Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his main pen name Mark Twain, is arguably the most famous American author of all time.
Samuel L. Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth of seven children of Jane Lampton Clemens and John Marshall Clemens. When Samuel was four years old, in 1839, he and his family moved 35 miles east to the growing port city of Hannibal, Missouri. Sam’s father was a judge who built a two-story house in Hannibal in 1844 (Official Website of Mark Twain Biography,1).
As a boy, Samuel was confined to this house much of the time due to poor health. Thankfully, however; by age nine Sam was rid of his ailments and able to attend private school, swim, fish, and play with the other children. The boys often played outside along the Mississippi River where they pretended to be pirates for fun, which is reflected in Clemens’s writings (Official Website of Mark Twain Biography,1).
The Clemens family never had much money and usually struggled financially. When John Clemens, Samuel’s father, died of pneumonia in 1847, the family’s situation got even worse (University of Missouri, 2). Having completed the fifth grade, Samuel left school to work as a printer’s apprentice for a local newspaper. Sam worked as a typesetter for his older brother, Orion, who owned a newspaper company in Hannibal (The West, 1).
At 18, Samuel headed east, where he worked on several different newspapers and found some success as a writer. While in St. Louis, Clemens found work as a riverboat pilot’s apprentice. By 1858, Samuel was a licensed riverboat pilot. It was while Sam worked on the river that he found his new, and more famous name. In the river navigating
business, the term, “Mark twain,” means tw...
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...ere he lived until he moved to Redding, Connecticut in 1908. in 1909, Samuel’s middle daughter was married. Later the same year, his youngest daughter died of an epileptic seizure. Four months later, on April 21, 1910, Samuel Langhorne Clemens died at the age of 74. The night he died, Samuel fulfilled his prophecy of dying on a night when Halley's Comet was visible, as it was the night he was born (The West, 2).
Works Cited
"A Life Lived in a Rapidly Changing World: Samuel L. Clemens‚ 1835-1910."
Welcome to the Mark Twain House & Museum. 6 May 2014.
“Official Website of Mark Twain Biography.” 5 May 2014.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “Mark Twain Timeline of Important Dates.” 6 May 2014
"The West." New Perspectives on The West, Samuel Clemens. PBS. 6 May 2014.
University of Missouri "Samuel L. Clemens (1835 - 1910)." Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark
Twain). 6 May 2014.
Mark Twain also known as Samuel Clemens. He was born in Florida, Missouri on Nov 30,1835, the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. Several years later, in 1839, the family moved to nearby Hannibal, where Clemens spent his boyhood years. Clemens boyhood dream was to become a steamboatman on the river. Clemens' newspaper career began while still a boy in Hannibal. In 1848, a year after his father death, he was apprentice to printer Joseph Ament, who published the Missouri Courier. Did tragedy make Samuel Clemens (Cox Clinton).
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, mainly known as Mark Twain, was an American autho who shaped the country through his literary works. Twain’s childhood influenced his best works by giving him great stories and the right experience. His early life was key in developing his writing. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was shaped by his early experiences. Huck and Jim’s adventure illustrates the irony of the “peculiar institution” in the South. Ten years later, Twain wrote Puddn’Head Wilson, which further explored slavery. Mark Twain’s early life paved the way for his future success and influenced his best works, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Puddn’Head Wilson.
Samuel Longhorn Clemens, or better known as Mark Twain is recognized for his novels set in his adolescence (America 's Story from America 's Library). Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri and was the sixth of seven children. At the age of four, Mark Twain moved to a small frontier town in Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River with his family. Years later, on April 21, 1910 Mark Twain died in Redding, Connecticut in his sleep. Mark Twain’s purpose for writing his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was to provide a clear view of the culture and lifestyle during the period of the novel.
Twain had moved from his home town into Memphis, here he witnessed many tragedies on the river.Mark Twain chronicles Life on the Mississippi, his river memoir that is dedicated to his four years of his dream job of steamboat piloting before the Civil War broke out. During the war Twain is still so in love with steamboat piloting that he believed when the union took complete control of the mississippi that they would need a steamboat pilot to run the river. This conflicted within him because Twain was born and raised in Missouri and when they decided to secede from the union Twain was torn between two things he held dear to his
Shortly after moving to the Mississippi, Clemens was apprenticed to a local printer and his newspaper career began. He wrote several short stories during the early 1850s and received experience in the literary field. In 1857, his newspaper career was interrupted when he learned how to be a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi. During his travels on the river, a crewmember shouted “mark twain,” which indicated that the boat was approaching water with a depth of twelve feet. This became the pen name that Clemens used to publish all of his notable work,
Mark Twain wrote under a “pen name”, also known as an alias, which is a fake name. Twain, born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, came into the world November 30, 1835 to Jane and John Clemens in a minute town located in northeast Missouri. At a young age in Mark Twain’s life, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a somewhat neighboring town, which later came as a big influence on Mark Twain’s life. John Clemens, Twain’s father, often struggled financially, failing to put food on the table for his family even while holding a wide variety of jobs from storekeeper to law enforcement as a lawyer and judge. Through legend, Mark Twain’s parents could not have been more in contrast, with his mother being known as loving and outgoing and his father described as a bitter, unhappy man. After a very unexpected death of John Clemens, Twain’s mother was forced to run the Clemens’s household. The family life of a young person might often reflect what that person’s behavior may be like in their future.
Mark Twain, originally born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was the sixth child of a family of eight. Born to John and Jane Clemens on November 30, 1835, Twain was born in the small town of Florida, Missouri. At the age of four, Mark Twain and his family then relocated to Hannibal in the hope of drastically improving their living conditions. He later died of heart disease in Redding, Connecticut on April 21,1910. By lineage, Twain was of Southern decent, as both of his parents' birthplaces were that of Virginia. Slaveholding in the small community of Hannibal, with only a population of 2000 at the time, provided a variety of both a rugged lifestyle mixed with southern tradition. With a lifestyle previously mentioned, these played as a major influence in his major writings, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Samuel Langhorne Clemen, was a very famous writer throughout his years. His pen name, which he is known by today is Mark Twain. He was known for his briliant and clever i deas in writing his stories. He was born in almost an "invisable" village of Florida on novemer 30, 1835. In 1839 the Clemens family moved to Hannibal, Missouri. Soon after that his dad, John marcial Clemens died in the year 1847. Mark wrote book that are famous to this day. He started writing in his early years around 1864-1866. In 1865 he publishged his first story in the paper. This was the start of Twains big career. Mark twain himself was not only a publisher. through his years he was aldso a printer, pilot , soldier, miner, reporter, lecturer, editor, humorist, author, and business man. A majority of these careers helped lead him to be such a great publisher. A good career and life does not develope over night. It takes a lot of hard work and determination. Mark Twain did not only work hard and have determination, but he followed his dream. early in 1848 to 1858, 12 year old Twain became a printer apprentance for Joseph Ament, owner of the Hannibal Courier, which was the start of his life long career. During the years of 1853 to 1857 while he was still woking for Joseph Ament: Mark worked as a printer in St. Louis, New York, Philidelphia, Muscatine, Iowa, and Cinncinati. Working his way up from being a printer Twain became a prospector in Nevada during the years of 1861 to 1862. Then during the years of 1862 to 1864 Mark worked as a reporter and correspondent for Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.
Mark Twain was an amazing writer who left an impact in American Literature forever. He was a very creative and out of the box thinker. His books were some of the most interesting and influential books in the United States. Not many writers have the capability of connecting with people like he did, Mark Twain was an amazing writer who left an impact in American Literature forever. Mark Twain was born to John and Jane Lampton in November 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He was their sixth child and they originally named him Samuel Langhorne Clemens. They later decided to move to Hannibal, Missouri. Where he received no actual education, but he loved to learn. At only eleven years old he took his first job as a typer in order to help his family because they had lost their father and needed more income.
The writer known as, Mark Twain, was actually born with the name Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri, to John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Clemens on November 30, 1835. While Samuel Clemens was very young the Clemens family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, the inspiration for most of Samuel Clemens novels. John Marshall Clemens worked as a lawyer, but he was very successful, so he also did some work as a land speculator. The Clemens family was never very wealthy but they were middle class. John Marshall Clemens was agonistic and his wife, Jane Lampton Clemens, was a strong Presbyterian. This is influenced much of Samuel Clemens religious beliefs and also his satirical attitude in his novels. Samuel Clemens had a relatively normal childhood until the age of twelve when his father died. The same year his father died Clemens ended his formal school and became his brother Orion's, who was a printer, apprentice. He was a printer's apprentice until his eighteenth birthday. He then learned to be a river pilot for the price of $500. Even though Clemens had become a riverboat pilot he still wrote but under pseudonyms such as Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, W. Epaminandos Adrastus Blab, Sergeant Fathom, and Josh. Clemens worked as a river pilot...
The Life of Samuel Clemens A.K.A. Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known as Mark Twain, the distinguished novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, and literary critic who ranks among the great figures of American Literature. Twain was born in Florida Missouri, in 1835, To John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton. As a new born Twain already had moved four times westward. In 1839 the family moved again, this time eastward to Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a frontier town of less than 500 residents. As small as the town was it offered valuable materials and opportunities for a young writer. Most of the residents knew Samuel well, considering they were on the lower half of the social scale, such as poor whites and slaves. The town of Hannibal was mostly used for farmers coming in from the countryside. It was also a river town, swamped with travelers moving up stream and down stream. Some of the travelers were steamboat men, circus performers, minstrel companies, and showboat actors. Since all this action was going on all the time, that opened a big door to the beginning of Samuel’s stories. It provided a huge source of literary material. Shortly after the death of his father in 1847, he ended the brief period of his schooling to become a printer’s apprentice. Like many nineteenth century authors, he was preparing for his writing career later in life. Working as a Printer’s apprentice he got practice as a typesetter and miscellaneous reading. The first thing Samuel wrote as a used piece was a few skits for his brothers Orion’s Hannibal newspaper and a sketch, for The Dandy Frightening The Squatter, published in Boston in 1852. The first real book ever published by Mark Twain was Life on the Mississippi River. Between 1853 and 1857 Clemens worked a journeyman printer in seven different places. During this trip of making sketches and writing stories, he began eastward by boat. Twain started writing letters telling about his visits to New York and the Middle West in 1867. On his trip he seemed to have gotten him self in a lot a trouble such as disorderly conduct. After time passed Mark kept writing short stories here and there and a few sketches also. However, in 1869 he became part owner of the Buffalo Express. In 1870 Mark met the girl of his dreams and Olivia Langdon and
At the young age of twelve, Twain lost his father. Ever since the loss of his father, he began to work in various jobs. From starting as “an apprentice, then a composer, with local printers, contributing occasional squibs to local newspapers” (“Mark Twain”). The early start of responsibility was just the beginning of his career. During the time, he was working for the newspaper, for six years in the newspaper company, he “finally ended up as an assistant to his brother, Orion” (“Samuel Langhorne Clemens.”). He stayed in Iowa by his brother’s side until he
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pseudonym Mark Twain, has been central to American literature for over a century. His seemingly effortless diction accurately exemplified America’s southern culture. From his early experiences in journalism to his most famous fictional works, Twain has remained relevant to American writing as well as pop culture. His iconic works are timeless and have given inspiration the youth of America for decades. He distanced himself from formal writing and became one of the most celebrated humorists. Mark Twain’s use of the common vernacular set him apart from authors of his era giving his readers a sense of familiarity and emotional connection to his characters and himself.
Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain was a well know writer, riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and inventor. He was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri and died on April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut. His two most well known books are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (or Mark Twain if one can correct) had dreams as a boy, just like any other young boy. After the death of his father, he set off to Hannibal, Missouri to work with his brother, Orion, for a newspaper called the Hannibal Gazette. He was only thirteen at the time. This, of course, was not his dream. Yet it’s how he began writing. He wrote short, funny stories about American tales in the newspapers he was obligated to publish. Clemens then became influenced by his own imagination to become a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi river. He did become a pilot, and this gave rise to his story Life on the Mississippi. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 he was drafted as a Confederate soldier and served for two years. After the