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Period: Jan 1, 1350 to
Influencial Authors from 1350-1950
We take a look back to the past, to the world that opened and spread education and knowledge of worldly subjects. -
Jul 18, 1374
Death of Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio
(Petrarch is in the Picture) The death of these poets was one event defining the cultural exploration of the Renaissance in Italy. The two helped open up the world to the thoughts of the renaissance. (death of Petrarch in 1374 and the death of Giovanni Boccaccio in 1375) -
Jan 1, 1406
Lorenzo Valla
A humanist author whose works did indeed define humanism. Though he was not the father of Humanism he helped set an example of Humanism from his writings. -
Jan 1, 1466
Desiderius Erasmus
(1466?-1536) He was a well known humanist with controversal writings. He famously wrote about Pope Julius' secular papacy called "Julius Excluded from Heaven". He Utilized the new invention of the printing press with his published writings -
Feb 6, 1478
Sir Thomas More
(1478-1535) Sir Thomas More was known for his image of a utopian society. He was a humanist that was in the British Parliament. He was executed for opposing the views of Henry VIII. -
Nov 10, 1483
Martin Luther
(1483-1546) Martin Luther was the Reformation. Luthers' Pamphlets were controversal for the Church. The pamphlets question and attack the Roman Church and they were influencial during the reformation. One of his most famous works, the 95 thesis, changed the world forever by causing the Reformation. -
Jan 1, 1492
Marguerite de Navarre
(1492-1549) She was a queen(of Navarre), author, and religious thinker and reformist. She is known in literature for her religious poems. She worked to enlighten relidious reforms. -
Jan 1, 1552
Edmund Spenser
(1552 or 1553-1599) Spenser was a key player in the English Literary Rensaissance. He wrote poems. His education lead to his knowledge of many types of European literature. -
Jan 22, 1561
Francis Bacon
A scientist that composed multiple essays of his experiments. He was known for his studies but he did write and created a book out of his essay. -
Apr 15, 1564
William Shakespears
Known for his sonnets and playwrights, Shakespeare was not as famous in his lifetime as his works are now. He wrote 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, and 154 sonnets. -
John Milton
(1608-1674) Milton was very supportive of politics. He showed his support for Cromwell's Commonwealth government by publishing gathered a group of prose for Cromwell, and actually worked for Cromwell. On the other hand, he was most known for his epic poem, Paradise Lost. -
Margaret Cavendish
(1623-1673) English noblewomen. She produced a total of 14 works. She was not always accepted for her works because they were scandalous. -
Aphra Behn
(no reliable source for birth year approximate- 1689) She was the first woman to make a living of of writing. She worked writing plays and novels after she was made a widow. Her most fmaous play was "The Rover" and it was so successful that she made a sequel. -
Daniel Defoe
(1660-1731) "Robinson Crusoe" and "Moll Flanders" are some popular fictions you can find under the name of Daniel Defoe. A puritan man who, though not an above average student, became a significant writer. -
Anne Killigrew
(1660-1685) An English poet and painter. She displayed her dislike for warfare in her works. -
Jonathan Swift
(1667-1745) Although "Gulliver's Travels" is a major book written by Swift. He was Great Britain's most famous political writer. His views agreed with the British Whig Party's views. "Gulliver's Travels" showed aspects of his social and political writings by displaying characters from real life. -
Alexander Pope
(1688-1744) Pope was a sickly man and he had some deformities from an illness thought to be tuberculosis. He was widely popular because of his own translations of Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey". He attempted to translate works of Shakespeare with less popularity. -
Voltaire
(1694-1778) A leader in the enlightenment and a famous writer, Voltaire was born in France with the name François-Marie Arouet. -
Henry Fielding
(1707-1754) Henry Fielding was a very intelligent when he was a child but troublesome. He wrote plays, novels, and short essays. Fielding's, "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling" was his most famous novel. -
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a brilliant economist who is famous for his work, "Wealth of Nations". This defined classic economics for all future economics. -
William Wordsworth
(1770-1850) Wordsworth, was a lyrical poet. When he was young he encouraged to memorize versus from Milton's, Sahkespeare's, and Spenser's poems. His work called "The Prelude" was a great contribution to the history of Literature. -
Jane Austen
(1775-1817) She was well known for her talent in writing. She created timeless characters and storylines. Some of her works are "Pride and Prejudice", "Emma", and "Sense and Sensibility". She was quite famous in England in her time and her personal life was kept private by her and her sister. -
Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
(1788-1824) Lord Byron was known for his poetry that showed the Romantic movement. He made a new stories to the pre-existant character of Don Juan. He reflected his love life in his poems. he held relations with contemporary authors such as Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley. -
John Keats
(1795-1821) Keats was a major player in the Romantic movements. He was known for his poetry that reflected and commented on love (both lost and found again). His fame swelled shortly after his death. -
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley
(1797-1851) Famous for her tale of Frankenstein. She was born in London. She reflects her life in her stories. Her inspiration comes from the beauty of life and the dark sides too. Her own depression also played a part in her works. -
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(1806-1861) Browning was know as a poetic genius of the 19th century she was not limited to poems, but also essays and translations. Her works were more famous than her husbands, Robert Browning. Her most famous work was Aurora Leigh which was not taken well by the contemporary critics. -
Charles Dickens
(1812-1870) Charles Dickens was a victorian styled writer.He was most famously known for "A Christmas Carol" and "Oliver Twist" -
Charlotte Brontë
(1816-1855) Known for her novel "The Professor". Charlotte was inspired by her own experiences in school. Her harsh schooling experience is why Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne wanted to open a school. They wanted to open a successful school where learning didn't come with punishment. -
Emily Brontë
(1818-1848) Best known for her novels "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Erye". The Brontë sisters were very interested in opening their own school. When nobody was interested in their school they went under pen names and published a volume of books. -
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
(1821-1881) Dostoyevsky was an Influencial Russian writer. He not only was one of the best writers in Russia but he was one of the best writers of his time. -
Leo Tolstoy
(1828-1910) Tolstoy was Russia's most celebrated author. He was a social critic. His novel, "War and Peace", is what made him so famous in Russia. -
Lewis Carroll
(1832-1898) Carroll is widely known for his books, "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There". His books are seen as "nonsense" books because the things in the stories don't always make sense to us but in the imagination of Carroll they clicked in some way. -
Thomas Hardy
(1840-1928) One of the last Victorian Age novelists. His successful Victorian novels are what gave him the opportunity to quit his job as an architect to further his writing career. -
Adolf Hitler
(1889-1945)Although he is known better for his role in World War II and the Holocaust, Hitler did write a book, "Mein Kampf". This book, translated as "My Struggle", displayed his anti-semistism. It also developed his plans to change Germany. This was not taken well by critics. -
C. S. Lewis
(1889-1963) known for writing the famous series, "The Chronicles of Narnia". Although "The Chronicles of Narnia" is popular now, his finest work of his time was "Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition". it was well crafted and displayed "Literary imagination". -
J.R.R. Tolkien
(1892-1973) He was known for his tales of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and "The Hobit".
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