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Donne, John
1572-1631
English poet who studied law at Oxford. He sailed with Essex and Walther Raleigh to the
Azores.
In 1615 he was appointed Dean of St. Paul's where he became famous for his preaching.
His vigorous poetry, is distinguished by profundity of thought, and passion, and he is recognized
as the greatest writer of metaphysical poetry.
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Biography
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Fielding, Henry
1707-54
English novelist, born in Sommerset. He practiced law, wrote several
plays and then turned to novel writing, the best known of which is
'Tom Jones'. Fielding and Samuel Richardson laid the foundations of the
modern novel.
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Biography
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Gay, John
1685-1732
English poet and playwright, born in Barnstaple, friend of Pope and Swift.
He wrote poems, pamphlets and a series of popular satirical fables. His greatest
success was 'The Beggar's Opera', which became - two hundred
years later - the basis for Brecht's 'Three Penny Opera'.
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Biography
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Godwin, Mary
1797-1851
It was apparent that the life of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was going to be out of step with the ordinary from the moment of her birth on August 30, 1797. She had both unorthodox parents and an orthodox family structure: her father, William Godwin, was a celebrated philosopher and historian who had briefly been a Calvinist minister.
With the possible exception of William Blake, Wollstonecraft was the most influential of the Enlightenment radicals.
Mary was writing profusely, and published Frankenstein in 1818. No one could have predicted the extent of the book's popularity: it would remain the most widely-read English novel for three decades.
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Biography
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