhmatova was born near Odessa in 1889. Her work was banned by Stalinist officials for almost 2o years because they judged it as too concerned with love and God. In 1946, she was expelled from the Writer's Union and was not published again until the late 1950s. She is now ranked as one of the great poets of the 20th century. She died in the Soviet Union in 1966.

Anthony Powell

Anthony Powell, English novelist, contributed to the staggering achievements of 20th century fiction with his writing of the 12 volume opus A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975. Grouped in three series of four novels each, it is the story of a man's life over 50 years, from public school through adulthood. His narration is sometimes humorous, often melodramatic, and it has been consistently overlooked by critics. His earlier works focus on satirizing the British upper class. After completing his master work, Powell remained productive, producing a four volume memoir. Powell was born in London 1905 and educated at Eton and Oxford. He worked for many years in journalism and publishing until his success allowed him to concentrate on his novels. He had a long and active career that ended with his death in 2000.

Anthony Trollope

Anthony Trollope was an English novelist of great dexterity. Famed for his evocation of Victorian life and his vivid characters, Trollope was one of the most popular writers of his day. His finest works were two novel sequences: The Barsetshire Novels, consisting of four volumes, and the politically themed Palliser Novels. his fiction created characters that have stood the test of time and remain fresh today. Trollope's stories have been adapted many times for film, television, and the stage. Trollope was born in rural London in 1815 and reared there in modest circumstances. He became a civil servant, working for the Royal Mail for many years. He wrote with great energy during his life, producing prose collections, travel books, biographies, and 47 novels. His two volume Autobiography appeared posthumously in 1883. He died in 1882 at the age of 67.

Anton Chekov

Anton Chekov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is regarded as one of the best in Russian literature. Chekov is known for his ability to blend symbolism and naturalism through his combination of comedy, tragedy, and pathos. His greatest short stories are "The Black Monk (1894), "A Dreary Story" (1889), and "Ward Number Six" (1892). His greatest plays are The Cherry Orchard (1904), Uncle Vanya (1897), The Three Sisters (1901), and The Seagull (1897). Chekov was born in southern Russia and chose to study medicine at Moscow University. After his early success, he decided to concentrate on writing as opposed to his medicine. However, he moved to the Crimea when he began suffering from tuberculosis. He succumbed to his illness and died in 1904.

Define and describe an apostrophe, a soliloquy, and an antistrophe in drama

Apostrophe occurs when a character addresses an abstract idea or a persona not present in the scene. This differs from a soliloquy in which a character seems to be speaking to himself or herself, or thinking out loud. The soliloquy was used extensively in English Renaissance drama and made popular by Shakespeare in his dramatic works. The soliloquy has evolved into interior monologues in fiction in which the musings of a character are used to develop depth and advance plots. Apostrophe and soliloquy are often confused, and it should be remembered that a soliloquy occurs when there is only one character on the stage, whereas in apostrophe there may be other characters in the scene but not addressed. Apostrophe is a device in Greek drama in which the chorus responds to a previous stanza of verse. Antistrophe is rarely seen today outside of the production of classical Greek drama.

Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller was an American playwright and described the pain of the common man in his stirring dramas. His best known play is Death of a Salesman (1949), and it earned him a Pulitzer Prize. The Crucible (1953), a drama about the Salem Witch trials, is regarded as an American classic. He wrote over six decades, and some of his early works include A View from the Bridge (1955), The Price (1968), and The American Clock (1980). Notable later works include The Misfits and Other Stories (1987) and a novella, Homely Girl (1995). Miller was born in Harlem in 1915 and was educated at the University of Michigan. He began writing plays in the 1940s and returned to the subject of failure as a result of begin haunted by his father's failure during the Depression. His career was extremely productive, and he did not pass until 2005.

Arthur Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet and literary figure unlike any other. A revolutionary in ever sense, he pioneered the use of free verse in his poetry and lived a life of adventure and daring. At the age of 17, he wrote "The Drunken Boat" (1871), a surreal poem that would remain his greatest work. Rimbaud's "A Season in Hell" (1873) plumbed the depth of his despair, a cry of spiritual longing and the inability to love. His literary career was over at the age of 19, and he experimented with alcohol, drugs, and sensory deprivation. Rimbaud was born in northeastern France in 1854. His family was impoverished, and he left home at age 15 to live on his own. Rimbaud met and fell in love with Paul Verlaine, who served both as a mentor and lover. The relationship was a violent one, and Rimbaud left Paris to wander the world as a merchant, arms dealer, and vagabond. He returned to France and died in Marseille in 1891 at the age of 37.

Discuss choruses and how they have been used in dramas through time

As used in Greek drama, the chorus is a group of actors that furnishes a commentary on the play as it unfolds. The chorus in Greek drama probably evolved from the choral tradition of musical productions. Traditionally, the chorus speaks for society rather than any character in the play. This means the chorus is the objective observer of the dramatic action. Shakespeare occasionally used the chorus in some of his plays. Henry V and Romeo and Juliet are examples of this. In musical dramas, the term refers to a group of singers and dancers who play an important part of the production. Modern drama usually does not employ a chorus, although it was used in T.S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral in 1935. The chorus in modern musical theatre often acts as a collective actor that adds to the spectacle of the production.

Define poetic oddities such as aubades, cadence, cantos, couplets, dithyrambs, and ecologies

Aubades are poems in which lovers must part, usually at the breaking of dawn. Cadence is the rhythmic rise and fall of a line of verse rather than the regularity of meter. Cantos are major sections of long poems. Dante's "Divine Comedy" consists of 100 cantos, which includes the introductory section. Couplets are a pair of contiguous lines that rhyme. All of Shakespeare's sonnets end in a couplet. Dithyrambs are dramatic and structurally irregular lyric poems. The original form was a hymn sung by the Greek chorus at pagan festivals honoring the god Dionysus. Ecologies were originally poems set in pastoral environments, usually featuring shepherds in dialogue. In modern poetry, it has come to mean a poem that evokes serious reflection and meditation.

Explain the roles that action, tension, and staging play in drama.

Authors use many devices to maintain interest and advance the plot. Among these are building tension between characters, creating difficult situations that cannot easily be resolved, and highlighting conflict and romance. Often authors choose not to reveal some information that increases tension. Action is the physical events in a play. Action can be important or have little dramatic impact. Some plays depend on spectacles rather than dialogue to emphasize plot and characters. Staging is an important element in the action of a drama. The play may be written for a particular acting space, necessary for the action employed. The theatre the play was written to be performed in often dictates the scope of action in the work. A work requiring lavish spectacles is usually not written for small theatres. Adaptations may be made in specific productions to allow more or less action space.

Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson was a commanding figure in English letters and was a playwright, poet, and critic. He was famed for his elegant writing and brilliant intelligence. He was also a master of satires with his savage portrayals of human follies and corruption. The best known of these are Valpone, Epicine, and The Alchemist. He also wrote epic poetry including "Song to Celia" which was widely influential in the Restoration period. He published his collected works in 1616 and was named Poet Laureate that same year. Jonson was born in London in 1572 and had no formal education before going to war against the Spanish in Flanders. He became a popular writer of masques, a form of court entertainment that featured great spectacle, music, and poetry. Jonson was second only to Shakesapeare in reputation and his followers became known as "Sons of Ben."

Bertolt Brecht (Eugene Berthold Friedrich Brecht)

Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright and poet whose major contribution to drama was to utilize the stage as a platform for political and social commentary. He believed that stage was a forum for presenting patterns of human behavior, outlined in his theory of epic theatre. The Three Penney Opera (1928) was a biting satire that was coauthored with composer Kurt Weill and launched Brecht's success. Two other interesting plays are Mother Courage and Her Children (1941) and The Life of Galileo (1943). Brecht was born in Augsborn, Germany in 1898. He was forced to leave Germany by the Nazis in 1933 as a result of his interest in Marxism. He lived in Europe and the United States for many years until returning to East Germany in 1949 where he died in 1956.

Tennessee Williams

Born Thomas Lanier Williams II, Tennessee Williams is regarded as one of the greatest American playwrights of the twentieth century. He drew his inspiration from the earthiest topics and treated them with a lyrical touch in both a romantic and realistic view of America's south. The Glass Menagerie (1945) helped jump start his fame and was followed up by his Pulitzer-Prize winning play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). Other important plays include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), another Pulitzer-Prize winner, Suddenly Last Summer (1958), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and his final play The Night of the Iguana (1961). Williams was born in Mississippi in 1911 and was educated at universities in both Washington and Iowa. Once his fame died down, he published a collection of poetry and memoirs. He is generally regarded with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller as one of the greatest American dramatists. At the age of 71, he died in 1983.

Carson McCullers (Lula Carson Smith)

Carson McCullers was an American novelist who set her fiction in the small Southern towns she grew up in as a child. Her themes were alienation, loneliness, and spiritual longing. Her best known novel, The Member of the Wedding, narrates the story of a lonely adolescent girl in a Southern town who lives vicariously through her brother. Her literary reputation was established with the appearance of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter in 1940. Other well-known works include Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941), Clock Without Hands (1961), and a posthumously published story collection, The Mortgaged Heart (1971). McCullers was born in Georgia in 1917 and studied music at Julliard before attending Columbia to study writing. She was ill most of her life and a series of crippling strokes began in her twenties. She died in 1967 at age 50.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens is thought by some to be England's greatest novelist. In 1837, The Pickwick Papers, a comic novel, launched his career. This was followed quickly by Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickelby (1839), and A Christmas Carol (1843). Dickens had a genius for creating memorable characters, and his ability to evoke a sense of 19th-century England is unmatched. His later works include David Copperfield (1850), Great Expectations (1861), and A Tale of Two Cities (1859). Charles Dickens was born in Porsmouth in 1812. He worked as a journalist until the success of his novels. Dickens founded and edited several literary magazines, including Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens gave reading tours in Europe and the United States that were very popular and drew large crowds. Dickens died in Gad's Hill Place and is buried in Westminister Abbey.

Define chronicle plays, mystery plays, and heroic dramas

Chronicle plays are historical dramas based on English history written primarily during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. The source of many of these plays was Hoinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, thus the title of chronicle plays. Mystery plays are dramatic works based on the Bible. These dramas were usually produced by local trade guilds for the pleasure of their villages. They were presented in cycles that sometimes dramatized the entire New and Old Testaments. Mystery plays were performed in England, France, Spain, and Italy, among other countries. Passion plays are specialized mystery plays based on the passion of Christ. Heroic dramas featured heroes of epic deeds. Usually written in blank verse or heroic couplets, these plays reached the apex of their popularity during the Restoration period.

Clifford Odets

Clifford Odets, American playwright, was an important figure in the theatre of the 1930s. His forte was social protest theatre, in which he became a leader. Odets found his first success in Waiting for Lefty (1935) and Awake and Sing (1935), both powerful depictions of class struggle. Odet's other notable plays include Golden Boy (1937), The Big Knife (1949), and The Country Girl (1950). Odets was born in Philadelphia in 1906 and raised in New York. He began his career as an actor with the Theatre Guild and later became a founding member of the famous Group Theatre. Odets remained active on Broadway as well, working in legitimate theatre. Clifford Odets died in Hollywood in 1963.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Conan Doyle's contribution to literature was the enigmatic detective, Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle based his character on a former professor at the University of Edinburgh. Holmes first appeared in 1887 in "A Study in Scarlet," and more stories of the master of deductive reasoning appeared in magazines of the day. These stories were collected and published as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1892. Most memorable among the Holmes novels include The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), The Valley of Fear (1915), and The Sign of Four (1890). Conan Doyle also wrote a number of popular historical romances. Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and educated at Edinburgh. He trained as a physician and practiced medicine in Southsea from 1882 to 1890. The success of his writing allowed him to largely retire from medicine.

Leo Tolstoy

Count Leo Tolstoy was Russia's leading novelist and moral philosopher. Tolstoy's two great masterpieces of fiction are War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878). War and Peace is a love story set in the Napoleonic wars and provides a panoramic view of Russian life. Anna Karenina is the story of a woman who gives up everything for her love. Both are novels of great philosophical and psychological depth. Tolstoy described his spiritual crisis and its resolution in Confessions (1882). Tolstoy had a productive writing period in his later life, publishing novellas and a final novel, The Resurrection (1899). Tolstoy was born in Yasnaya, Polyana in 1828 and educated at home by tutors. He served in the Russian army and fought in the Crimea and Caucasus campaigns. He returned to his estate in 1859, married, and taught the children of serfs while he wrote his great novels. Tolstoy retired to his estate and died in Astapovo in 1910.

D.H. Lawrence

D.H. Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, essayist, and short fiction writer who brought an intensity to his work and life that sometimes scandalized his peers. His autobiographical novel, Sons and Lovers, was published in 1913. His greatest works, The Rainbow (1915), Women in Love (1921), and Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928), which was banned in England and America for 30 years, focus on love, class, social standing, and sexuality. The Complete Poems of D.H. Lawrence (1964) is the best anthology of his verse. Lawrence was born in industrial England in 1885. His childhood was marred by an unhappy home. In 1915, Lawrence and his wife left England for good and traveled extensively. Suffering from tuberculosis, Lawrence sought a climate that would benefit his health. He died of the disease in 1930.

Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri, the greatest of the Italian poets, was a major figure in the Renaissance revolution of arts and letter. His epic masterpiece, the "Divine Comedy," ranks as one of the truly great literary works in history. The "Divine Comedy" presents a panoramic view of man and his place in the cosmos, describing a man's journey through the divine realms of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The traveler is helped first by Virgil then by Beatrice, who was based on Beatrice Portinari, a figure Dante idealized as a figure of divine love. Combining deeply religious themes with sharp commentaries on social and political institutions, the "Divine Comedy" uses Tuscan dialect, which had a great influence on the development of the modern Italian language.

Define drama, and discuss the trhee major groups of drama

Drama is any work in which actors or actresses assume roles before an audience in a theatre, motion pictures, television, or radio. Drama is a major literary genre that may be subdivided into three major groups: 1. Tragedy: a drama in which the leading character has a disastrous end. The character usually represents something significant, whether good or bad. Tragedy may be seen as an attempt to extract a value from human mortality, giving the subgenre a positive view of human life, despite its inevitable end. 2. Tragicomedy: a drama that includes both comic and tragic elements. Tragicomedy thus results in a bittersweet mix of literary value. As George Bernard Shaw once commented, tragicomedy is a much deeper and grimmer entertainment than tragedy. 3. Comedy: a type of drama that satirizes the misadventures of its characters. Comedy often emphasizes society and its mores rather than the individual (more common in tragedies). Its origins may be traced to the primitive celebrations of spring.

What are some considerations when reading dramatic dialogue?

Dramatic dialogue can be difficult to interpret, and it changes depend upon the tone used and which words are emphasized. Where the stresses, or meters, of dramatic dialogue fall can determine meaning. Variations in emphasis are only one factor in the manipulability of dramatic speech. One is of equal or greater importance and expresses a range of possible emotions and feelings that cannot be readily discerned from the script of a play. The reader must add tone to the words to understand the full meaning of a passage. Recognizing tone is a cumulative process as the reader begins to understand the characters and situations in the play. Other elements that influence the interpretation of dialogue include the setting, possible reactions of the characters to the speech, and possible gestures or facial expressions of the actor. There are no firm rules to guide the interpretation of dramatic speech. An open and flexible attitude is essential in interpreting dramatic dialogue.

Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and prose writer, was a figure bigger than life. Thomas produced his first volume of poetry in his twenties and won a reputation as a fresh voice in modern poetry. Later volumes include Death And Embraces (1946) and In Country Sleep (1952), which included his best known verse, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." Thomas was an eclectic writer, developing stories and radio scripts that were very successful. His short story volumes include Under Milk Wood (1954) and A Child's Christmas in Wales (1955). Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914, the son of a teacher. Perhaps best known by the public for his bouts of drinking, strife-ridden relationships, and flamboyant personality, his work is sometimes overshadowed by his personality. Thomas died of alcoholism on a poetry-reading tour in New York City in 1953 at the age of 39.

Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was one of the greatest Elizabethan poets, famed for his evocative sonnets and rich epic poetry. His most famous work is "The Faerie Queen," a heroic romance narrating the exploits of 12 knights. Published in 1596, it introduced a new poetic form, the Spenserian stanza based on an Italian poetic scheme. "The Faerie Queen" includes a moral allegory in an epic narrative. Spenser was a prolific author, penning sonnet sequences and notable short verse. Born in London in 1552, Spenser was educated at Cambridge and joined the household of the Earl of Leicester, where he wrote his first work, The Shepherdess Calendar, comprised of 12 pastoral poems in 1579. Spenser moved to Ireland in 1590, where he ran an estate in Cork. There he wrote an elegy for his friend Sir Phillip Sidney called "Astrophel." Spenser returned to London, where he died in 1599, his place in literary history assured.

E.E. Cummings

Edward Estlin Cummings was an American poet and novelist who was famous for his unique style of writing, including strange punctuation and typography, as well as innovative language and imagery, contributing to his role as a lead voice in Modernism. His only novel was published in 1922 and titled The Enormous Room. His other major works include Tulips and Chimneys (1923), 50 Poems (1940), 95 Poems (1958), and 73 Poems (published after his death). Cummings was born in 1894. He attended Harvard and served in France during World War 1. Before his death in 1962, he was popular for his lectures in the literary scene.

Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte, sister of Charlotte Bronte, and English novelist and poet, produced only one novel in her lifetime. However, her novel Wuthering Heights (1847) stands as a testament to her literary talent. A harsh tale, it is the story of the passionate bond between Catherine and Heathcliff, in which two families are jealously destroyed. It is a signature novel of English Romanticism. Emily Bronte was a poet of some skill, her works appearing jointly with her sister's in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Action Bell (1846). Emily Bronte was bron in 1818 in Yorkshire. A unique and mysterious personality, she had few friends except her sister Anne, with whom she maintained a strong bond. Together they created the world of Gondal, an imaginary society that she used extensively in her poetry. In Charlotte's words, "Emily was stronger than a man, simpler than a child." Emily contracted tuberculosis and died at age 30 in 1848.

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is ranked as one of America's greatest poets. Dickinson's poetry is highly formal, her language both subtle and creative, and it reflects the quiet life she led. Dickinson's topics include death, art, love, pain, and betrayal, all couched in her wonderful poetic language. She wrote more than 1800 poems, yet only ten are known to generations, and is at last recognized as a poetic genius. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1830, she was educated at Mt. Holyoke seminary. She returned to Amherst and went into virtual seclusion in her parents's home. She saw very few people socially and rarely left the house. Despite this isolation, Dickinson's work is vibrant and alive, reflecting her keen observation of the world. Dickinson is a true American literary voice, rivaling Walt Whitman. She died in Amherst in 1886.

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway, American novelist and short story writer, was a Modernist master who became a legendary figure in his own lifetime. He achieved fame with his novels The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929), based on World War I experiences. Other important works include For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), based on the Spanish Civil War, and The Old Man and the Sea (1952), a novel about a Cuban fisherman. Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Hemingway was born in the American Midwest in 1899 and worked as an ambulance driver in World War I. He joined a group of expatriate writers in Paris in the 1920s, a rich literary experience for a young man. Hemingway moved to Cuba in the 1940s and lived there for many years, where he became a local hero. Returning to America, he fell into a period of declining mental health, committing suicide in Idaho in 1961.

Define essays. Name who coined the word essay. Describe the contribution of Francis Bacon.

Essays are usually defined as prose compositions dealing with one or two topics. The word essay is from the French essayer, meaning to try or to attempt. The term was coined by Michel de Montaigne (1533-92), who is still regarded as a master of the form. Essays tend to be informal in style and are usually personal in approach and opinion. Frances Bacon (1561-1626) pioneered essays that were dogmatic and impersonal, leading to a division of essays called formal and familiar, respectively. Some essays have been adapted to verse, whereas others are a hybrid of essay and fiction. Essays usually begin with an observation or musing on a subject. Formal essays tend to present an argument, whereas familiar essays are less dogmatic and reflect the personal views of the author. They do not try to convince but proffer opinions and observations on a subject. Essays have been written about countless subjects, from public policy to existential anxiety. Literary essays are popular, and some of the best were written by notable authors, such as Henry James, Virginia Woolf, and T.S. Eliot.

Eugene O'Neill

Eugene O'Neill was an American playwright and a pioneer in American drama. He was also an innovator who experimented with realism and naturalism in his work. He won four Pulitzer prizes and then the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936. In 1941, he wrote Long Day's Journey Into Night, but it wasn't produced until after is death. O'Neill was born in New York in 1888 and attended Princeton University. He suffered from tuberculosis and became interested in drama. By 1920, New York put one of his plays in production. The Iceman Cometh (1946) and Strange Interlude (1928) highlighted his success and the reason he won a Pulitzer Prize. He died in 1953 after being an active writer.

Euripides

Euripides is the author of 92 plays of which only 19 survive. His greatest works are Medea, Electra, and Hippolytus. Euripides lived in Athens from 484 B.C. until the last two years of his life, which he spent at the court of King Archelaus of Macedonia. Little is known of his early life, and he built his reputation as a playwright by competing in the dramatic contests in Athens, which he won 22 times. Euripides was a master at creating complex characters with rich emotional lives. His characterization of women was particularly artful. In Euripides's dramas, the gods are indifferent to early problems, and he portrays human weakness as the cause of suffering. Many of his plays are about the foolishness of war, and he championed unpopular social causes, such as the equality of women in society. His personal reputation as a pundit inspired two dramatic parodies of him by his rival Aristophanes. Embittered by these attacks, Euripides left Athens for Macedonia, where he died in 406 B.C.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American novelist and short-story writer. Fitzgerald has transcended his early reputation as a period novelist, now being viewd as a great modern novelist. He launched his writing career with This Side of Paradise (1920), a novel of the jazz age. His masterpiece, The Great Gatsby (1925), chronicles the life of a bootlegger who reforms. Tender is the Night (1933) is a largely autobiographical novel about a psychiatrists's failing fight to save his wife from mental illness. Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1896. Educated at Princeton University, he became a productive short-story writer after the success of his first novel. His marriage to the flamboyant Zelda Fitzgerald spiraled downward with alcoholism and her increasing mental illness. He worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter before his death in 1940.

Ford Maddox Ford (Ford Hermann Hueffer)

Ford Maddox Ford was an English novelist and critic. His most honored work is The Good Solider (1915). The Good Soldier narrates an unhappy marriage in the English upper class. Ford collaborated on two novels with Joseph Conrad, The Inheritors (1901) and Romance (1903). His other major works include Parade's End, a trilogy of novels set in America and Europe. Editor and founder of the Transatlantic Review, a literary journal of excellent reputation, Ford spent his later productive years writing a general survey of world literature for lay readers. Ford was born in England in 1873 and fought in France in World War I. He returned and settled in Paris after the war, where he was active in literary society. He lived for a time in America before returning to Europe. he died in 1939.

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Albans, Baron Verulam, was one of the greatest English essayists and philosophers. Bacon wrote primarily on science and scientific inquiry, championing the method of scientific investigation and empirical observation contrary to the scholastic philosophy favored by the Church. His greatest work was "Instaruratio Magna," a sweeping argument against the Renaissance and Scholastic philosophy. Bacon's "Essays," published in 1612, covered a wide range of subjects including English history, law, and society, and employed an aphoristic style. His vision of utopia was described in "New Atlantis" published in 1627. Bacon was born in London in 1561 and was active in politics, serving in Parliament several times. He served as Solicitor General under James I but was charged with bribery in 1621 and barred from parliament. He remained an active writer until his death in London in 1626.

Francois Rabelais

Francois Rabelais's major work was a five volume masterpiece, Gargantuan and Pantagreul, published in Paris in 1564. This work is a unique combination of social satire, licentious comedy, and humanist philosophy. Shocked by this material, the Church placed the work on Catholic Librium Prohibitorum, and it was banned in France during his lifetime. His literature inspired the word Rabelaisian, which has come to mean a character with qualities of coarse humor, ribaldry, and boisterousness His literary influence is seen in the works of Voltaire, Hugo, and Swift. Rabelais was truly a Renaissance man, being a Benedictine monk, physician, teacher, and translator, and renowned for his knowledge in many fields. His role as a monk, no doubt, was part of the reason his work was seen as controversial by the church and banned. He died in France in 1553.

Frank O'Hara

Frank O'Hara was an American poet, playwright, and art critic and a leader of a group of poets known as The New York School, which captured the spirit of New York in conventional and conversational verse. Drawing from expressionism and the sounds of jazz and cadences of New York, this school produced poetry that was truly American. O'Hara was known for his improvisational writing such as Lunch Poems (1964), Meditations in an Emergency (1956), and his tribute to Billie Holiday, "The Day Lady Died" (1955). O'Hara was born in Baltimore in 1926 and raised in Massachusetts. Educated at Harvard and the University of Michigan, he migrated to New York and became editor of Art News, where much of his art criticism first appeared. Intimates such as Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock provided much of the inspiration for his improvisational work. O'Hara was killed in an accident at Fire Island in 1966, cutting short his career at age 40.

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka, German novelist and short story writer, used symbolism in order to address the anxieties and chaos of society. Kafka was born in to a Jewish family in Prague and worked in an insurance firm despite attending law school. He died in 1924, leaving behind stories that were dark, wounding, and painful. His most famous works include The Metamorphosis (1915), "In the Penal Colony" (1919), and a collection titled A Hunger Artist (1924). For reasons unknown, Kafka told his agent, Max Brod, to destroy whatever was unpublished by the time he died. However, Brod saw the genius of his writings and published his works, including The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926), and Amerika (1927).

Discuss, in depth, free verse.

Free verse is generally poetry without a regular meter and usually omits rhyme. The first poet to use free verse as a major mode of expression was Walk Whitman, whose Leaves of Grass is written entirely in free verse. Free verse gives the writer a great deal of latitude in constructing the poetry, by letting him select an individual rhythm for each work. It does, however, place unusual demands on the technical skill of the writer, who must develop an original scheme for each poem written in free verse. Some poets have decried free verse. Robert Frost stated that writing free verse is like playing tennis without a net. Despite these criticisms, free verse continues to be a popular mode of poetry, particularly among modern poets who eschew the conventions of formal poetry. Beat Generation poets, such as Allen Ginsberg, used free verse extensively, perhaps as an expression of their rebellion in the 1950s and 1960s.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, journalist, and short story writer, was the master of the psychological character. He also had unusual skill as a prose writer and ranks as the greatest of Russian writers. His first major work was Crime and Punishment (1867), narrating a murder and its aftermath. This was followed quickly by a series of important works, including The Idiot (1874), The Possessed (1872), and The Brother Karamazov (1880). All these works deal with the criminal mind and the struggles within the human psyche. Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow in 1821, the son a physician who was murdered by serfs when Dostoyevsky was in his late teens. He suffered from epilepsy and was a chronic gambler, which left him in constant debt. Arrested for subversion, he spent eight years in Siberia before his release. With Tolstoy, he is considered the greatest Russian writer. He died in St. Petersburg in 1881.

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and critic who published his works in Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant in 1898. In 1925, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. Some of his best works include Caesar and Cleopatra (1901), Major Barbara (1907), Pygmalion (1913), and St. Joan (1924). Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1856 and moved London soon after. He was passionate about social issues and chose to write and speak about those issues. In 1950, he died in Hertfordshire. Shaw was known to choose controversial topics and seemed to stress realistic social problems. Through his use of satire, Shaw was able to depict this issues of social class and gender discrimination without any hints of anger.

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. Eliot was an English novelist and essayist who started her literary carerr with the publication of Scenes of a Clerical Life (1858). Her most known novel is Middlemarch (1872), a richly evocative narration of life in an English country town. Her characters were vivid and memorable, particularly her protagonist Dorothea Brooke. She went on to publish a number of other novels including Silas Marner (1861), Daniel Deronda (1876), and The Mill on the Floss (1860), which was thought to be largely autobiographical. Her writing was considered bold and powerful, and it brought new prestige to the 19th century English novel. Eliot was born in the English countryside in 1819 and served as editor of The Westminister Review after her father's death. She was a free thinking who had a long relationship with a married man, causing a scandal in English society. She died in London in 1880.

George Orwell

George Orwell, the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair - English novelist, critic, and playwright - is best known for his novels damning totalitarian regimes, and doing so with crushing satire. His two major works are Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949), which established him as a leading satirist and novelist. His writing was fueled by his passionate economic ad political views, and they are the keystones of his work. Aside from his two successful novels, he wrote several lesser ones, a collection of essays, and his four-volume Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell (1968). Orwell was born in Bengal, India in 1903 and educated at Eton. He then joined the Indian Imperial police in Burma but became disillusioned by imperialism and returned to Europe to live. Orwell fought for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and wrote of his experiences. After his success in the 1940s, he enjoyed an all to brief period of fame until his death in 1950.

George Sand (Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin)

George Sand was the pen name of Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin. Sand was a French woman of letters who was also an accomplished essayist, novelist, and playwright. Her novels often touched on themes of love, romance, and early feminist philosophy. Her best known novels are She and He (1859), Little Fadette (1849), and The Country Waif (1850). Her four volume autobiography Story of My life chronicles her excited life in detail. Most of her novels mix socialist and feminist ideas with erotic language and crticisms of society. Sand was born in Paris in 1804 and received a Catholic education. She married at 18 but began a series of love affairs that ended in her divorce. She wore men's clothing and had open affairs with Musset, Chopin, and others. The public was fascinated with her personal escapades, and she was an extremely popular writer. She died in Nohant in 1876.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe, American novelist, rests her reputation in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), a polemic that brought the horrors of slavery to the world. The book became a bible for the abolitionist cause, and some credit it as a catalyst for the American Civil War. Three million copies were sold in the decade after it was published, and it was translated into more than 25 languages. Stowe's later works include Oldtown Folks (1869) and The Minister's Wooing (1859). Stowe was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1811. In her late teens, she moved to Cincinnati and married a clergyman. She became heavily involved in the abolitionist movement, which led her to write Uncle Tom's Cabin. Enriched and honored by her book, Stowe continued to campaign for social justice until her death in 1896.

Heinrich Heine

Heinrich Heine was perhaps the greatest poet of the German post-Romantic period. His first collection of poetry was published as The Book of Songs in 1827. His most controversial work was "Germany, A Winter's Tale," an epic satire on German politics. Heine wrote scores of impressive poems, and his works have been translated into most of the world's major languages. Heine's poetry was set to music by both Schubert and Schumann. Born in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1797, Heine studied law in order to enter government service. He moved to Paris in 1831 and wrote articles on political, social, and economic issues of the day. Heine's works were banned in Germany in 1835, and he was forbidden to return to his homeland. His political views were considered radical for the time, and he was discriminated against for his Jewish heritage. Heine fell victim to a chronic illness that confined him to bed for the last years of his life. Despite this, he transcended his suffering in his last volume Romanzero. Heined died in Paris in 1856.

Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding, English novelist and playwright, is considered a pioneer in novel writing. Fielding wrote more than 25 plays before turning his talent to novels. His best known work is Tom Jones, and other notable works include Joseph Andrews, Amelia, Shamela, and The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great. He also published a newspaper, The Champion, which was highly successful. He was adept in social satire and comedy, which are best exemplified by Tom Jones. Born in Somerset in 1707, Fielding became active in politics in his late twenties. His strong anti-Jacobite essays gained Fielding political favor, and he served for many years as a judge in London. When political favor turned against him, Fielding concentrated on his writing, producing several late novels of note, Fielding died in 1754.

Henry Miller

Henry Miller was an American novelist, short fiction writer, and essayist. He is best known for two books that were initially banned in the United States: Tropic of Cancer (1961) and Tropic of Capricorn (1962). Both novels were published in France first. These two autobiographical novels caused an uproar because of their controversial treatment of sex. The Supreme Court ruled in Miller's favor in 1964, and the books were then legal in America. His later works include The Rosy Crucifixion, a trilogy based on his life, along with anthologies of essays and stories. Miller was born in Manhattan in 1891 and moved to Paris as a young man where he celebrated his bohemian lifestyle. His works had a great influence on the Beat Generation of the 1950s. He returned to the U.S. and lived in Big Sur in Pacific Palisades until his death in 1980.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of the most popular American poets of his day. He gained lasting fame with his long narrative poems, "Hiawatha" (1855) and "Evangeline (1847). His Tales of the Wayside Inn (1863) contain "Paul Revere's Ride," a poem known and beloved by American schoolchildren. Among the best known of his shorter poems are "The Arsenal at Springfield," "The Wreck of the Hespersus," "A Psalm of Life," and "The Village Blacksmith." He also wrote essays and translated Dante's Divine Comedy." Longfellow was born in Maine in 1807 to a wealthy family. He was educated at Bowdoin College and studied in Europe for several years before returning to Bowdoin to teach languages. He later became a faculty member at Harvard and was a well-respected professor. He died in New England in 1882.

Honore de Balzac

Honore de Balzac was a writer of prodigious output. He named his body of literature The Human Comedy. This French novelist wrote almost 100 works of fiction in his 51 years. His realistic description of 19th-century French society and manners provides a window to history. His first major success was The Physiology of Marriage in 1830. He followed this with Lost Illusions, an autobiographical novel of the corruption of a young poet in Paris, which is considered his greatest work. Later works include The Black Sheep and Cousin Bette, which were both successful. Balzac wrote in great detail and was an excellent plotter. His works were influential in the development of the novel. Balzac was born in Tours in 1799 and educated in Paris. He tried business and failed; he then gave his full attention to writing. Balzac was an obsessive worker, sometimes writing for days without rest. His tales could be melodramatic, but readers loved them, and his reputation soared. Balzac died in Paris in 1850 at age 51. His productivity in writing novels is unmatched.

Explain how themes, arguments, and patterns of imagery are important in drama

Ideas or concepts given sustained attention in a drama highlight the major themes of the work. Often the title of the play reflects themes to be presented. Some works are really expositions of arguments and points that the author wants to make. Arguments and themes are given dramatic force through the form in which they are expressed. This could be action, speech, or narration. Patterns of imagery include the use of symbols and keywords. These are recurring motifs that form themes and plot development together. Some plays focus on a particular image. Symbols are subtle devices used by authors for a variety of reasons, and they are usually a key to the major themes of the drama. Symbols may change as the play progresses, and these changes are important in plotting and action. Some key words are used as symbols and are repeated and emphasized to enrich the material. These keywords may be tied to one character or shared by many.

List the three subdivisions of poetry, and explain what constitutes poetry

In its most basic sense, poetry is any type of literature that uses the principle of meter. Poetry may be divided into three subdivisions: 1. Lyric Poetry: a type of poetry in which the voice of the poem evokes a particular feeling or attitude. Originally designed for musical accompaniment, it evolved to embrace a wide variety of literary forms. 2. Epic Poetry: an extended narrative telling the story of a hero or group of heroes usually taking a journey and experiencing many dramatic adventures. Although usually not directly historical, the stories narrated are often the disguised versions of actual events or processes. 3. Dramatic Poetry: poetry in which a single speaker, not the poet, addresses a silent listener. The delivery of the address occurs in a dramatic situation and reveals something about the character of the speaker and the historical time in which the poem is set. Poetry relies on sound as well as sense in creating an impact. It makes use of multiple literary devices to convey moods, emotions, narratives, and settings.

Why are detailed knowledge of characters and their relationships in drama important?

In order to understand a dramatic work, detailed knowledge of major characters is essential. Details of their past, motivations for their actions, fatal flaws, romantic relationships, antagonistic characters, and historical context all weave a tapestry of characters that fill out a drama's skeleton. I tis vital to distinguish between major characters, who are central to the drama and minor ones who are only functional. The extent to which each character is developed is a good clue in identifying major and minor personae. Details of the relationships between characters are often an excellent guide to plot development and resolution. Who loves whom, who hates whom, who are allied, who are enemies, and the implications of these tangled webs from the structure of plot and drama. Of the many possible relationships in a play, only a few will be crucial. These should be identified and followed closely.

What are anaphora, alliteration, assonance, and allegory?

In rhetoric, anaphora refers to the practice of repeating a word or words at the beginning of successive lines of verse. Assonance is a form of rhyme where vowels rhyme but not consonants. Alliteration is a device that repeats stressed sounds in a sequence of words closely connected to one another. Old English and Middle English use alliteration extensively white it is occasionally seen in modern literature. Allegory is a type of narrative that uses a story to symbolize another meaning. Biblical stories use allegory extensively. A form of allegory is personification where abstract ideas are represented by literary characters. For example, morality plays performed in the middle ages had characters named Evil, Goodness, Greed and so forth. Many satirical works are allegories for social and political events or institutions. Allegory was largely replaced by symbolism in modern literary works.

John Dryden

John Dryden was a poet, playwright, and literary critic who wrote a number of popular plays. Her most important plays were The Wild Gallant, All for Love, The Maiden Queen, and The Indian Queen. He was also a very talented poet who won royal favor for his poem "To His Sacred Majesty." His poetry utilized satire, and he served as Poet Laureate of England from 1668 to 1688. Dryden was born in rural English in 1631 and then moved to London in 1655. In 1670, he was appointed the royal historiographer. He converted to Catholicism in the 1680's when James II was crowned. He spent his last years translating ancient classics before dying in 1700.

Define and discuss interludes and Japanese No.

Interlude refers to a very short form of drama sometimes performed between courses of a banquet, but also the term came to refer to any kind of musical or dramatic entertainment. These were usually performed for private parties and fell out of favor with the opening of public venues. Their popularity peaked in 16th-century England. No is a form of traditional Japanese theatre that uses music, dance, and poetry. They make no claim to be realistic - rather, they create a serene and peaceful mood through spectacle and imagery. No is based on the Easter religions, reflecting themes from Hinduism and Buddhism. The plays have a fixed repertory, which has been constant since the 1500s. William Butler Yeats adapted No for western audiences in a series of short plays. They remain popular with drama critics and certain classes of Japanese.

Describe some uses of analytical reading

It is important for the reader to look carefully at the work of fiction being studied. The plot or action of a narrative can become so entertaining that the language of the work is ignored. The language of fiction should not simply be a way to relate a plot - it should also yield many insights to the judicious reader. Some prose fiction is based on the reader's engagement with the language rather than the story. A studious reader will analyze the mode of expression as well as the narrative. Part of the reward of reading in this manner is to discover how the author uses different language to describe familiar objects, events, or emotions. Some works focus the reader on an author's unorthodox use of language, whereas others may emphasize characters or story lines. What happens in a story is not always the critical element in the work. This type of reading may be difficult at first but yields great rewards.

Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Turgenev was a Russian novelist, playwright, and short story writer who wrote politically inflammatory stories criticizing Russian serfdom and government. His work managed to inflame both the tsarist generation and the young radicals of his time. Best known for his Fathers and Sons, published in 1862, he continued writing fiction for over 30 years. Some of his more successful novels include On the Eve (1860), Smoke (1867), and The Virgin Soil (1877), a controversial novel about Russia. His best known play is A Month in the Country, first produced in 1855. Turgenev was born in Oryol in 1818 and educated in universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg before moving to Berlin. Here he became a Westerner for life. This was reflected in his work, which became increasingly critical of Russian society and economics. He left Russia in 1863 and lived in France and Germany for most of the rest of his life. Turgenev died in France in 1883.

Jack London

Jack London was an American novelist, short fiction writer, and essayist. His first collection of short stories, The Son of the Wolf, was published in 1900. The Call of the Wild (1903) was hugley successfull and brought London both stature and riches. This novel was the story of a sled dog that becomes the leader of a wolf pack. His other well known novels include The Sea Wolf (1904) and White Fang (1906). His later works are more ideological, and the best known is The People of the Abyss (1903). London was born in Oakland, California in 1876. He was a vagabond who worked as a gold miner, cannery worker, and seamen before going to the Klondike on a failed gold expedition. He was a passionate socialist, and he spoke and wrote often as an advocate. He commited suicide in 1916 with the reputation as a destitute and an alcoholic.

James Baldwin

James Baldwin was an American novelist, playwright, and essayist who became the leading black author of his time. His autobiographical novel Go Tell it On The Mountain (1953) is the story of a teenage boy growing up in Harlem. His work almost exclusively dealt with intolerance and the struggle for free expression. His own experience with racism in America resulted in Notes of a Native Son, a collection of essays published in 1955. Several anthologies of his work have since been published. Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924, but emigrated to Paris after World War II as a result of his depression caused by race relations in the U.S. He remained in Paris the rest of his life but also remained heavily involved in the Civil Rights movement in America and won praise for his activism. He died in Sain Paul de Venice in 1987.

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper has a legitimate claim to being the first American novelist. Cooper was a prolific writer, and his best-known novels are The Leatherstocking Tales, which include The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer. Cooper wrote a series of adventure novels in nautical settings, the most important being The Pilot. The three novels of The Littlepage Manuscripts address American social issues. His later work includes The Sea Lions and Red Cooper, which enjoyed popular success. Cooper was bron in New Jersey in 1789. Expelled from Yale University for unknown reasons, he spent eight years in the Navy, mustering out in 1809. Enriched by an inheritance from his father, Cooper devoted himself to politics and writing. Cooper's political writing embroiled him in many lawsuits, which he often won. He bgan a period of writing social criticism, including The American Democrat and A Letter to His Countrymen attacking American democracy. Cooper was active until the end of his life in 1851.

Jean Genet

Jean Genet, French novelist and playwright, is the master of drama and fiction depicting criminal life and antisocial behavior. His absurdist dramas are existentialist nightmares that mix violence and erotic content in a powerful blend. Genet's breakthrough novel was our Lady Of The Flowers (1943), written in prison while serving a life sentence. Sartre and Cocteau successfully argued for Genet's release, and he published his shocking autobiography The Thief's Journal in 1949. Genet then turned his attention to drama, writing several successful plays, including The Maids (1947), The Balcony (1956), and The Blacks (1948), all of which were influential in the development of avant-garde theatre. Genet was born in France in 1910, an illegitimate child abandoned by his mother. After spending his youth in unhappy foster homes and orphanages, he joined the Foreign Legion and promptly deserted. Genet died in France in 1986.

Johan Strindberg

Johan Strindberg was a Swedish novelist, playwright, essayist, and short-fiction writer. His initial success was a novel of bohemian life in Sweden, The Red Room, published in 1879. His writing was noted for blending realism and naturalism together in a unique manner. His best novels include The Father (1887) and Miss Julie (1889). Strindberg later turned to Symbolism mixed with Expressionism for his Ghost Sonata (1908) and The Great Highway (1910), both autobiographical plays. Strindberg was born in Sweden in 1849. An unhappy childhood followed by three failed marriages influenced his work greatly. His public life was full of controversy and he flirted with debilitating mental illness all his life, describing a near-breakdown in Inferno (1897). He died in 1912.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, novelist, and playwright. He was an initiator of the Sturm und Drang movement, which preceded German Romanticism. Goethe's best work includes the lyric poem "hermann and Dorothea" and his drama Faust, which narrates the tale fo the scholar who trades his soul for knowledge and pleasure. Goethe also wrote scientific essays and an autobiography, Poetry and Truth. One of his most popular works is the novel The Sorry of Young Werther, which narrates the emotional pain of the protagonist/author. Goethe was born in Frankfurt in 1749 and served as a public official in Weimar for ten years. A long sojourn in Italy influenced his writing style and cultural outlook. Goethe developed a close friendship with the writer Friedrich von Schiller, and they remained confidants for many years. Goethe and Schiller shared many literary interests, and their relationship enriched both authors' work. Goethe remained active into old age and died in Weimar in 1832.

John Milton

John Milton, the great English poet, wrote one of the great masterpieces of English literature in "Paradise Lost." This great Christian epic poem describing "mans first disobedience" was published in 1667. Milton followed this with the more severe "Paradise Regained," and his final work, the verse drama Samson Agonistes both published in 1671. Milton was born into a wealthy family and attended St. Paul's school and Cambridge before undertaking seven years of independent study. Several of his best known works including "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" emerged from this period. Milton was a strong supporter of the Puritan and Commonwealth cause and wrote extensively defending civil freedom. He served as secretary in the Cromwell government but became severely disillusioned by the Restoration in 1660. Blind since 1652, he turned his power tot he writing of his majestic work for which he is best remembered. Byron called him "the prince of poets" - a well deserved sobriquet.

J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, English novelist, became famous for his mythological fantasies The Hobbit (1937), and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (1954-55). His fantasies were based on bedtime stories he told his children. At the urging of his friend and colleague C.S. Lewis, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and spent the next 12 years writing the sequels, The Lord of the Rings. His own favorite among his novels was the Middle Earth romance The Silmarillion, published by his son after Tolkien's death. Tolkien was an academic, an Oxford professor of Anglo-Saxon and English language and literature. Born in South Africa in 1892, he attended Oxford on a scholarship and fought in World War I. His fantasies changed his life, but he continued his interest in medieval literature. Tolkien died in 1973 at age 81.

Joseph Conrad (Josef Teodor Konrad Korziniowski)

Joseph Conrad, born Josef Teodor Konrad Korziniowski, was a Polish-born English novelist who found success with his early adventure novels of the sea, such as Almayer's Folly (1895), Lord Jim (1900), and Typhoon (1903). He is perhaps best known for his adventure and psychological thrillers, such as Heart of Darkness (1902) and The Secret Agent (1907). Conrad was noted for his treatment of moral questions and the adroit use of language in his work. Born in Poland in 1857, Conrad moved with his exiled family to Fussia. Conrad went to sea with both the French Merchant Marine and the British Merchant Navy, eventually commanding a ship. His travels provided the raw material for his fiction, which is now highly regarded by critics. Conrad became a British subject and lived in Bishopsbourne until his death in 1924.

Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield was a New Zealand short story writer who chose to explore the psychology of her characters. Her first collection of stories, In a German Pension, was published 1911. Mansfield was born in New Zealand in 1888 before emigrated to England in 1907. She died in Fontainebleau in 1923. Her other works include Bliss (1920), The Garden Party and Other Stories (1922), and Prelude (1918), all short story collections. Along with her stories, she also contributed to magazines alongside her editor-husband, John MIddleton Murry. He chose to collect her her letters and journals after she died and published them.

Alexandre Dumas

Known as Alexandre Dumas pere (father), this great French novelist and playwright was the most popular literary figure in France in his time. Best remembered for his exciting historical novels The Three Musketeers (1844), and The Count of Monte Cristo (1845), Dumas published many other popular novels, including The Man in the Iron Mask (1850), as well as many dramas based on his stories. His forte was the historical novel, usually with heroic figures and imaginative plots that captured the fancy of the public. Dumas was born in Paris in 1802, the son of one of Napoleon's great generals. Dumas led a life worthy of his novels, having many mistresses, and winning and losing fortunes regularly. He was a flamboyant character in the cafe society of Paris, living with the joy that seemed to permeate his fiction. Dumas left several volumes of his memoirs documenting his exciting adventures. He died in Dieppe in 1870.

Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dogson, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking Glass (1871). His literary reputation rests on these two children's books although he wrote several other works, including "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876), A Tangled Tale (1885), and Sylvie and Bruno (1889). Carroll also wrote several significant works on logi and mathematics. The character of Alice was inspired by his favorite childhood friend, Alice Liddell, and her two sisters, to whom he related the story. Carroll was born in England in 1832 and became a mathematics teacher and resident scholar of Christ Church College, Oxford. He assumed his pen name to protect his academic reputation, which might have been affected by authoring children's books. Alice brought him instant celebrity and served as an entree to Victorian society. Carroll remained at Guildford until his death in 1898.

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott is one of America's beloved children's writers, novelists, and short story writers. She began her publishing career writing popular dime novels under pseudonyms to make a living. The publication of Little Women (1868) and its huge popularity allowed her to pursue serious fiction thereafter. Little Women is a fond narrative of family life based partially on her own family. It is a romantic yet realistic novel with strong and memorable characters. Alcott's later novels include Little Men (1871) and Rose in Bloom (1876), both written for young readers. Her best adult fiction includes Moods (1864), a novel of married life, and Work (1874), a sory based on her financial problems. Alcott was born in Germantown, PA in 1832 and was reared in nearby Concord. Her father was the famous transcendentalist thinker Bronson Alcott. She died in 1888.

List and describe eight elements that influence a work of prose fiction

Many elements influence a work of prose fiction. Some important ones are: 1. Speech and Dialogue: characters may speak for themselves or through the narrator. Dialogue may be realistic or fantastic, depending on the author's aim. 2. Thoughts and Mental Processes: there may be internal dialogue used as a device for plot development or character understanding. 3. Dramatic Involvement: some narrators encourage readers to become involved in the events of the story, whereas others attempt to distance readers through literary devices. 4. Action: this is any information that advances the plot or involves new interactions between the characters. 5. Duration: the time frame of the work may be long or short, and the relationship between described time and narrative time may vary. 6. Setting and Description: is the setting critical to the plot or characters? How are the action scenes described? 7. Themes: this is any point of view or topic given sustained attention. 8. Symbolism: authors often veil through imagery and other literary constructions.

Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne's great contribution is the introduction of the essay to Western literature. His seminal work, Essays, introduced the genre, and the French term essay, meaning to try, was the game given the new form. Essays was published in three volumes from 158 to 1588 and drew heavily from established literary forms, such as the treatise and the human condition, in a brief, personal voice. His insights into major historical issues, such as religious conflict and exploration of the New World, were admired throughout Europe. The son of a wealthy landowner in southern France, Montaigne received a classical education and studied law. He counseled Parliament until 1571, when he retired to his family estate for study and writing. During the turbulent periods of the civil war in France, he was drawn back to politics as a mediator and eventually became a mayor of Bordeaux. He died on his family estate in 1592.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was a true American voice in literature. Humorist, novelist, and travel writer, he is best known for Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), beloved novels with memorable characters and undertones of social concern. Life on the Mississippi (1883) was an autobiographical account of his days on a riverboat. Twain's acid humor and stories of a fading rural America made him one of the most popular figures of his day. Born in 1835 in Florida, Missouri, Twain, who was self-educated, became a journalist and sometimes printer. His literary success made him a popular lecturer in America and Europe. His travels abroad provided him with the material for the satirical A Connective Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and The Innocents Abroad (1869). His later life was marred by tragedy, including the death of his wife and two daughters, as well as financial difficulty. He died in Connecticut in 1910.

Mary Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Shelley) was an English novelist who won lasting fame with her gothic horror story Frankenstein, published in 1818. This classic narrates the creation of a monster from human body parts. This work has been adapted countless times in many ways, always retaining the flavor of horror and responsibility. Shelley's later works include Valperga, The Last Man, and Ladore. She also edited numerous editions of Percy Shelley's prose and poetry. Shelley was born in England in 1797, the only child of radical reformer William Godwin and feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft. She eloped to Europe with Percy Shelley, whom she married in 1813. Mary Shelley suffered greatly from several miscarriages, the death of two children, and ultimately her husband's drowning. She continued to write effectively thought these travails, but never again equaled the success of Frankenstein. She died in 1851.

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold was an English poet and critic who published six volumes of collected verse in his life, covering a wide range of subjects and moods. Much of his poetry evokes sadness and despair. Best remembered for "Dover Beach" (1867), a poem concerning the loss of faith in the modern age, Arnold was a critic of great importance. Arnold believed that literature and culture should be inculcated into society for moral and spiritual reasons. He was a prolific essayist, writing on religion, social issues, literature, and economics. His literary criticism was influential through the world. Arnold was born in Middlesex and educated at Rugby School and Oxford University. He worked for many years as an inspector of schools, a position he valued highly. In 1857, he became professor of poetry at Oxford, where he taught for ten years. His lecture at Oxford became the basis for many of his influential essays over the years. Arnold died in 1888.

Herman Melville

Melville was one of America's rare talents, excelling in short stories, poetry, and above all, the novel. Melville wrote adventure stories, Typee (1846), and Omoo (1847), before writing his master novel, Moby Dick (1851). This novel was an allegory about men, life, and obsession. It is usually considered one of the greatest american novels. Unpopular at first, it was rediscovered in the 1920s and given the accolades it so richly deserved. Melville's later work includes The Piazza Tales, a collection of short stories, and the novels The Confidence Man (1857) and Billy Budd (1888). Melville was born in New York in 1819 and went to sea as a teenager. In 1866, Melville became a customs inspector in New York. Stalked by tragedy with the death of two sons and his financial reverses, Melville persisted with his writing. He is now considered one of literature's finest novelists. Melville died in New York in 1891.

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes was an accomplished Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. A giant in literary history, Cervantes is best known as the author of Don Quixote, an early masterpiece of prose fiction. Many view him as the originator of the novel, and it is agreed that Cervantes demonstrated the possibilities of satirical narrative and fictional realism. His work has inspired novelists for almost 400 years. Born into a poor family outside Madrid, Cervantes became a soldier and was captured and enslaved by Algerian pirates for five years. Ransomed by Trinitarian friars, he worked as a businessman in Andalusia until the success of Don Quixote allowed him the freedom to devote himself to writing. He was productive in later life writing Exemplary Stories, a work of 12 diverse narratives. He authored at least 30 plays of which about half survive. Cervantes completed an epic romance, The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda, only three days before his death in 1616.

Moliere (Jeb-Baptiste Poquelin)

Moliere was the greatest playwright of his time. Combining an acute ear for language, sharp character portraits, and the ability to evoke both profound and absurd moods, Moliere delighted his sophisticated Parisian audiences. His most popular plays include La Tartuffe, banned by the Church, The Misanthrope, and The School for Wives. Moliere's unique combinations of talents produced a new type of comedy - the comedy of manners - which brought him both fame and wealth. Moliere was born into a well to do Paris family in 1622. he eschewed a promising business career to devote himself to the theatre. He was active as an actor, writer, producer, and director who toured France for ten years. Moliere became a favorite of King Louis XIV who offered him a theatre in the Louvre. Here he flourished becoming a favorite of French society. Moliere continued his dramatic work in Paris when during a performance of his last play, "The Imaginary Invalid," he collapsed and died in 1673.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American fiction writer. Hawthorne had a tragic vision of life, believing man is imperfect and a mixture of good and evil. His work reflects this view, starting with the publication Twice Told Tales in 1837. Hawthorne gained public fame with The Scarlet Letter (1850), a novel of adultery in puritan New England. He followed this with the successful House of Seven Gables, a novel tracing the history of a family hiding a dark secret. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804 to a prosperous family. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825 and vowed to devote his life to literature. Living in semi-seclusion in Salem for 12 years, Hawthorne produced his first stories. After briefly working in government, he joined a utopian community at Brook Farm, later satirized in his novel The Blithedale Romance (1852). Appointed American counsel in Liverpool, he lived in Europe for many years.

Nelson Algren

Nelson Ahlgren Abraham was an American novelist and short story writer. His work is noted by the stark reality with which he depicts the lives of the poor. He is best remembered for his novel The Man With the Golden Arm (1949) which brings the reality of drug addiction to the literary world and earned him a National Book Award and gave him a national repuation. His other works include the story collection The Neon Wilderness (1947) and a novel about Bohemian life in New Orleans titled A Walk On the Wild Side. Algren was born in 1809 in Detroit but was raised in Chicago. He was educated at the University of Illinois, and his work was influenced by his upbringing in the urban Midwest. He was always viewd as a radical personality, and his works reflect a slice of American urban life largely unnoticed. He died in 1981.

Define Objectivism and Projectivism in poetry. Discuss who founded these movements.

Objectivism began in the early 1930s as a further extension of Imagism. The phrase was coined by William Carlos Williams, who wrote, "The poem is an object that formally presents its case and meaning by the very form it assumes." This movement was another step away from the school of Romantic poetry. An excellent example of Objectivism is Williams's poem "The Great Figure," describing a fire truck racing through city streets. Projectivism originated in the early 1950s with the publication of the essay by Charles Olsen called "Projective Verse." In this essay, he endorsed the ideas of both Imagism and Objectivism, calling for poetry more attuned to the ear than to critical analysis. This was largely an argument against cerebral poetry and a plea to make poetry reflect the unity of mind and body. He posited that poetry should be more physical, even muscular, in language and impact. Influences of both Objectivism and Projectivism can be seen in many examples of modern poetry.

Discuss the history and meaning of epic

Originally, epics were long narrative poems that focused on a hero's adventures and triumphs. The hero generally undergoes a series of trials that test his courage, character, and intellect. Epic poems have certain conventions, such as the use of a muse and exhaustive lists of armies, ships, and catalogues. These written and oral epics transmitted folk culture from generation to generation. The best known of the original epics were written by Homer and Virgil. Milton's Paradise Lost is an example of a more recent epic as is Cervantes's Don Quixote. Epic theatre, pioneered by Bertoit Brecht, is a further refinement of the form. Epics have come to mean any dramatic work of poetry, prose, drama, film, or music that depends on spectacles and lavish productions sometimes based on historical events.

Edgar Allen Poe

Poe was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer of particular talent. His tales of terror and arresting poems have gained him lasting fame in American literature. Poe published a great anthology of short stories with Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840. He cemented his fame with The Raven and Other Poems in 1845. Some of his greatest poems include "The Bells" (1849), "Annabel Lee" (1849), and "Ulaume" (1847). His best-known short stories include "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1843), "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843), and "The Gold Bug" (1843). Poe was born in Boston and was orphaned at an early age. Raised by a wealthy Virginia businessman, he attended the University of Virginia and West Point. Poe's marriage to a young cousin would end with her early death. Poe would never recover from his loss and sank into a morass of drug addiction and alcohol abuse. He died in Baltimore in 1849.

Explain how one understands the meaning in poetry. Discuss how formal analysis is used.

Poetry creates its meaning from the interactions between the meaning of words and the effects of their being arranged in metrical patterns. To fully derive a poem's meaning, one should understand the formal qualities of poetry. An initial reading of a poem uncovers the main them theme of the poem as well as the author's attitude toward the main subject. The narrative situation and the basic features of form usually emerge from a first reading. Rereading and study of a poem should include the details of form and how these contribute to understanding. Formal features are most useful when they yield a tangible result. Form and meaning must be considered together for a full understanding of the work. Integrating formal features of a poem does not require great technical skill. It is really a question of becoming familiar with the language of formal analysis and using this to enhance understanding and enjoyment of the poetry. These skills are easily learned and greatly enrich the reading of a work.

Discuss figurative language in poetry.

Poetry is a genre in which language is used in all its variations and embellishments to convey a sense, mood, or feeling the poet deems important. Poetry uses elaborate linguistic constructions to explain the world in creative ways. Poetry manipulates language itself to convey impressions in new and innovative constructions. It makes extensive use of figurative devices - such as conceits, similes, metaphors, and many more - to express things in fresh ways. Poets use figurative language to suggest rather than give direct meanings. This language provides a creative experience for the reader, who is asked to understand meaning in unconventional terms. Poets relish opportunities to express themselves in creative and unusual words. Figurative language provides both poet and reader an opportunity for unique expression and understanding. Emotions, feelings, and moods are evoked by the skillful use of figurative language.

Discuss the perceived problem in the nature of peotry.

Poetry is usually viewed as the most difficult and unapproachable literary genre. Both the reading and study of poetry present obstacles and barriers for many people. Poetry has a number of technical, formal features that differ from prose. These features and formalities distinguish poetry from prose and make it seem esoteric. Some view poetry as an indirect and oblique mode of expression that is available only to those who have the technical ability to decipher it. The language of poetry often seems both obscure and alien. Poetry seems crammed full of symbols, imagery, allusions, and other literary devices that some find daunting. Much of this seems true. It clearly takes more preparation and effort to study poetry than to study prose. The richness of poetic language can be beautiful but also difficult to understand. A study of the formal analysis of poetry dispels much of the mystery and makes the genre much more accessible.

Explain problem plays, and give some historical and contemporary examples

Problem plays focus on social problems and movements. Alexander Dumas, son of the great French novelist, wrote a series of short plays attacking the ills of society. The early 19th century was the heyday of problem plays, particularly with his treatment of women's rights in The Doll House. Lillian Hellman and Arthur Miller both wrote popular problem plays in the 20th century. The term "problem plays" is used in a different context by Shakespearean scholars. These critics use the term for plays that have caused interpretations problems for audiences. Plays such as All's Well That Ends Well, Troilus and Cressida, and Measure for Measure lend themselves to various interpretations and pose literary problems for students of the bard.

Define and discuss the three types of prose

Prose is derived from Latin and means "straightforward discourse." Prose fiction, although having many categories, may be divided into three main groups: 1. Short Stories: a fictional narrative, the length of which varies, usually under 20,000 words. Short stories usually have only a few characters and generally describe one major event or insight. The short story began in magazines in the late 1800s and has flourished ever since. 2. Novels: a longer work of fiction, often containing a large cast of characters and extensive plotting. The emphasis may be on an event, action, social problems, or any experience. There is now a genre of nonfiction novels pioneered by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood in the 1960s. Novels may also be written in verse. 3. Novellas: a work of narrative fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Novellas may also be called short novels or novelettes. They originated from the German tradition and have become common forms in all of the world's literature.

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was an Indian poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer, and songwriter. Best known for his spiritual poetry written in Bengali, his first collection was The ideal One (1890). Noted for his lyrical, spiritual poetry, also written in Bengali, Tagore dominated the Indian literary scene for decades. His most popular work, Song Offerings (1912), won him a Nobel Prize in literature in 1911. Tagore published a number of poetry anthologies, and his stories of Bengal village life were published as The Hungry Stones (1916) and Broken Ties (1925). His best novel, The Home and the World (1916) was adapted for film by Satyagit Ray. Tagore was born in Calcutta in 1861 to a wealthy Hindu family. He studied law in London and traveled widely in the West before returning to India. He died in India in 1941.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, poet, and transcendentalist philosopher. His first major work, Nature, was published in 1836. It proclaims the unity of nature and the universe and his belief that each man finds his way to the divine through individual apprehension. His two-volume Essays (1841-44) include his most famous essays, including "Love," "Friendship," and "The Oversoul." Poems (1847) and May-Day (1867) contain his best poetry. Emerson founded The Dial, a journal transcendentalist writers, in 1840. Emerson was born in New England in 1803 and educated at Harvard University. Ordained as a Unitarian minister, he left the Church after being disillusioned with orthodox Christianity. Returning to America, he became a leader figure in the transcendentalist movement, joining such notables as Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, and Louisa May Alcott.

Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury - American novelist, short-fiction writer, playwright, and poet - is known primarily as a writer of fantasy and science fiction. He is known for weaving social criticism into his work, and shows a constant wariness of the dangers of technology. Bradbury's best works include Fahrenheit 451 (1953), The Martian Chronicles (1950), and The Illustrated Man (1951), all best sellers in the then-exploding field of science fiction. Bradbury, a prolific writer, has also published volumes of poetry, children's books, plays, and television and film screenplays. Bradbury was born in 1920 in the Midwest. He was an early contributor to pulp fiction and fantasy magazines. His early success gave him the freedom to experiment with different styles and genres. Bradbury has been a productive author for over 50 years and continues to develop fresh ideas and creative approaches to his craft.

Robert Browning

Robert Browning was a major Victorian poet known for his skill in characterization, psychological nuances, and colorful and dramatic dialogue. His early work was not well received, but Browning persisted, publishing the successful Dramatic Lyrics in 1842. His next collection, Dramatis Personae (1864), was his most popular. His technical skill as a poet remains his greatest legacy. Browning was born in London in 1812 and was largely self-educated. He did not achieve public acclaim until later in life. In 1845, Browning began a correspondence with the reclusive Elizabeth Barret. Against all odds, the couple married in 1846 and created one of the great literary romances. The pair lived a full and devoted life together until Elizabeth's death in 1861. Robert Browning survived and enjoyed his greatest success until his passing in 1889, 28 years after Elizabeth died.

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet who was known as one of the most well-known literary figures in Scotland. His best known poetry includes "Auld Lang Syne," "A Red, Red, Rose," and "Tam o'Shanter." His first anthology published was Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. Burns was born in 1759 to a poor family. As a result, he spent a lot of time working the land. He openly supported the French Revolution due to his rebellious nature. As a result, Burns is recognized as a major poet. He died at the young age of 37 in 1796.

Robert Frost

Robert Frost, American poet, is remebered as a master of teh technical aspects of poetry while remaining true to his New England heritage. Frost will always be remembered for his masterful simplicity in such poems as "Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening" (1923) and "The Road Not Taken" (1916). While living in England before World War I, Frost published two collections of poetry. Returning to New England, he published a number of anthologies, including Complete Poems (1945), West Running Brook (1928), A Witness Tree (1942), and In the Clearing (1962). Frost was born in California in 1874 and was educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard. He received the Pulitzer Prize four times and capped his career by reading "The Gift Outright" at the inaugural of John Kennedy in 1961. Frost died in 1963.

Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren was an influential American novelist, poet, and critic. His most famous work is the Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the King's Men, published in 1946. Based loosely on the life of Huey P. Long, it was adapted into an Oscar winning motion picture in 1949. Other important fiction includes the novel World Enough and Time (1950) and the story story collection The Circus in the Attic (1947). Warren published 14 collections of poetry and won the Pulitzer Prize for Now and Then (1978). he was an influential literary critic, promoting the New Criticism in important textbooks. Warren was born in Kentucky and attended Vanderbilt University. He taught for many years at Louisiana State University, where he founded the Southern Review. He was named Poet Laureate of the United States in 1986. Warren died in 1989.

Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett was an Irish-French novelist, playwright, short-story writer, and poet. His work explores the degradation of modern man, with a focus on the essential meaninglessness and absurdity of life. Beckett's work contains little action, with meaning coming from dialogue and silences. His best-known work, the play Waiting for Gadot (1953), is an allegory of life waiting only on death. Beckett was a prolific author, writing short fiction, drama, and prose for almost 50 years. He left a huge body of work behind that attests to his technical skills as a writer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 for his contributions. Born in Ireland in 1906, Beckett was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He moved to Paris, where he befriended James Joyce, who had an important influence on his work. He fought in the French Resistance during the war and was forced to flee Paris, to which he returned in 1945. He died in France in 1989.

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys's fame rests on his Diary, published in full in 1828. This work provides an insightful and unusually candid view of 17th century court life. Pepys chronicled events in his own life as well as important historical occasions, such as the coronation of Charles II, Pepys left us the most dramatic account of the great fire in London and the Black Plague. His legacy is to provide a window into the history of his time through his Diary. Pepys was born in London in 1633, the son of a tailor. Educated at Cambridge, he served as a naval officer, member of Parliament, and president of The Royal Society. These positions gave him an entree into the high society of London, where he was feted and honored over the years. His personal life was marred by tragedy with the death of a beloved young wife. Pepys's Diary went undiscovered for over 100 years until it was found in Cambridge in 1825. Pepys died in London at age 70 in 1703, at the height of his fame.

Sappho

Sappho was one of the earliest and most influential of the Greek poets. She lived on the island of Lesbos, from which the word lesbian is derived. On Lesbos, she is thought to have led a community of young women whom she tutored in music and poetry. Sappho's poetry is usually dedicated to these young women for whom she served as a mentor. Sappho's poetry is intimate in tone and often treats themes of love and friendship. Very little is known of her life, and her poetry survives only in fragments. Some scholars think she was exiled to Sicily by a repressive government on Lesbos. There is an apocryphal story about Sappho committing suicide by through herself off a cliff after a tragic love affair. All such stories must be classed as speculation, but what is certain is her poetic skill and dedication to her students with whom she lived on Lesbos.

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow, Canadian born American novelist, was noted for the ethical intensity of his work. He depicted the experiences of urban Jews in America in a new voice. Critical and popular success came to Bellow with the publication of The Adventures of Augie March (1953) and Henderson, the Rain King (1959). A trio of his best work followed: Herzog (1954), winner of the National Book Award, Mr. Sammler's Planet (1970), and his Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, Humboldt's Gift (1975). Bellow continued his productivity into the 21st century. Bellow was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1915. He grew up in Chicago, and like many young writers of this period, got his start with the WPA Writers' Project. He grew to be a grand figure in American fiction and is regarded as one fo the great modern novelists. Bellow died in 2005.

Percy Shelley

Shelley was a renowned English Poet who used the themes of love, romance, and imagination as his topics. Shelley had a powerful lyrical voice, and his best-known poems - "To a Skylark," "Prometheus Unbound," "Ode to the West Wind," and "Adonais" - exhibit this narrative power. He has remained an inspiration to Romantic poets for centuries. Born in England in 1792, Shelley attended Eton and Oxford before being expelled for publishing a tract on atheism. He traveled widely in Europe, sometimes in the company of Lord Byron. He had a passionate relationship with Mary Shelley, whom he would marry after the death of his first wife. Tragedy stalked Shelley, with the loss of two children and his wife's subsequent breakdown. Besieged by creditors, and in falling health, he continued to write productively until his death by drowning in Italy in 1822. His 29 years were filled with literary accomplishment and personal sorrow.

Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir-- French novelist, philosopher, and memoirist-- was a powerful intellectual figure in post-WWII Europe. Perhaps her most important work is "The Second Sex" (1949), a ground-breaker feminist polemic about the secondary status of women in the world. Her best-known novel is "The Mandarins (1954), which relates her struggles with the repressive regimes of Vichy, followed by Stalinist excesses. De Beauvoir wrote extensively about her life and published five volumes of memoirs that offered a window of history into her time. Born in Montparnasses in Paris in 1908, she met and formed the defining relationship of her life with Jean-Paul Sartre. This was a friendship, a love relationship, and a partnership of philosophy and art. She focused on the themes of individual freedom, particularly between the sexes. She died in Paris in 1986. Simone de Beauvoir: -1908-1986 (Born and died in Paris) -Feminist novelist, philosopher, and memoirist -Post WWII Europe -Published five volumes of personal memoirs -She focused on individual freedom between the sexes -Had a long-term relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre -Most important work: "The Second Sex" +Published in 1949 +About the secondary-status of women world-wide -Best-known novel: "The Mandarins" +Published in 1954 +Relates her struggles with the repressive regimes of Vichy and Stalin

Discuss the use of trade books to teach values.

Some educators say stories about heroes serve as a source for teaching values. Some studies indicate recent trends on teaching values in connection with methods of analysis. Personal models such as heroes in history, fiction, and current events help to exemplify and encourage emulation of certain virtues or desirable traits of character such as civility, courage, honesty, perseverance, self-restraint, compassion, and fairness, as well as respect for the dignity of individuals and responsibility for the common good. Trade books are a good source for using heroes to teach values. These stories should be accurate and present both positive and negative aspect of a person's life. Multimedia instruction, including the use of videotapes, can help add depth to the portrayal.

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was an American journalist, short-fiction writer, and novelist who produced a number of memorable works over 29 years. He is best known for his novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895), the unflinching evocation of a soldier in battle. However, he never fought in a war. He also published a collection of poetry titled The Black Rider and other Lines (1895). He traveled the world as a journalist and was able to gain experiences for his fiction. Crane was born in New Jersey in 1871 where he became a journalist - more precisely, an investigative reporter. He chose to write grim and harshly realistic articles about the poor. Eventually, he settled in Sussex, England where he became an associate of important literary figures of that day. He died in England in 1900.

Lord Alfred Tenyson

Tennyson was an important English poet of his day, publishing his first work, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830. His subsequent volumes of poetry include Maud, and Other Poems (1855), and Idylls of the King (1885), an epic poem based on the legend of King Arthur. Later works of note are Enoch Arden (1864) and Demeter and Other Poems (1889). His best-loved individual poems are "The Charge of the Light Brigade," "Crossing the Bar," and "Mariana." Tennyson wrote of history, honor, and faith, championing Victorian values and mastering the technical elements of poetry. Born in a small village in the north of England in 1809, he was educated at Cambridge and published his first book of verse there. Tennyson was named Poet Laureate of England by Queen Victoria in 1850, succeeding William Wordsworth. He died in England in 1892, his place in history secure.

Explain the narrative technique and tone of a novel

The following are important questions to address to better understand the voice and role of the narrator and incorporate that voice into an overall understanding of the novel: Who is the narrator of the novel? What is the narrator's perspective, first person or third person? What is the role of the narrator in the plot? Are there changes in narrators or the perspective of narrators? Does the narrator explain things in the novel, or does meaning emerge from the plots and events. The personality of the narrator is important. She may have vested interest in a character or event described. Some narratives follow the time sequence of the plot, whereas others do not. A narrator may express approval or disapproval about a character or events in the work. Tone is an important aspect of the narration Who is actually being addressed by the narrator? Is the tone familiar or formal, intimate or impersonal? Does the vocabulary suggest clues about the narrator?

Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser was an American novelist and leader in the literary movement known as Naturalism. Naturalism sought a literary ideal based on an objective, dispassionate description of the world. Dreiser's first novel, Sister Carrie (1900), was so controversial the publisher refused to promote it. His magnum opus, An American Tragedy (1925), was based on a true story of the day. Dreiser later published three successful novels, The Financier (1912), The Titan (1914), and a late book, The Stoic (1947). Dreiser was born to a poor family in Indiana in 1871. He worked as a journalist for many years as he polished his writing skills. Besides his novels, Dreiser wrote short fiction, plays, and an autobiography. His work is understood to have had a major impact on novel writing in America by it's rough portrayal of urban life. Dreiser died in 1945.

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer whose dark works were often drawn from his own experiences. One example is his first novel Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), a tale of a strong woman and her three lovers. He followed this modest success with four powerful novels: Jude the Obscure (1895), The Return of the Native (1878), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), and The Mayor of Casterbridge (1896). All volumes showcase his skills as a storyteller and a creator of strong characters. His poetry is also considered some of the best of his time. Hardy was born in Dorchester in southwest England in 1840. He was trained as an architech but gave that up for writing when he achieved his success. Following the death of his wife, he was guilt ridden, and his grief fueled the writy of his greatest poety, Poems of 1912-13. He married again and died in 1928.

Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann was a German novelist and essayist of great importance in the early 20th century. His work usually focused on art and the struggle of the artist to flourish in European society. This conflict is the theme of the novels Buddenbrooks (1903) and Death in Venice (1912). He turned to spirituality in his long allegorical novel The Magic Mountain (1924). Later works include Dr. Faustus (1947) and Joseph and His Brothers (1933-1943), a tetralogy of novels about the bibilical character. Mann won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929. Mann was born in Germany in 1875 and fled Nazi Germany in the early 1930s after clashing with Hitler's policies. He became a U.S. citizen in 1944 but remained active in world affairs, frequently visiting Europe after the war. He died in Switzerland in 1955.

T.S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot - American poet, playwright, and critic - was a major poet of the Modernist school of poetry. Eliot's first success was in 1915 with the publication of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," originally appearing in Poetry, a small literary magazine. Eliot struggled with his own despair at the futility of life and the spiritual barrenness of modern life. He addressed these themes in "The Waste Land," a powerful and influential work in the history of modern poetry. Eliot wrote several dramas in verse including "Murder in the Cathedral" (1953) and "The Cocktail Party" (1950). Eliot was born in St. Louis in 1888 and educated at Harvard and Oxford University. He moved to London and worked as a banker before becoming an editor at Faber and Faber in 1925. In 1927, he became a British subject and converted to Anglicanism. He was a distinguished figure in literature until his death in 1965.

Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau was an American essayist and naturalist who published only two books in his life. His first book, A Week n the Concord and Merrimac, was a failure, and his prospects seemed dim. Then came Walden (1854), his masterpiece, which narrates Thoreau's experiment in simple living in a cabin on Walden Pond for two years. Initially unsuccessful, Walden became a classic and guide to a simpler, more natural life. Thoreau's Journals appeared in 1906. Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1817 and graduated from Harvard in 1837. He was a teacher and major figure in the transcendentalist movement in New England. He wrote extensively on nature, society, and the spirit of individualism for many years. Often at odds with authorities, Thoreau spent a night in jail and defended his actions in a famous essay, "Civil Disobedience" (1849). He died in 1862 in his beloved Concord.

Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair was an American novelist, journalist, and essayist and was the best known of the muckrakers, a socially-minded band of writers who decried and attacked perceived immoral conduct in business and government. His most popular novel, The Jungle (1906), attacked and exposed abuses in the Chicago meat packing industry. The Jungle was instrumental in forcing the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act. His later works include King Coal (1917) and a novel based on the Sacco-Vanzetti trial, Boston (1928). Sinclair was born in Baltimore in 1878 and was an ardent socialist who ran (and lost) for the governorship of California in 1934. He remained a muckraker to the end, advocating socialism and attacking social ills. He died in New Jersey in 1968.

Virgil

Virgil was one of the greatest of Roman poets. He wrote the inscription for his own tomb, "One who sang of flocks and farms and heroes." Virgil's magnum opus is the epic poem the "Aeneid," which ranks as one of the most influential works in early classical literature. The "Aeneid" tells the tale of the adventures and triumphs of the Trojan hero Aeneas. Virgil's influence extends to the work of Dante, Spenser, Milton, and Shakespeare. His goal was to create works comparable to those of the Greek poets, and in this he succeeded. His work is uniquely his own and reflects his Roman culture. Virgil was born in northern Italy and was well educated for a farmer's son. During the civil war of 41 B.C., his farm was confiscated, and he moved to Rome to become part of Emperor Augustus's circle of artists. His first published work was the "Ecolgues," followed by "Georgics," and finally the "Aeneid." Much of his early work was about farm life and the joys of a bucolic existence. He became ill on a trip to Greece and died upon his return in 19 B.C.

Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Navokov - Russian born American novelist, critic, and translator - was a skillful, imaginative, and creative writer who has earned a place in literary history. He published his first few novels under a pseudonym in Berlin. He will always be best known for Lolita, his landmark novel published in 1955. This highly controversial novel was about the affair of a middle aged man and his young stepdaughter. Nabokov wrote other excellent novels, including Pale Fire (1962), Pnin (1957), and Ada or Ardor (1969). He was a translator of talent; his work with Pushkin's Eugene Onegin won him plaudits. Nabokov was born in Russia in 1899. He studied literature at Cambridge and then lived in Paris before emigrating to the United States in 1940. He taught at several excellent universities, completing Lolita when was on the faculty at Cornell. He then devoted himself full-time to writing and died in 1977 at the age of 78.

Voltaire

Voltaire was the pen name of Francois-Marie Arouet, French novelist, poet, playwright, and philosopher. Voltaire was a vocal and literate advocate for freedom of thought, political justice, and humanism in 18th century France. Voltaire's fame is for his essays and letters defending human rights and arguing for reason and tolerance. Best known of his literary works are Candide and Zadig, fiction that blends philosophy and humanism. Nonfiction works include Essays on the Manner and Spirit of Nations, a seven volume history, and a dictionary of philosophy. Voltaire was born in Paris in 1694 and educated by the Church. He soon abandoned the study of law fro writing, philosophy, and advocating human rights. His sharp tongue and pen found ready targets in the Church, nobility, and government. A short stay in England exposed him to the ideas of John Locke and other liberal minds of the times. Many of his works were banned during his lifetime, which ended in Paris in 1778.

Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens is one of the great Modernist poets. His verse covers a wide scope of themes but return continually to the role of poetry in filling the emptiness created by the lack of God. Stevens did not publish his first book until he was 44. Through the 1930s, '40s, and '50s he produced a body of work that includes The Man With The Blue Guitar (1937), Transport to Summer (1947), and Parts of a World (1942), to name only a few. Stevens was ignored during his lifetime for the most part, and only in the last year of his life did he win a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1879, he was educated at Harvard and studied law in New York City. He became an insurance attorney and worked for almost 40 years with The Hartford Accident And Indemnity Company. During this period, he turned out a body of work rarely excelled in modern poetry. Stevens died in 1955.

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman, the American poet and journalist, sought to develop an American voice for poetry. His style mirrored the American ideal: democratic, idealistic, free-flowing, and panoramic in perspective. His life's work, Leaves of Grass (1855), embodied what Whitman conceived as the American spirit. Using free verse, Whitman produced an American original. Whitman was born on Long Island, in New York state, and was reared in nearby Brooklyn. He worked as a teacher, typesetter, and journalist, becoming editor of the Brooklyn Eagle in 1846. He lived most of his life in Brooklyn, until the publication of Leaves of Grass. During the Civil War, he traveled to Virginia to nurse his wounded brother. He stayed on as a hospital volunteer until the end of the war. Crippled by a stroke in 1873, he retired to New Jersey, where he died in 1892.

What is the typical progression of a dramatic plot? List Aristotle's "Poetics" typical progression pattern of a plot.

When studying dramatic works, significant events in the story should be recognized. Major shifts or reversals in the plot, and subsequent action should be followed carefully. Aristotle's "Poetics" described a typical progression pattern of a ploy as follows: 1. Exposition 2. Complication 3. Reversal 4. Recognition 5. Resolution This progression is still valid today as we study and analyze plots. The plot may follow the pattern of comedy (ending with a celebration), or tragedy (ending with death). The plot may be explained through dialogue, stage action, and off-stage events or by a chorus. While plots of well known plays are easily understood and analyzed, more esoteric drama requires more careful attention to the plot's complexities.

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen was a World War I English poet who is regarded as the greatest. His work is best known for its scathing indictment against war based on his experiences in France during 1917-18. Most of his work was published after death. Siegfried Sassoon introduced the poetry collections Poems. This anthology included "Strange Meeting" and "Anthem for Doomed Youth." Benjamin Britten sued Owen's verse in his choral piece War Requiem. Owen was born in Shropshire and received an education at Shrewsbury Technical College. He was a teacher until 1915 before enlisting in the army. He was wounded in 1917 and recovered in Scotland where he met Sassoon. He returned to the front in 1918 and was killed a week before the war ended.

William Faulkner

William Faulkner, American novelist and short-story writer, wrote almost solely about Southern history in his fiction. After the publication of his first successful novel, Sartoris (1929), Faulkner reeled off a series of impressive novels, including The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Absalom, Absalom! (1936), Sanctuary (1931), and Go Down, Moses (1942). Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, Faulkner also won two Pulitzer prizes. He is remembered as a giant in American literature. Faulkner was born in Mississippi in 1897 and spent most of his life there. His recurring themes include Southern aristocracy's attempt to survive in the modern world, racial inequality in the South, and the burdens of slavery carried by his characters. Much of his work is based on his own family history, both colorful and tragic.

William Makepeace Thackeray

William Thackeray was a gifted Victorian English novelist and satirist who started his career doing satirical pieces for magazines and weeklies. The Book of Snobs (1848) and Vanity Fair (1849), his masterwork, both appeared as serials in periodicals. Vanity Fair follows Becky Sharp as she attempts to climb the social ladder of English society. His later works include Barry Lyndon (1852), The Virginians (1859), and the fictional autobiography Pendennis (1850). Thackeray was born in India but returned to England for his education at Cambridge. He was a popular lecturer, and he toured England and America giving talks. He found his strength in his ability to describe the moralistic hypocrisy of British society. He died in London in 1863.

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a catalyst for the Romantic movement in English literature. A close friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge resulted in the publication of a joint venture, Lyrical Ballads, which sounded a new voice in poetry. The neoclassical model then in vogue was renounced for poetry written in the manner in which people actually spoke. Wordsworth's best-known volumes include Poems: In Two Volumes and his greatest work, The Prelude, an epic based on the author's life. Wordsworth was born in the Lake District of England in 1770. Educated at Cambridge, he traveled extensively in Europe and became fired up with the spirit of the French Revolution. In his early thirties, Wordsworth married and retired to his home in Grasmere, where he lived the remainder of his life. He held the position of Poet Laureate of England from 1843 until his death in 1850. One of the most loved poems in the English Language is "Tintern Abbey," published in his first slender volume of poems in 1798.

W.H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden was an English born man of letters, an accomplished poet, playwright, critic, editor, and translator. Perhaps best known for his verse, which was witty, musical, and innovative in the use of rhythms, Auden published a number of collections. The Age of Anxiety (1947) won him a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Other important works include Another Time (1940), The Double Man (1941), Nuns (1951), and the National Book Award winner The Shield of Achilles (1955). An opera brettist of great skill, he worked with such luminaries as Britten and Stravinsky. Born in England in 1907, Auden was educated at Oxford, where he became a political activist for leftist movements. He moved to the United States, becoming a popular teacher and lecturer while producing work of the first order. Auden died in 1973 at the age of 65.