People And Biographies

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American writer, philosopher, and naturalist who believed in the importance of individualism. Thoreau’s best-known work is Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854), which embodies his philosophy and reflects his independent character. The book records Thoreau’s experiences in a hand-built cabin, where he spent two years in partial seclusion, at Walden [...]

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Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), American writer, known as a poet and critic but most famous as the first master of the short-story form (see Short Story), especially the psychological horror tale. Both his poems and his tales of the mysterious and macabre produce a haunting effect, often reflecting Poe’s obsession with death. Many [...]

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Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), American novelist, whose works are deeply concerned with the ethical problems of sin, punishment, and atonement. Hawthorne’s exploration of these themes was related to the sense of guilt he felt about the roles of his ancestors in the 17th-century persecution of Quakers (see Friends, Society of) and in the 1692 [...]

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Charles Dickens (1812-1870), probably the best-known and, to many people, the greatest English novelist of the 19th century. A moralist, satirist, and social reformer, Dickens crafted complex plots and striking characters that capture the panorama of English society.
Dickens’s novels criticize the injustices of his time, especially the brutal treatment of the poor [...]

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American essayist and poet, who asserted in his writings the belief that each person has the power to transcend the material world and to see and grasp the infinite. The philosophical movement of which he was a leader has been given the name transcendentalism. Influenced by such schools of thought as [...]

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William Faulkner (1897-1962), American novelist, known for his epic portrayal, in some 20 novels, of the tragic conflict between the old and the new South. Although Faulkner’s intricate plots and complex narrative style alienated many readers of his early writings, he was a literary genius whose powerful works and creative vision earned him [...]

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Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), America’s best-known female poet and one of the foremost authors in American literature. Dickinson’s simply constructed yet intensely felt, acutely intellectual writings take as their subject issues vital to humanity: the agonies and ecstasies of love, sexuality, the unfathomable nature of death, the horrors of war, God and religious belief, [...]

I. INTRODUCTION
Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet, who drew his images from the New England countryside and his language from New England speech. Although Frost’s images and voice often seem familiar and old, his observations have an edge of skepticism and irony that make his work, upon rereading, never as old-fashioned, easy, or carefree as [...]