Izaak Walton’s name is forever associated with his most famous book, The Compleat Angler (1653-76): a celebration of fishing in prose and verse. He also wrote biographies, including one of his friend John Donne. Walton was born in Stafford (140 miles northwest of London) around...
John Donne – born in London in 1572 – is remembered as a trail-blazing poet, but in his lifetime he was most famous for his sermons and for being the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Today he’s regarded as the most significant metaphysical poet...
Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564, about two months before Shakespeare, and his work had a great effect on the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon. In particular, Marlowe’s influence can be divined in numerous Shakespeare plays including As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice,...
Philip Larkin (1922-85) was one of England’s leading 20th Century poets. In 2008 The Times newspaper rated him Britain’s greatest post-war writer. His reputation was established by the collection The Whitsun Weddings (1964), which includes the poem of the same name and An Arundel Tomb....
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92) is generally regarded as the greatest of the Victorian poets. He remains popular for works such as The Lady of Shalott (1832, 1842), In Memoriam (1849) and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1834), which was the partial inspiration for the...
TS Eliot was undoubtedly one of the most important poets of the 20th Century (indeed in all of English literature). He is probably best remembered for The Waste Land (1922), in which he laments the condition of his generation and of Western civilization. Other significant...
John Dryden (1631-1700) is an important figure in English literary history. Following the English Civil War (1642-51) and the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, he built a reputation as the leading poet and literary critic of his day. King Charles II made him England’s...
John Betjeman was the UK’s Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death in 1984. His popularity is based on his poems, which are approachable and often humorous, and his many appearances on television. These days he might best be remembered for his blank verse autobiography,...
Daniel Defoe was born in London in or around 1660. He was a prolific writer, with more than 300 works to his name including books, pamphlets and journals. He is remembered for Robinson Crusoe (1719): the first great novel in English (although probably based on...
CS Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1898. He grew up in Ireland but moved to England in 1916 to attend University College, Oxford. After serving in the First World War, he returned to Oxford and completed his studies. In 1925 Lewis became...