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British Figures

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Charles Dickens. Ben Jonson. Jonson was a classically educated, well-read, and cultured man of the English Renaissance with an appetite for controversy (personal and political, artistic and intellectual) whose cultural influence was of unparalleled breadth upon the playwrights and the poets of the Jacobean era (1603–1625) and of the Caroline era (1625–1642).[2][3] Early life[edit] On leaving Westminster School, Jonson was to have attended the University of Cambridge, to continue his book learning; but did not, because of his unwilled apprenticeship to his bricklayer stepfather.[2][4] According to the churchman and historian Thomas Fuller (1608–61), Jonson at this time built a garden wall in Lincoln's Inn.

Ben Jonson

After having been an apprentice bricklayer, Ben Jonson went to Netherlands, and volunteered to soldier with the English regiments of Francis Vere (1560–1609), in Flanders. Regarding his marriage Jonson described his wife to William Drummond as "a shrew, yet honest". Career[edit] Royal patronage[edit] Christopher Marlowe. Christopher Marlowe[1] (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.

Christopher Marlowe

Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day.[2] He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death. Marlowe's plays are known for the use of blank verse, and their overreaching protagonists. A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May 1593.

No reason was given for it, though it was thought to be connected to allegations of blasphemy—a manuscript believed to have been written by Marlowe was said to contain "vile heretical conceipts". On 20 May he was brought to the court to attend upon the Privy Council for questioning. Walter Raleigh. Arms of Raleigh family: Gules, five fusils conjoined in bend argent.

Walter Raleigh

Richard III of England. When his brother Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's son and successor, the 12-year-old King Edward V.

Richard III of England

As the young king travelled to London from Ludlow, Richard met and escorted him to lodgings in the Tower of London where Edward V's brother Richard joined him shortly afterwards. Arrangements were made for Edward's coronation on 22 June 1483, but before the young king could be crowned, his father's marriage to his mother Elizabeth Woodville was declared invalid, making their children illegitimate and ineligible for the throne. William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare (/ˈʃeɪkspɪər/;[1] 26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616)[nb 1] was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.[2] He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon".[3][nb 2] His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,[nb 3] 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship.

William Shakespeare

His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.[4] Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.[6][nb 4] His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death.

Elizabeth I of England

Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, the childless Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Oliver Cromwell. Virginia Woolf. Adeline Virginia Woolf (/ˈwʊlf/; nee Stephen; 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English writer, and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century.

Virginia Woolf

During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a central figure in the influential Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. " Woolf suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her life, thought to have been the result of what is now termed bipolar disorder,[1] and committed suicide by drowning in 1941 at the age of 59.

Early life[edit] Woolf was educated by her parents in their literate and well-connected household at 22 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington. Winston Churchill. James Joyce. Joyce was born into a middle class family in Dublin, where he excelled as a student at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere, then at University College Dublin.

James Joyce

In his early twenties he emigrated permanently to continental Europe, living in Trieste, Paris and Zurich. Though most of his adult life was spent abroad, Joyce's fictional universe does not extend far beyond Dublin, and is populated largely by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there; Ulysses in particular is set with precision in the streets and alleyways of the city.

Shortly after the publication of Ulysses he elucidated this preoccupation somewhat, saying, "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal. Biography[edit] 1882–1904: Dublin[edit] The Official Web Site of Oscar Wilde. George Bernard Shaw. George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics.

George Bernard Shaw

Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems with a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. The Sir Richard Francis Burton Project - RFB TODAY Resources Index Page. The section icon above shows the tomb of Richard and Isabel Burton in Mortlake, London, England — one of the most significant items of “realia” that can be accessed by individuals.

The Sir Richard Francis Burton Project - RFB TODAY Resources Index Page

Although he died almost 120 years ago, Sir Richard Francis Burton remains with us today in many ways. There is his legacy of writings, much of which stems from his still-important explorations and travels. There is the “realia” he left behind for our examination. There is the ongoing interpretation by authors outside the scholarly bounds. Richard Francis Burton.