Leo Tolstoy (1828 1910)     Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author, whose classic novels include War and Peace (1863-69) and Anna Karenina (1875-77). He was born on August 28, 1828 at Yasnya Polyana; in Tula Province. His parents died when he was a child, and he was brought up by relatives. In 1844 Tolstoy started his studies of law- and oriental languages at Kazan University, but he never took a...

Lancelot Andrewes (1555 – 1626) Lancelot Andrewes was born at Allhallows, Barking, in 1555. He was an excellent scholar at Merchant Tailor’s School, and gained a fellowship at Pembroke College, Cambridge. When Jesus College, Oxford, was founded, young Andrewes was invited to be one of its foundation fellows, and in 1580 he took holy orders. He was a great favourite with Queen Elizabeth, who appointed him one of her chaplains and...

Lady Mary Wroth Lady Mary Wroth was the daughter of Robert Sidney, later Earl of Leicester, and the wealthy heiress Barbara Gamage, first cousin to Sir Walter Ralegh. Robert Sidney was himself a poet. Mary spent much of her early childhood at the house of Mary Sidney, Countess of Montgomery. In 1604 Mary was married to Sir Robert Wroth, a wealthy landowner in favour with James I. Although the marriage was...

Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) Jonathan Swift was an Irish author and journalist, the foremost prose satirist in the English language. Swift’s best-known work is Gulliver’s Travels (1726). Swift was born in Dublin on November 30, 1667. He studied at Kilkenny Grammar School (1674-82) and at Trinity College in Dublin (1682-89), receiving his B.A. in 1868 and M.A. in 1692. In 1695 Swift was ordained in the Church of Ireland (Anglican),...

John Milton (1608 – 1674) Milton is often considered the greatest English poet after Shakespeare. His rich, dense verse was a powerful influence on succeeding English poets, and whose prose was devoted to the defence of civil and religious liberty. Milton was born in London on December 9, 1608, and educated at Saint Paul’s School and Christ’s College,- University of Cambridge. From 1632 to 1638 he lived in his father’s country...

John Keats (1795 – 1821) John Keats was born in Finsbury Pavement near London on October 31, 1795. When John was eight years old, his father (stable keeper) was killed in an accident; In the same year his mother married again, but little later separated from her husband and took her family to live with her. John attended a good school where he became well acquainted with ancient and contemporary liter...

John Keats (1579 – 1625) John Fletcher was born in December 1579 in Rye, Sussex, the son of Richard Fletcher, in turn. Dean of Peterborough, Bishop of Bristol, Bishop or Worcester, and later Bishop of London and chaplain to the queen. John Fletcher was cousin to the poet Phineas Fletcher, author of The Purple Island. He attended Bene’t College, Cambridge (now known as Corpus Christi College) of which his father had...

John Dryden (1631 – 1700) John Dryden was an influential British poet and playwright. Dryden was the most important poet between Milton and Pope. He was born at a village rectory near Oundle in Northamptonshire and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a professional writer throughout his life. His early plays, often heroic-tragedy, met with highly variable success but served to promote his name and his Royalist...