Charles Lamb Essay - Lamb, Charles - eNotes.com Charles Lamb Essay - Lamb, Charles Charles Lamb 1775-1834 (Also wrote under the pseudonym Elia) English essayist, critic, poet, dramatist, and novelist. The following entry presents criticism on Lamb from 1984 through 1998. For additional information on Lamb's life and career, see NCLC, Volume 10. A well-known literary figure in nineteenth-century England, Lamb is chiefly remembered for his “Elia” essays, works celebrated for their witty and ironic treatment of everyday subjects. Through the persona of “Elia,” Lamb developed a highly personal narrative technique to achieve what many critics regard as the epitome of the familiar essay style. Extremely popular in Lamb's day, the “Elia” essays first appeared in the London Magazine between 1820 and 1825, but were later collected into two volumes. These nostalgic works have appealed to readers throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly because of their gradual revelation of Lamb's literary alter ego and his humorous idiosyncrasies.

Lamb's other writings include criticism of William Shakespeare's dramas and the virtual rediscovery of a number of neglected Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights in the early nineteenth century. A dramatist and a skilled poet, Lamb was also a noted children's author, frequently in collaboration with his sister, Mary. Lamb's essays are thought to demonstrate a characteristically Romantic imagination akin to that of the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, Lamb's contemporaries and friends. Overall, Lamb is highly regarded as an essayist, an original and perceptive critic, and a noteworthy correspondent with the renowned literati of early nineteenth-century England. Biographical Information Lamb was born in London, the youngest of seven children, of whom only three survived into adulthood. His father was a law clerk who worked in the Inner Temple, one of the courts of London, and wrote poetry in his spare time. In 1782 Lamb was accepted as a student at Christ's Hospital, a school in London for the children of poor families. He excelled in his studies, especially in English literature, but the seven years away from home proved lonely.

Later Lamb wrote that his solitude was relieved by his friendship with a fellow student, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who also encouraged Lamb's early poetic compositions. Since his family's poverty prevented him from furthering his education, Lamb took a job immediately upon graduation. Working first as a clerk, he became an accountant at the East India Company, a prestigious trade firm. At Coleridge's insistence, Lamb's first sonnets were included in the collection Poems on Various Subjects, published by Coleridge in 1796. That same year, Lamb's sister, who suffered from mental illness throughout her life, stabbed her mother to death in a “day of horrors” that completely transformed Lamb's life. His father and his elder brother wanted to commit Mary permanently to an asylum, but Lamb succeeded in obtaining her release and devoted himself to her care. From then on, Mary enjoyed long periods of sanity and productivity as a writer, but these were inevitably disrupted by breakdowns. In 1798 Lamb published Blank Verse with his friend Charles Lloyd.

The volume contains Lamb's best known poem, “The Old Familiar Faces.” His first serious work in prose, A Tale of Rosamund Gray and Old Blind Margaret, also appeared in 1798. In the first two decades of the nineteenth century, Lamb produced two dramas, including the poorly received farce Mr. H———; or, Beware a Bad Name (1806), and a number of works intended for children and written with his sister. Meanwhile he began contributing literary articles to an assortment of newspapers and periodicals. Soon Lamb had established himself as a highly astute and eloquent critical voice with such essays as “On the Genius and Character of Hogarth” and “On the Tragedies of Shakespeare Considered with Reference to Their Fitness for Stage Presentation”—pieces later republished in The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (1903-05). His volume Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, Who Lived about the Time of Shakespeare, helped bring about a renewed interest in Jacobean drama upon its publication in 1808. In 1820 the editor of the London Magazine invited Lamb to contribute regularly to his periodical.

Lamb, eager to supplement his income, wrote some pieces under the pseudonym “Elia” for the magazine. With the success of these essays Lamb became one of the most admired literary men in London. He and Mary presided over a weekly open house, attended by friends including Coleridge, William Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, and Henry Crabb Robinson. Lamb retired from the East India Company in 1825, left London, and devoted more time to writing. Though distant from his literary acquaintances in the English metropolis, Lamb was still at the peak of his popularity as an essayist when he died suddenly in 1834. Major Works Although he began his literary career as a sonneteer, Lamb quickly discovered that his talent and inclination lay in prose, not verse. His first fictional work, a short novel entitled A Tale of Rosamund Gray and Old Blind Margaret, displays the influence of eighteenth-century sentimental writers Henry Mackenzie and Laurence Sterne.

Lamb's next literary composition, John Woodvil (1802), set shortly after England's monarchical Restoration in 1660, owes a debt to Elizabethan tragedy and features a commentary on the politics of Lamb's day via historical analogy. Lamb's collaborative works with his sister, Mary, all fall into the category of juvenile literature and include Mrs. Leicester's School (1807), a collection of children's stories and poems, Tales from Shakespear (1807), simplified renderings in prose of William Shakespeare's most famous plays, and Poetry for Children (1809). Lamb also adapted Homer's epic poem The Odyssey for younger readers in The Adventures of Ulysses (1808). Among Lamb's critical writings, his anthology Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, Who Lived about the Time of Shakespeare includes selections from the plays of such Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists as Christopher Marlowe, John Webster, George Chapman, and Thomas Middleton. Since many of these works were previously unobtainable to early nineteenth-century readers, Lamb's compilation was an important reference source and is supplemented with explanatory notes now considered among Lamb's most significant critical work.

In a related essay, “On the Tragedies of Shakespeare Considered with Reference to Their Fitness for Stage Presentation,” Lamb argued that the best qualities of Shakespeare's drama can be fully appreciated only through reading: according to Lamb, stage performances often diminish the play's meanings, and individual performers often misinterpret Shakespeare's intended characterizations. Lamb's most prominent works were his last: the collections Elia: Essays Which Have Appeared under That Signature in the “London Magazine” and The Last Essays of Elia were published in 1823 and 1833, respectively. Featuring sketches in the familiar essay form—a style popularized by Michel de Montaigne, Robert Burton, and Sir Thomas Browne—the “Elia” essays are characterized by Lamb's personal tone, narrative ease, and wealth of literary allusions. Never didactic, the essays treat ordinary subjects in a nostalgic, fanciful way by combining humor, pathos, and a sophisticated irony ranging from gentle to scathing. Among the essays, “Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago” features a schoolboy reminiscence of Coleridge, while “Confessions of a Drunkard” treats with ambivalence a theme that punctuated Lamb's own life.

Counted among his most significant writings, Lamb's discerning and lively correspondence is collected in The Letters of Charles Lamb (1935). Critical Reception Lamb's “Elia” essays have been nearly universally extolled by reviewers since their initial appearance. While some scholars have considered Lamb's style imitative of earlier English writers, the majority now accept that quality as one of “Elia's” distinctive hallmarks, along with his fondness for the obscure and other idiosyncrasies. In addition to the elegant prose of his essays, works that have delighted generations of readers, Lamb's critical writings testify to his versatility and insight, although some commentators have faulted his unsystematic critical method. During the nineteenth century, Lamb's collected writings tended to elicit highly polarized critical reactions. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, Lamb's status as one of England's most beloved writers was affirmed, and today he is remembered as a perceptive critic and the finest practitioner of the familiar essay form in English. The “Elia” essays maintained their popularity until the 1930s, when Lamb's reputation suffered a near total reversal as critic F. R. Leavis and his disciples reappraised the Elian style.

The Leavisite critique echoed throughout academia, and Lamb's works ceased to be studied seriously by British scholars for several decades. By the mid 1960s, however, critics such as George Barnett and later Gerald Monsman undertook the process of rehabilitating Lamb's standing by producing detailed studies of his essays. The Charles Lamb Society and its quarterly publication, The Charles Lamb Bulletin, the main source of contemporary Lamb criticism, have assisted in this renewed interest and study of Lamb's works, covering such topics as Lamb's theories of drama, his poetry, and especially his “Elia” essays, whose enduring humor and spontaneity continue to capture the imaginations of modern readers. Start Free Trial Start your free trial with eNotes to access more than 30,000 study guides. Get help with any book. Poems on Various Subjects [with Samuel Taylor Coleridge] (poetry) 1796 Blank Verse [with Charles Lloyd] (poetry) 1798 A Tale of Rosamund Gray and Old Blind Margaret (novel) 1798 John Woodvil (drama) 1802 Mr.

H———; or, Beware a Bad Name (drama) 1806 Mrs. Leicester's School [with Mary Lamb] (short stories and poetry) 1807 Tales from Shakespear [with Mary Lamb] (short stories) 1807 The Adventures of Ulysses (short stories) 1808 Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, Who Lived about the Time of Shakespeare [editor] (dramas) 1808 Poetry for Children [with Mary Lamb] (poetry) 1809 Elia: Essays Which Have Appeared under That Signature in the “London Magazine” [as Elia] (essays) 1823 Album Verses [with others] (poetry) 1830 The Last Essays of Elia [as Elia] (essays) 1833 *The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. 7 vols. (essays, novel, short stories, poetry, and dramas) 1903-05 The Letters of Charles Lamb. 3 vols.

(letters) 1935 *This work includes the essays “On the Genius and Character of Hogarth,” “On the Tragedies of Shakespeare Considered with Reference to Their Fitness for Stage Presentation,” and “On the Artificial Comedy of the Last Century.” Bookfinder.US: Hazlitt William Card catalog description "Contest for Cultural Authority takes a fresh look at one of the scandals of literary history: William Hazlitt's harshly satirical reviews of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the Regency press. Traditionally deplored as "malignant" personal attacks on a former friend, Hazlitt's eight reviews of Coleridge's writings between 1816 and 1818 engage such landmark works as Christabel, The Statesman's Manual, and the Biographia Literaria, harnessing the rising power of Regency review-criticism to devastating effect. By taking seriously Hazlitt's own classification of these articles as "political essays," and by relocating them within the turbulent public debates of the late Regency, Robert Keith Lapp discovers in them an indispensable critique of Coleridge's conservative response to the post-Waterloo crisis known as the...

The Table Talk of Martin Luther Martin Luther Book Description "The Bible is alive," declared Martin Luther, "it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me." The Protestant Reformation's most prominent leader was as evocative, articulate, and outspoken in his private speech as he was in public, and fortunately for posterity, some of his loyal followers took notes. This volume consists of excerpts from the great reformer's conversations with his students and colleagues, in which he comments on life, the church, and the Bible, in absorbing anecdotes that reveal his personality and wisdom. The text is based on the acclaimed English translation by the literary critic and essayist William Hazlitt. 224pp. 53/8 x 81/2. Hazlitt: The Mind of a Critic David Bromwich Book Description The Plain Speaker was the last great original work of William Hazlitt (1778-1830), the finest prose writer of the romantic period.

It is written with characteristic passion, and displays his erudition and wit to fine effect in some of his most important essays: On the Prose-Style of Poets, On the Conversation of Authors, On Reason and Imagination, and On Envy, to name a few.In this selection from the two-volume Plain Speaker, Tom Paulin and Duncan Wu have given priority to essays that address key critical issues both in romantic studies today and the poetics of prose. The volume contains a brilliant introduction to the central themes of the volume by Tom Paulin who reads Hazlitt's improvisatory, intensely physical and tactile prose, along a dazzling line of critical discourse that ranges from Burke to Barthes and... Hazlitt and the Reach of Sense: Criticism, Morals, and the Metaphysics of Power Uttara Natarjan Book Description The Plain Speaker was the last great original work of William Hazlitt (1778-1830), the finest prose writer of the romantic period.

It is written with characteristic passion, and displays his erudition and wit to fine effect in some of his most important essays: On the Prose-Style of Poets, On the Conversation of Authors, On Reason and Imagination, and On Envy, to name a few.In this selection from the two-volume Plain Speaker, Tom Paulin and Duncan Wu have given priority to essays that address key critical issues both in romantic studies today and the poetics of prose. The volume contains a brilliant introduction to the central themes of the volume by Tom Paulin who reads Hazlitt's improvisatory, intensely physical and tactile prose, along a dazzling line of critical discourse that ranges from Burke to Barthes and... Hazlitt at Table Book Description 1930. Hazlitt was an English writer remembered for his humanitarian essays. He was one of the great masters of the miscellaneous essay, displaying a keen intellect, sensibility, and wide scope of interest and knowledge. His best-known work is The Spirit of the Age, a collection of portraits of his contemporaries, including Lamb, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Jeremy Bentham, and Sir Walter Scott.

The essays in this volume are divided into the following headings: On Life in General; On Writers and Writing; On Painters and Painting; On Actors and Acting; and Characters. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. Characters Of Shakespeare's Plays Book Description The secret of Falstaff's wit is for the most part a masterly presence of mind, an absolute self-possession, which nothing can disturb. His repartees are involuntary suggestions of his self-love; instinctive evasions of everything that threatens to interrupt the career of his triumphant jollity and self-complacency. His very size floats him out of all his difficulties in a sea of rich conceits; and he turns round on the pivot of his convenience, with every occasion and at a moment's warning. His natural repugnance to every unpleasant thought or circumstance of itself makes light of objections, and provokes the most extravagant and licentious answers in his own justification. His indifference to truth puts no check upon his invention, and the more improbable and unexpected his contrivances are, the more happily does he...

Table-Talk, Essays on Men and Manners William Hazlitt Book Description The first complete annotated edition of Milton's poetry available in a one-volume paperback. The text is established from original sources, with collations of all known manuscripts, chronology and verbal variants recorded. Works in Latin, Greek and Italian are included with new literal translations. From the Publisher The first complete annotated edition of Milton's poetry available in a one-volume paperback. The text is established from original sources, with collations of all known manuscripts, chronology and verbal variants recorded. Works in Latin, Greek and Italian are included with new literal translations. See all Editorial Reviews Table-Talk, Essays on Men and Manners William Hazlitt The Cornerstone » Blog Archive » Redeeming Hate The Cornerstone Do we hate the things God hates? Carl R. Trueman, Issue Number 19, March 2008 Not many people today regard hate as a virtue. Even the great hatemongers of the last century, the Hitlers and the Stalins who so poisoned the history of modern Europe, presumably regarded themselves not as peddlers of hate so much as righteous crusaders for their respective causes, sick and perverted though those causes were.

Yet hate is indeed virtuous. There is, of course, a wicked form of hate to which Christians are prone and which has deeply damaged the image of Christianity. This form has given endless material to the anti-Christian propagandists of the present age. But there is another form of hate, one that actually reflects an aspect of the very being of God, and is one which Christians should aspire to reflect. In the 19th century, the brilliant radical thinker and essayist William Hazlitt wrote one of his most famous pieces, On the Pleasure of Hating. With his usual wit and devastating ability to observe the worst aspects of human behavior, he waxed eloquent about the fact that, while love was often transitory and—let’s face it—rather boring, hate was something which both possessed a perennial fascination and had seemingly limitless energy and creativity. As Hazlitt put it, “Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust; hatred alone is immortal.” Needless to say, when he came to give examples of real hate in action, he zeroed in on religion, citing the particular example of Edward Irving, the brilliant but tragic preacher of the early 19th century.

Irving’s preaching of hellfire and damnation, according to Hazlitt, was a classic example of creative hatred in action; and his popularity was indicative of the appetite for such among the London crowds who flocked to hear him. Hazlitt is, I think, right. Hatred is far more interesting than love. This can be seen throughout pop culture. Films and soap operas which tell simple stories of girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, girl and boy live happily ever after, simply do not exist. Nobody would want to watch such a storyline. Even at the level of entertainment, we need tension, drama, uncertainty, and excitement; and one way of achieving all of these things, perhaps the most obvious way, is to inject a little—or a lot of—hate into the equation. Hate, the very antithesis of love, stands so close to it as to be its evil and far more entertaining twin. Boy meets girl; they fall in love; then girl falls in love with someone else; then first boy hates both girl and second boy—that’s a more typical and marketable storyline. As Hazlitt argued, hating is indeed pleasurable. But why?

Well, on one level, hate represents the quintessence of fallen humanity. It is that aspect of fallen human nature which is the necessary counterpart to the central human difficulty: our insatiable need to love ourselves rather than God. To grasp this, we need to backtrack a little and analyze the problem of fallen humanity. Human beings were designed to find their full meaning and satisfaction in loving the infinite God. The Fall disrupted that and created a situation where the basic question of human existence—what should I love if I am to be fully human?—remained intact; yet the answer—You should love yourself! You should love the creature rather than the Creator!—left human beings perpetually dissatisfied and roaming from one experience or creaturely object to another, striving to satisfy with finite things that which can only be satisfied by the infinite God. Creaturely loves, if you like (and to borrow a memorable phrase from Top Gun), write checks that their bodies can’t cash. They promise satisfaction, but they serve only to exacerbate the human hunger further. Like crack cocaine, loving that which is creaturely can bring momentary satisfaction, but it is illusory—a fleeting sense of fulfillment which soon departs and leaves the individual craving more.

The Danger of Hate And therein lies the dilemma for the Christian. Hate is not wrong. Forget the smug bumper sticker wisdom that informs us, “Hate is not a family value.” There are, in fact, many ways in which hate is a family value. I hate poverty; I hate pedophiles; I hate those who would seek to do my children harm. Indeed, the safety of my family depends on my hatred of precisely certain values and certain individuals committed to them. Then, looked at through a more strictly theological lens, there are many things we must hate. We must hate all that stands in rebellion against God. And yet we also know that hate is a dangerous, seductive virtue, as easy to misdirect and to use for our own pleasure as anything. Indeed, hate as an aesthetic value can give endless amounts of entertainment, both as we witness it in others and as we indulge in it ourselves. Christians must hate; yet such hate is dangerous. Of course, our non-Christian friends and neighbors are adept at spotting our tendency to hate. Most of my friends outside of seminary and church circles are those who would characterize themselves as liberal Democrats, with all of the social views that implies.

And most, if not all of them, do not like evangelical Christianity. This is not because they find its worldview implausible; I doubt that many of them have a real understanding of the core theology of evangelical Christianity. It is because for them evangelical Christianity is synonymous with hatred, distinguished by what it is against—and passionately, unreasonably against—than anything it is for. And on this level, even the embarrassingly sub-Hazlitt prose of those condescending bumper stickers may have a valid point. The problem with so much Christian hate is not that hate is wrong, but that it is perversely the object of our love. We can find ourselves loving to hate. Why? Because hate can be another of those creaturely objects to which we look for our fulfillment. Indeed, hate is the highest example of such self-love. We love to hate because it feeds that central myth of fallen humanity—that we are the answer to our problems, that we are the center of the universe. Evaluating Hate Two things are pertinent here, and point to the problem with so much of Christian hatred. First, there is the motivation of our hatred. Second, there is the selectivity of our hatred.

As to the first, all evangelical Christians would (I hope) say they hate homosexuality. Often, we try to soften the bluntness of this statement by drawing a distinction between loving the sinner and hating the sin. There are problems with that simple distinction, particularly when it comes to sexuality. In a world where people increasing identify themselves by their sexual orientation, it becomes more difficult—both practically and conceptually—to maintain this distinction. But we must try, especially if we’re to have any real loving concern for those outside the church. The problem with hating homosexuality (and anything else forbidden by God) is not the hatred, simply considered. Rather, it is that the human heart will inevitably take this hatred and turn it into an object of love, which then serves to reinforce our belief in our own righteousness. “I thank you Lord that I am not like other men,” said the Pharisee in the temple, as he turned his contemptuous eye on the tax gatherer. Hatred of the corruption and greed which marked this other man’s life was driven by, and served, the Pharisee’s own desire to make himself a big man in his own eyes, in the eyes of others, and even in the eyes of God Himself.

On this level, I have a sneaking suspicion that much of what passes for evangelical hatred isn’t really hatred at all. Rather, it is love of self—a kind of love that is expressed through the idiom of hatred. For example, I hate gays so that I can feel as if my own heterosexuality makes me that much more acceptable to myself and thus God (whom I make in my own image). I hate atheists so that my own theism allows me to imagine I’m just a bit better. In other words, it’s all about me, it’s all about self-worship. And the hate I typically exhibit, even as a Christian, is rooted in love of myself – which is the very problem that lies at the core of the human predicament. This is evident in the selectivity of hatred as well. There is plenty of evangelical hatred of homosexuality out there. One has only to insert the relevant words into Google to come up with dozens of Web sites devoted to such. Yet, while we are quick to hate certain things which bolster our own self-image as being zealous for the Lord, there are other matters which never seem to cross our horizons.

Materialism, greed, anger, to name just three, are matters which could scarcely be described as the objects of our hatred. Again, the love of self is surely key in this. These are things which cut a little too close to home. To hate anger involves hating myself, the very thing I want to avoid. Good Hate So what constitutes virtuous hatred? We know that God hates certain things, since Scripture makes this clear. For example, Proverbs 6:16-19 outlines six things that the Lord hates and seven that are an abomination to Him, including those who commit murder and those who sow dissension. Hatred is, in a sense, an attribute of God. It is something which is essentially characteristic of God in relation to these things. And, as Christians and those made in the image of God, it is right, proper, and, indeed, virtuous that we too hate what God hates. So how do we do this, bearing in mind that hatred in itself is a deeply and dangerously seductive thing which can more easily lead one into paths of self-righteousness than into the way of truth?

The first thing we need to recognize is that God’s hatred is not an end in itself, nor is it merely instrumental to some other end. He does not hate because He enjoys hating for its own sake. Nor does He hate in order to feel good about Himself. Rather, His hatred is directed toward that which does not reflect His own glory but in fact derogates from that glory. We might say that, for God, hatred is the natural, active, personal response to all of the havoc which willful human disobedience has introduced into the world. It is analogous to my hatred, as a father, of pedophiles and poverty. I hate the former because of the potential damage they can do to my children, and I hate the latter for much the same reason. For me, hatred of such is rooted in a deeper commitment to and love for my children. Were I, on the contrary, to trust pedophiles and to desire poverty, then I would expose my children to danger or to hardship, something that no loving father should do. Hatred is a virtue in this situation.

And Christian hatred is good hatred when it is motivated at the deepest level out of love for God, jealousy for the name of God, and for protecting His glory from those who would seek to insult Him. So if the virtue of hatred lies in its motivation, how can I know that my hatred is driven by the right motives? The answer is: I can’t. One thing you can be sure of is that your motives for hating – on this side of eternity – will always be mixed. But the mixed motives I might have for loving my wife do not render my love to her equivocal, and so it is the same with hate. We are to hate what God hates; we are to work each day at bringing our minds into conformity with the mind of God; and we are humbly to seek His forgiveness that even the purest act of hatred on our part is horribly contaminated with self-love and personal agendas. In short, we are to sit under the regular preaching of the Word, where God’s Spirit can search us, try us, and transform us, and where we can be regularly reminded of the glory of God and the contrasting evil of human disobedience to His will.

We are to expose ourselves each day to God’s holy Word in the safe and certain knowledge that doing so will give us the necessary reality check both on ourselves and our relationship to the world around us. Opposition to God Finally, we should bear in mind one crucial reason for virtuous hatred, particularly as it relates to other human beings — the thought that anybody might be able to remain adamantly and arrogantly opposed to God. This is where our hatred of the homosexual, for example, should become the flip-side of our love for the homosexual. It is not so much that we hate the sin and love the sinner. It is that we hate the fact that any sinner could continue to defy God. Therefore our hatred is to be connected to persuasion. Hating the idea of rebellion against God, we should do our best to persuade those who are rebels to change their allegiance. Do we do this by screaming slogans at them across the barricades? Doubtful. Most likely we do it by behaving in persuasive ways of the kind laid out in Scripture: turning the other cheek, giving of ourselves to our enemies, making sacrifices to help those who despise us.

We need to call them to account before our holy God, but we need to make sure we do this because our hatred of them as rebels manifests itself in love to them as lost sheep who are in urgent need of a shepherd. Hatred is indeed a Christian virtue, but only when it is rooted in a deep love and jealousy for the glory of God. Such hatred can never be used as a means of idolatrous self-love, and it will always manifest itself in a manner that tries to persuade those in rebellion to repent and submit to God. Given this, hate is indeed a Christian family value, and one we should nurture and cherish. Carl R. Trueman is vice president and professor of historical theology and church history at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pa. Copyright 2008, all rights reserved, byFaith magazine. This article first appeared in the February 2008 issue of byFaith and is reprinted by permission. English Literature - 3 | Britannica.com English Literature the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day.

Displaying 101 - 200 of 800 results Brome, Richard English dramatist generally deemed the most considerable of the minor Jacobean playwrights. Nothing is known of Brome’s origins. As early as 1614, he is known to have been in Ben Jonson ’s service, probably acting as Jonson’s secretary and domestic.... Brontë, Anne English poet and novelist, sister of Charlotte and Emily Brontë and author of Agnes Grey (1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848). The youngest of six children of Patrick and Marie Brontë, Anne was taught in the family’s Haworth home and at Roe... Brontë, Charlotte English novelist noted for Jane Eyre (1847), a strong narrative of a woman in conflict with her natural desires and social condition. The novel gave new truthfulness to Victorian fiction. She later wrote Shirley (1849) and Villette (1853). Life Her father...

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Bulwer, John English physician, author, and early educator of the deaf, best known for his four late- Renaissance texts, which called on his knowledge of deafness, sign language, and the human body: Chirologia; or, The Natural Language of the Hand (1644); Philocopus;... Bunyan, John celebrated English minister and preacher, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), the book that was the most characteristic expression of the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include doctrinal and controversial writings; a spiritual autobiography,... Burgess, Anthony English novelist, critic, and man of letters, whose fictional explorations of modern dilemmas combine wit, moral earnestness, and a note of the bizarre. Trained in English literature and phonetics, Burgess taught in the extramural department of Birmingham... Burney, Fanny English novelist and letter writer, daughter of the musician Charles Burney, and author of Evelina, a landmark in the development of the novel of manners. Fanny educated herself by omnivorous reading at home. Her literary apprenticeship was much influenced... Burns, Robert national poet of Scotland, who wrote lyrics and songs in the Scottish dialect of English.

He was also famous for his amours and his rebellion against orthodox religion and morality. Life Burns’s father had come to Ayrshire from Kincardineshire in an... Burton, Robert English scholar, writer, and Anglican clergyman whose Anatomy of Melancholy is a masterpiece of style and a valuable index to the philosophical and psychological ideas of the time. Burton was educated at Oxford, elected a student (life fellow) of Christ... Butler, Guy South African poet and playwright, many of whose poems have extraordinary sensitivity and brilliant imagery. Butler began writing during military service in North Africa and Europe (1940–45). After studying at the University of Oxford, he joined the... Butler, Samuel English novelist, essayist, and critic whose satire Erewhon (1872) foreshadowed the collapse of the Victorian illusion of eternal progress. The Way of All Flesh (1903), his autobiographical novel, is generally considered his masterpiece. Butler was the...

Butler, Samuel poet and satirist, famous as the author of Hudibras, the most memorable burlesque poem in the English language and the first English satire to make a notable and successful attack on ideas rather than on personalities. It is directed against the fanaticism,... Byatt, A. S. English scholar, literary critic, and novelist known for her erudite works whose characters are often academics or artists commenting on the intellectual process. Byatt is the daughter of a judge and the sister of novelist Margaret Drabble. She was educated... Byrom, John English poet, hymnist, and inventor of a system of shorthand. Byrom was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected fellow in 1714. He then went abroad, ostensibly to study medicine; in view of his Jacobite leanings his journey may have... Byron, Lord British Romantic poet and satirist whose poetry and personality captured the imagination of Europe. Renowned as the “gloomy egoist” of his autobiographical poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–18) in the 19th century, he is now more generally esteemed... Callaghan, Morley Canadian novelist and short-story writer.

Callaghan attended the University of Toronto (B.A., 1925) and Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B., 1928). He never practiced law, but he became a full-time writer in 1928 and won critical acclaim for his short stories... Camden, William English antiquary, a pioneer of historical method, and author of Britannia, the first comprehensive topographical survey of England. Educated at Christ’s Hospital and St. Paul’s School, Camden was admitted to Magdalen College, Oxford, but moved to Broadgates... Campion, Thomas English poet, composer, musical and literary theorist, physician, and one of the outstanding songwriters of the brilliant English lutenist school of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His lyric poetry reflects his musical abilities in its subtle... Canadian literature the body of written works produced by Canadians. Reflecting the country’s dual origin and its official bilingualism, the literature of Canada can be split into two major divisions: English and French. This article provides a brief historical account... Carew, Thomas English poet and first of the Cavalier song writers.

Educated at the University of Oxford and at the Middle Temple, London, Carew served as secretary at embassies in Venice, The Hague, and Paris. In 1630 Carew received a court appointment and became... Carpenter, Edward English writer identified with social and sexual reform and the late 19th-century anti-industrial Arts and Crafts Movement. Carpenter was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was elected a fellow and ordained in 1869. In 1870 he became the theologian... Carroll, Lewis English logician, mathematician, photographer, and novelist, especially remembered for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). His poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876) is nonsense literature of the highest... Carson, Anne Canadian poet, essayist, translator, and Classicist whose work treats Classical subjects in what has been called a postmodern fashion. Carson’s genre-averse approach to writing mixes poetry with essay, literary criticism, and other forms of prose, and...

Carter, Elizabeth English poet, translator, and member of a famous group of literary “bluestockings” who gathered around Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu. Carter was the daughter of a learned cleric who taught her Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. She was not a precocious child, but she... Cary, Joyce English novelist who developed a trilogy form in which each volume is narrated by one of three protagonists. Cary was born into an old Anglo-Irish family, and at age 16 he studied painting in Edinburgh and then in Paris. From 1909 to 1912 he was at Trinity... Caxton, William the first English printer, who, as a translator and publisher, exerted an important influence on English literature. In 1438 he was apprenticed to Robert Large, a rich mercer, who in the following year became lord mayor of London. Large died in 1441,...

Chalkhill, John English poet whose Thealma and Clearchus was published posthumously in 1683 by Izaak Walton, and who was identified in the third edition of Walton’s Compleat Angler as the author of two songs which appeared there from the first edition (1653). Because... Chaplin, Sid British novelist and short-story writer noted for his mastery of detail and local colour in his depictions of working-class life. The son of a coal miner, Chaplin began working in the mines at age 15 and continued to do so while obtaining an education... Chapman, George English poet and dramatist, whose translation of Homer long remained the standard English version. Chapman attended the University of Oxford but took no degree. By 1585 he was working in London for the wealthy commoner Sir Ralph Sadler and probably traveled... Chatterton, Thomas chief poet of the 18th-century “Gothic” literary revival, England’s youngest writer of mature verse, and precursor of the Romantic Movement. At first considered slow in learning, Chatterton had a tearful childhood, choosing the solitude of an attic and...

Chaucer, Geoffrey the outstanding English poet before Shakespeare and “the first finder of our language.” His The Canterbury Tales ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in English. He also contributed importantly in the second half of the 14th century to the management... Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of British statesman, diplomat, and wit, chiefly remembered as the author of Letters to His Son and Letters to His Godson —guides to manners, the art of pleasing, and the art of worldly success. After a short period of study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge,... Chesterton, G. K. English critic and author of verse, essays, novels, and short stories, known also for his exuberant personality and rotund figure. Chesterton was educated at St. Paul’s School and later studied art at the Slade School and literature at University College,... Christie, Dame Agatha English detective novelist and playwright whose books have sold more than 100 million copies and have been translated into some 100 languages. Educated at home by her mother, Christie began writing detective fiction while working as a nurse during World...

Churchill, Caryl British playwright whose work frequently deals with feminist issues, the abuses of power, and sexual politics. When Churchill was 10, she immigrated with her family to Canada. She attended Lady Margaret Hall, a women’s college of the University of Oxford,... Churchill, Charles English poet noted for his lampoons and polemical satires written in heroic couplets. Churchill was educated at Westminster School. Although he was delayed in taking orders by an early and imprudent marriage, he was ordained in 1756 and, in 1758, on... Churchill, Jennie Jerome American-born society figure, remembered chiefly as the wife of Lord Randolph Churchill and mother of Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain (1940–45, 1951–55). Jeanette Jerome was the daughter of a prosperous American financier and a... Churchill, Sir Winston British statesman, orator, and author who as prime minister (1940–45, 1951–55) rallied the British people during World War II and led his country from the brink of defeat to victory. After a sensational rise to prominence in national politics before...

Cibber, Colley English actor, theatre manager, playwright, and poet laureate of England, whose play Love’s Last Shift; or, The Fool in Fashion (1696) is generally considered the first sentimental comedy, a form of drama that dominated the English stage for nearly a... Clare, John English peasant poet of the Romantic school. Clare was the son of a labourer and began work on local farms at the age of seven. Though he had limited access to books, his poetic gift, which revealed itself early, was nourished by his parents’ store of... Clark, John Pepper the most lyrical of the Nigerian poets, whose poetry celebrates the physical landscape of Africa. He was also a journalist, playwright, and scholar-critic who conducted research into traditional Ijo myths and legends and wrote essays on African poetry.... Clarke, Arthur C. English writer, notable for both his science fiction and his nonfiction. Clarke was interested in science from childhood, but he lacked the means for higher education. He worked as a government auditor from 1936 to 1941 and joined a small advanced group...

Cleveland, John English poet, the most popular of his time, and then and in later times the most commonly abused Metaphysical poet. Educated at Cambridge, Cleveland became a fellow there before joining the Royalist army at Oxford in 1643. In 1645–46 he was judge advocate... Clifford, Sir Hugh Charles British colonial official and governor, especially associated with Malaya, novelist, and essayist. A descendant of Clifford of the Cabal under Charles II, and a grandson of the 7th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, Hugh Clifford was expected to follow his... Clough, Arthur Hugh poet whose work reflects the perplexity and religious doubt of mid-19th century England. He was a friend of Matthew Arnold and the subject of Arnold’s commemorative elegy “Thyrsis.” While at Oxford, Clough had intended to become a clergyman, but his... Coetzee, J. M. South African novelist, critic, and translator noted for his novels about the effects of colonization. In 2003 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Coetzee was educated at the University of Cape Town (B.A., 1960; M.A., 1963) and the University of Texas... Cohen, Leonard Canadian singer-songwriter whose spare songs carried an existential bite and established him as one of the most distinctive voices of 1970s pop music. Already established as a poet and novelist (his first book of poems, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was... Colegate, Isabel British author of novels about life among the upper classes in England during the 20th century. At the age of 19 Colegate began working as an assistant to literary agent Anthony Blond. When Blond became a publisher, one of the first books he brought... Coleridge, Samuel Taylor English lyrical poet, critic, and philosopher. His Lyrical Ballads, written with William Wordsworth, heralded the English Romantic movement, and his Biographia Literaria (1817) is the most significant work of general literary criticism produced in the...

Collier, Jeremy English bishop and leader of the Nonjurors (clergy who refused to take the oaths of allegiance to William III and Mary II in 1689 and who set up a schismatic episcopalian church) and the author of a celebrated attack on the immorality of the stage. Collier... Collins, Jackie English author known for her provocative romantic thrillers, which were liberally salted with sex, crime, and entertainment-industry gossip. Collins’s glamorous public persona—she frequently appeared in leopard-print clothing and was adorned with expensive... Collins, Wilkie English sensation novelist, early master of the mystery story, and pioneer of detective fiction. The son of William Collins (1788–1847), the landscape painter, he developed a gift for inventing tales while still a schoolboy at a private boarding school.... Collins, William pre-Romantic English poet whose lyrical odes adhered to Neoclassical forms but were Romantic in theme and feeling. Though his literary career was brief and his output slender, he is considered one of the finest English lyric poets of the 18th century....

Colman, George, the Elder a leading English comic dramatist of his day and an important theatre manager who sought to revive the vigour of Elizabethan drama with adaptations of plays by Beaumont and Fletcher and Ben Jonson. He was the son of Francis Colman, envoy to the grand... Colman, George, the Younger English playwright, writer of scurrilous satiric verse, and theatre manager whose comic operas, farces, melodramas, and sentimental comedies were box-office successes in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Dr. Pangloss, the elderly pedant in The... Combe, William prolific English writer of miscellaneous prose and satirical verse who is best remembered for the popular Dr. Syntax series of books, published between 1812 and 1821, for which he supplied text and Thomas Rowlandson provided drawings. Combe was educated... Commonwealth Book Prize any of the annual literary prizes awarded from 1987 to 2013 by the Commonwealth Foundation, an organization comprising most member countries of the Commonwealth. The awards were established in 1987 as the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Initially two honours,...

Compton-Burnett, Dame Ivy English writer who developed a distinct form of novel set almost entirely in dialogue to dissect personal relationships in the middle-class Edwardian household. Compton-Burnett was born into the type of large family she wrote about. She grew up in Richmond,... Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur Scottish writer best known for his creation of the detective Sherlock Holmes —one of the most vivid and enduring characters in English fiction. Conan Doyle, the second of Charles Altamont and Mary Foley Doyle’s 10 children, began seven years of Jesuit... Congreve, William English dramatist who shaped the English comedy of manners through his brilliant comic dialogue, his satirical portrayal of the war of the sexes, and his ironic scrutiny of the affectations of his age. His major plays were The Old Bachelour (1693), The... Conrad, Joseph English novelist and short-story writer of Polish descent, whose works include the novels Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907) and the short story “Heart of Darkness” (1902). During his lifetime Conrad was admired for the richness...

Cookson, Dame Catherine Ann McMullen British author who penned almost 100 popular novels, which she set in the industrial region of northeastern England, frequently dubbed "Cookson Country." She was intimately familiar with the physical and emotional lay of this land, having been raised... Cooper, Giles one of the most original and prolific writers in Britain for the modern mass communications media. Educated at Lancing College near Brighton and in France, Cooper then studied at drama school and, after military service during World War II, was an actor... Cooper, Thomas English writer whose political epic The Purgatory of Suicides (1845) promulgated in verse the principles of Chartism, Britain’s first specifically working-class national movement, for which Cooper worked and suffered imprisonment. While working as a... Cope, Jack South African writer best known for his short stories and novels about South African life. Cope became a journalist in Durban and then in London. Unwelcome in England by 1940 because of his pacifism, he returned to South Africa to farming, shark fishing,... Cornish literature the body of writing in Cornish, the Celtic language of Cornwall in southwestern Britain.

The earliest extant records in Cornish are glosses added to Latin texts as well as the proper names in the Bodmin Manumissions, all of which date from about the... Coupland, Douglas Canadian journalist and novelist best known for observations on modern-day American culture and for popularizing the term Generation X. Coupland was born on a Canadian military base in Germany. His family relocated to Canada in the mid-1960s, and he... Coward, Sir Noël English playwright, actor, and composer best known for highly polished comedies of manners. Coward appeared professionally as an actor from the age of 12. Between acting engagements he wrote such light comedies as I’ll Leave It to You (1920) and The... Cowley, Abraham poet and essayist who wrote poetry of a fanciful, decorous nature. He also adapted the Pindaric ode to English verse. Educated at Westminster school and the University of Cambridge, where he became a fellow, he was ejected in 1643 by the Parliament during...

Cowper, William one of the most widely read English poets of his day, whose most characteristic work, as in The Task or the melodious short lyric “The Poplar Trees,” brought a new directness to 18th-century nature poetry. Cowper wrote of the joys and sorrows of everyday... Crabbe, George English writer of poems and verse tales memorable for their realistic details of everyday life. Crabbe grew up in the then-impoverished seacoast village of Aldeburgh, where his father was collector of salt duties, and he was apprenticed to a surgeon... Crashaw, Richard English poet known for religious verse of vibrant stylistic ornamentation and ardent faith. The son of a zealous, learned Puritan minister, Crashaw was educated at the University of Cambridge. In 1634, the year of his graduation, he published Epigrammatum... Crawford, Isabella Valancy major 19th-century Canadian poet and one of the first important woman poets in Canada. She is especially noted for her vivid descriptions of the Canadian landscape. Details of Crawford’s life are sketchy. The daughter of a physician who emigrated to...

Crawfurd, John Scottish Orientalist and East India Company employee who successfully combined scholarship and diplomatic abilities. Trained as a doctor in Edinburgh, Crawfurd was first appointed, at age 20, to the North-West Provinces of India. He was transferred in... Creevey, Thomas English politician and placeman, best remembered as the author of The Creevey Papers, published in 1903 and again in 1905 and consisting partly of Creevey’s own journals and partly of correspondence. They give a lively and valuable picture of the political... Cronin, A. J. Scottish novelist and physician whose works combining realism with social criticism won a large Anglo-American readership. Cronin was educated at the University of Glasgow and served as a surgeon in the Royal Navy during World War I. He practiced in... Cumberland, Richard English dramatist whose plays were in tune with the sentimental spirit that became an important literary force during the latter half of the 18th century. He was a master of stagecraft, a good observer of men and manners, but today perhaps is chiefly...

Cunningham, Allan Scottish poet, a member of the brilliant circle of writers that included Thomas De Quincey, Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, John Keats, and Thomas Hood, who were contributors to the London Magazine in its heyday in the early 1820s. His father was a neighbour... Dahl, Roald British writer, a popular author of ingenious, irreverent children’s books. Following his graduation from Repton, a renowned British public school, in 1932, Dahl avoided a university education and joined an expedition to Newfoundland. He worked from... Daniel, Samuel English contemplative poet, marked in both verse and prose by his philosophic sense of history. Daniel entered Oxford in 1581. After publishing a translation in 1585 for his first patron, Sir Edward Dymoke, he secured a post with the English ambassador... Davenant, Sir William English poet, playwright, and theatre manager who was made poet laureate on the strength of such successes as The Witts (licensed 1634), a comedy; the masques The Temple of Love, Britannia Triumphans, and Luminalia; and a volume of poems, Madagascar...

Davidson, John Scottish poet and playwright whose best work shows him a master of the narrative lyrical ballad. After studying at the University of Edinburgh, Davidson became a teacher, meanwhile writing a number of blank-verse dramas that failed to win recognition.... Davie, Donald Alfred British poet, literary critic, and teacher who was a major conservative influence on British poetry in the 1950s. Davie served in the Royal Navy during World War II and obtained bachelor’s (1947) and doctoral (1951) degrees from the University of Cambridge.... Davies, Robertson novelist and playwright whose works offer penetrating observations on Canadian provincialism and prudery. Educated in England at the University of Oxford, Davies had training in acting, directing, and stage management as a member of the Old Vic Repertory... Davies, Sir John English poet and lawyer whose Orchestra, or a Poem of Dancing reveals a typically Elizabethan pleasure in the contemplation of the correspondence between the natural order and human activity. Educated at the University of Oxford, Davies entered the Middle... Day-Lewis, C.

one of the leading British poets of the 1930s; he then turned from poetry of left-wing political statement to an individual lyricism expressed in more traditional forms. The son of a clergyman, Day-Lewis was educated at the University of Oxford and taught... de la Mare, Walter British poet and novelist with an unusual power to evoke the ghostly, evanescent moments in life. De la Mare was educated at St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir School in London, and from 1890 to 1908 he worked in the London office of the Anglo-American Oil Company.... De Quincey, Thomas English essayist and critic, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. De Quincey’s biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge appeared in the eighth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (see the Britannica Classic: Samuel Taylor Coleridge)....

Question: Who was the 19th century English essayist who wrote 'The Spirit Of The Age' and 'On The Pleasure Of Hating'?
Answer: WILLIAM HAZLITT