Samuel Johnson

His father was a rector who sent him and two of his older brothers to the Leuth grammar school in 1815, when Alfred was only 6 years old. In 1820 Alfred returned home and under his father’s teachings he became a promising writer who, before his teens, had already composed in the styles of Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Scott, and John Milton (Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, 1). When he was 13 years old, his father’s health started to deteriorate, which led to unhappiness at home and a feeling of depression in young Alfred; but he kept writing. Alfred attended Trinity College at Cambridge, where he became a member of a secret society called the Cambridge Apostles and also where he met his lifelong friend Arthur Hallam (Mazzeno, 4). While at Trinity, Alfred received the Chancellor’s gold medal with a poem called Timbooctu, which was quite an accomplishment for young Tennyson.

Young Pope struggled to receive a decent education. When he was six, he loved to read Peterson 2 books and later discovered the epic Homer. Later in that age, he was expelled from his school in London by penal law of the Parliament, prohibiting Roman Catholics living within 10 miles near London. Pope was tutored and given home school by his... ... middle of paper ... ...ing the 18th century since William Shakespeare. Even though he was diagnosed with a terrible disease, he still continued his effort.

One of Tennyson’s brother’s had violent quarrels with his father, one was confined to an insane asylum later in life and yet another became an opium addict. George often suffered from depression and his drinking led to him becoming violent, abusive and paranoid. “Tennyson’s grandfather appointed his uncle his heir and his father was placed in the ministry.” (The Victorian Web) This great difference in money between his own family and his aunt and uncle’s led Tennyson to worry about money the length of his life. In 1827 Tennyson left his home in hope of a better life. He followed two of his ol... ... middle of paper ... ...s very appealing.

Hawthorne spent much time writing The Scarlet Letter partly based on what he observed from his job at the Boston Custom’s House (Morey). Once Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody, they moved to Concord, Maine where Hawthorne befriended the Transcendentalists, writers including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Amos Bronson Alcott (Morey). He had three children with Sophia: Una, Julian and Rose. The President of the United States, Franklin Pierce, named Hawthorne as Consul to Liverpool, England where he served for four years. During the Civil War, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s good friend Thoreau died which caused Hawthorne to loss his will to write and live (Diorio).

His poems are very well-known in American Literature. The importance of Poe’s well-known being is because his poetry expressed himself without his readers, even noticing (“Poe” N.P.). Edgar Allan Poe was found on October 3, 1849, he was semiconscious and very delirious. He died four days later on October 7. During autopsy, they found out he died because of “congestion of the brain.” (Ljungquist N.P.).

Alfred Tennyson and His Work Alfred Tennyson was born on August 6th, 1809, at Somersby, Lincolnshire, fourth of twelve children of George and Elizabeth Tennyson. Tennyson, said to be the best poet of the Victorian era and his poetry will be discussed in this essay. Tennyson had a lifelong fear of mental illness, because several men in his family had a mild form of epilepsy, which then was thought of as a shameful disease. His father and brother Arthur made their epilepsy worse by excessive drinking. His brother Edward had to be put in a mental institution after 1833, and he spent a few weeks himself under doctor's care in 1843.

When he was born, he was diagnosed with a disease called scrofula. Scrofula is a disease with glandular swelling, and is a form of tuberculosis. Johnson will be scarred across his face and body for the rest of his life. Since he was a victim of this disease, he was blind in one eye, and could not hear. When Samuel was young and suffering from this disease, his mother Sarah believed that the royal touch had healing powers, so she took her son to London to be touched by Queen Anne (“Samuel Johnson”).

His father was a lawyer and his mom died when he was eight years old. William Wordsworth was sent to grammar school and learned Greek and Latin and studied the works of Shakespeare and Milton. In the summer of 1790 William Wordsworth traveled with a friend to France and the Alps. During this time period the French revolution took place. In 1798, they published a collection of poems called Lyrical Ballads, this was one of his best works, and completed the revolution of poetry.

Robert Frost, a highly renowned poet of the twentieth century, transcribed many poems, and is regarded as the most influential poet of the American literary world. Frost’s childhood was quite dynamic. At age eleven, in 1885, Frost’s father perished from tuberculosis, and soon after, the family moved to Massachusetts. In the past, Frost played a lot of basketball and gallivanting with friends. Frost went to Dartmouth College after high school; however it was short-lived because he dropped out in less than a semester.

At age one Housman and his family moved to Bromsgrove where his father became a solicitor (Poets 1). However, the parent whom he adored the most was his mother. His mother died of cancer when A.E. was only twelve years old leaving a hole in his young and vulnerable heart (Marlow 1). A year after his mothers’ death Housman became a deist at the age of thirteen.