An English prose writer, poet, essayist, social thinker and Christian apologist, a renowned master of paradoxes and author of detective novels that have become classics of the genre, Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London in the family of the owner of a real estate agency Edward Chesterton. After graduating from St. Paul's London School in 1892, he studied art for some time at Slade's renowned art school, and also attended literary courses at University College London. For five years, Chesterton worked as an editor at T. Fischer Anvin’s publishing house, and since 1899, collaborated in...
Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel Prize–winning British author William Golding. The book focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves. Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. The novel has been generally well received. It was named in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels, reaching number 41 on the editor's list, and 25 on the reader's list. In 2003 it was listed at number 70 on the BBC's The Big Read poll, and...
"Amphitryon" (1668) is a comedy play by the famous French comedian Jean-Baptiste Moliere. The king of the gods, Jupiter, inflamed with passion for Alkmena, the wife of Thebes commander Amphitrion, and, while he leads his troops to Boeotia, sends Mercury to Night so that she hides Jupiter's love joy under her cover......
Israel Zangwill is an English writer and activist in the Jewish movement. The author of the famous phrase in relation to the USA is “Melting Pot”. The son of emigrants from the Polish Kingdom of the Russian Empire. He studied at the Jewish Free College in London....
“Sonnets from the Crimea” by Adam Mickiewicz with his picturesqueness match the majestic beauty of the Crimean nature. Polish poet made a trip to the Crimea in 1825. The result of this trip was a cycle of eighteen sonnets. And although the Crimean theme was already sovereign in Russian poetry, yet “Sonnets from the Crimea" became the first vivid cycle of poems about Crimea....
The legend of Tristan and Isolde is of Celtic origin. Its origins were probably located in Ireland, but it was widely known in all countries of medieval Europe, living in many literary works, the earliest of which dates back to the 12th century. The main idea of the legend is the victory of love over death. The story tells about the love of the knight Tristan and the wife of the Cornish king the beautiful Isolde. The great German composer, a reformer of opera music, who created the direction of “musical drama” and had a profound influence on European modernism and decadence, Richard Wagner...
The tragedy "Macbeth", like many of Shakespeare’s dramatic works, was created on the basis of the legend of the tyrant king, the image of which the author so masterfully embodied. However, researchers of Shakespeare and historians have come to the conclusion that the pathos and plot of the work contradicts historical facts. During the reign of the Scottish King Macbeth, bard poets belonging to opposition circles created a story about a killer ruler, which served as the source for the play....
Nicholas Rowe, an English playwright, poet laureate, studied law at Middle Temple, became a barrister, received an inheritance after his father's death, and engaged in literary work. His most significant dramatic works are Ambitious Stepmother; Tamerlane; Fair penitent; Jane Shore and Lady Jane Gray. In some of his plays, Rowe combined a heroic drama with family tragedy. In the center of the action is usually the heroine, whose distress makes the viewer feel sorry and sympathy. Rowe was one of the first editors of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s prepared plays saw the light of day in 1709. Rowe...
Maupassant became famous in 1880 after the release of the short story "Pyshka". The writer considered Tolstoy and Turgenev to be his teachers in literary mastery. The most famous works of the writer, “Life” and “Dear Friend”, are filled with the subtle psychologism and realism that Maupassant strove for. The word artist spoke in detail about the life, way of life and mores of people. Maupassant was excited by completely different social classes and types, their problems and experiences, which he revealed with all honesty, without embellishment....
Kate Greenway is an artist, writer, one of the most famous British illustrators of children's books. The first publication dates back to 1868, when the greeting cards she painted were out of print. The first illustrated book by Kate Greenway is a collection of her own children's poems, “Under the Window.” In 1881, a book of English folk poetry by Mother Goose or The Old Nursery Rhymes was published with Greenway illustrations that have become classic. In the illustrations of Greenway, children and adults are most often dressed in stylized costumes of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries....
The play takes place in 48–47 years BC. e. in Egypt, where Julius Caesar arrived during the civil war and joined as a decisive force in the dynastic conflict between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII. This is one of the most brilliant plays by Bernard Shaw, marked by an exciting dynamic plot, splendor of the language and lively characters....
Siegfried Sassoon - born in Kent, studied at Marlborough and Cambridge. Member of the First World War, officer. He was awarded a military cross. Like W. Owen, belongs to the group of "trench poets." In 1917, S. Sassun stated that "the goals for which the war is being fought are not worth so much suffering." English criticism called Siegfried Sassoon’s poems “an explosion of incandescent anger.” After the war, S. Sassun was engaged in literary criticism, published several books of poetry, but the best that he created relates to the period of the First World War....
“Odyssey” is a fabulous and everyday poem, its action takes place, on the one hand, in the magical lands of giants and monsters where Odysseus roamed, on the other hand, in his small kingdom on the island of Ithaca and its environs, where his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. In the Odyssey, only the very end of his wanderings, the last two stages, from the far western edge of the earth to his native Ithaca, was chosen for the story. Odysseus talks about everything that was before at a feast in the middle of the poem. In Odyssey, a fairy tale sets off everyday life, and not vice versa,...
In the Kabanov family, domostroy reigns, which is managed by the mother of Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov - Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova. Katerina, the main character, had lived in an environment of love and affection with her mother since childhood, but after she married Tikhon, her life changed and became forced. Then she falls in love with Boris Grigorievich - the nephew of the Wild. Boris is also in love with Katerina. Aware of the severity of their situation, lovers still secretly meet....
Richard Barnfield (born 1574) was an English poet. His obscure, although close relationship with William Shakespeare has long made him an interesting scientist. It has been suggested that he be the "rival poet" mentioned in Shakespeare's sonnets....
