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A New Kind of Literary Pulse

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John Donne

1573 - 1631

John Donne, who was both a poet and a priest, is nowadays regarded as the leading English figure of the Metaphysical movement. His works are remarkable for their strong and sensual style. He is often looked upon as the greatest love poet in the English language.

That contemporary of Shakespeare is also known for his religious verse and for his sermons, which are ranked among the best of the ...  [+]

John Keats

1795 - 1821

The English Romantic lyric poet called John Keats was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, alongside Lord Byron and P. B. Shelley. Keats spent his whole life improving a poetry marked by "a vivid imagery, a great sensuous appeal and an attempt to express a philosophy through classical legends." His reputation grew mostly after his death until he became one of the ...  [+]

John Milton

1608 - 1674

The renowned English poet, pamphleter and historian called John Milton is nowadays considered the most prominent English author after William Shakespeare. His best known work of art, written in blank verse, Paradise Lost, is wiely regarded as the greatest epic poem in English.

As a civil servant of the Commonwealth under Olivier Cromwell, he opposed tyranny and state-sanctionned religion. His ...  [+]

Lewis Carroll

1832 - 1898

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of the English logician, mathematician, photographer and novelist, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, nowadays well known for his puns on words, logic and fantasy. His most famous writings are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass. His poem "The Hunting of the Snark" is considered to be a masterpiece of nonsense literature.

Oscar Wilde

1854 - 1900

The Irish playwright, novelist, essayist an d poet, Oscar Wilde, is considered a spokesman for the late 19th century Aesthetic movement in England. His best known work, The Picture of Dorian Gray, reflects the Aesthetic rallying call: art for art’s sake. Many of his works are designed around the exposure of a secret sin on curiosity and consequent disgrace and decadence.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

1792 - 1822

Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose wife Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, was one of the major English Romantic poets. He was not famous during his lifetime because of his radical views on poetry, but also because of his fight for social justice. His thoughts about economics and morality and his writings on non violent resistence influenced 20th century thinkers such as Karl Marx, Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma ...  [+]

Richard Lovelace

1618 - 1657

English poet, soldier and Royalist, Richard Lovelace fought on behalf of the king during the English Civil War. He wrote his best known poem entitled "To Althea, from Prison" while imprisoned in Gatehouse Prison. His elegant lyrics, beautiful poetry and bright career made him the archetype of the Cavalier poet.

Robert Burns

1759 - 1796

Robert Burns, also known as Bard of Ayrshire, was a Scottish poet and lyricist who is widely regarded as Scotland’s national poet and is still celebrated worldwide. One of his works’ distinctive characteristics is that some of his texts are written in Scottish, others in English or even in a light Scottish dialect. Burns is thought to be the pioneer of the Romantic movement. His ideas were a ...  [+]

Robert Herrick

1591 - 1674

Robert Herrick was an English cleric and poet whose work was based on the revival of the spirit of the ancient classic lyric. The appeal of his poetry lies in its truth to human feelings and in its perfection of form and style. However, his poems were not really popular at the time when they were published. Although he was detached from the court, his short, fluent, graceful lyrics on love and his ...  [+]

Robert Louis Stevenson

1850 - 1894

Robert Louis Stevenson is a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer who created the children’s novel Treasure Island, and of the horror story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His whole work is based on a key theme is the impossibility of identifying and separating good from evil. His writing relies on visual effects, and on numerous narrators and points of views.

Rudyard Kipling

1865 - 1936

The English journalist, short story writer, poet and novelist, Rudyard Kipling, is usually remembered as the advocate of British imperialism through his short stories and poems about Britsh soldiers in India. He also wrote several tales for kids including The Jungle Book. By winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907, he became the first author, writing in English, to ever receive it.