Notable Authors Literature Educational Posters
for classrooms and homeschoolers.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
b. 5-25-1803; Massachusetts
d. 4-27-1882

A Lyrical Philosopher - Hailed as an essayist, lecturer, and – to a lesser extent – as a poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a philosopher who expressed his views in lyrical prose. Breaking with the conventions of English prose, his essays were vigorous and passionate, and inspired a cultural movement that came to be known as Transcendentalism. Emerson's combination of mysticism and intellectual rigor exerted a profound influence on other American authors, including Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.

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Ernest Hemingway
b. 7-21-1889; Oak Park, IL
d. 7-2-1961

A Big-Game Novelist - The deceptively simple prose that characterized Ernest Hemingway's work came to define a particular style of writing – muscular, lean, and understated. A big-game hunter who saw both world wars firsthand, he often wrote about men in conflict, chronicling their spiritual response to the brutality of nature and of society. Hemingway received the Pulitizer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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Zora Neale Hurston
b. 1-7-1891; AL (raised in FL)
d. 1-28-1960

A Restless and Creative Spirit - Trained as an anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston wrote novels that sprang from the heart of African American culture. She ingeniously combined a standard English narrative style with material she gathered in travels through the American south – the songs and stories of black folklore. While Hurston drew criticism from some black writers for not taking a political stand, her work is now celebrated as the expression of a unique, uncompromising voice.

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Arthur Miller
b. 10-17-1915; NY
d. 2-10-2005; CT

A Modern Tragedian - The son of a garment manufacturer ruined during the Great Depression, Arthur Miller was heavily influenced by his father's change in fortune. His plays frequently illustrate the effects of false values on families, combining social awareness with powerful studies of human vulnerability. Some scholars see the 20th-century echo of Greek tragedy in Miller's work, and Miller himself believed that stories of everyday, non-heroic people could be told using classical dramatic structure.

• Arthur Miller photo

Sylvia Plath
b. 10-27-1932; Boston
d. 2-11-1963; London

A Troubled Genius - Few poets in the 20th century literature could match the lyricism and emotional intensity of Sylvia Plath's work. Afflicted with bipolar disorder, Plath transformed her inner turmoil into poems full of sadness, anger, and beauty – combining a sense of profound loss with surprising personal strength. Though she lived only a short time, Plath not only inspired admiration and imitation – she also helped launch an emerging feminist movement.

• The Bell Jar
• Bell Jar poster

Edgar Allan Poe
b. 1-19-1809; Massachusetts
d. 10-7-1849; Baltimore, MD

Master of the Macabre - Although he is known for his morbid sensibilities, Edgar Allan Poe was more than just a horror writer. For one thing, he almost single-handedly elevated the short story to an art form, and he is among the first ever to write a detective story. Poe's influence on literary and popular culture extends all the way from French poetry to American Romanticism to the latest horror film.

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William Shakespeare
b. 4-23-1564, Stratford-upon-Avon;
d. 4-23-1616

The Bard of Avon - Hailed by many as the greatest writer in the English language, William Shakespeare has become one of the major figures of Western culture. To tell his tales Shakespeare actually invented hundreds of words – such as "generous," "excitement," "torture," and "gloomy" – and gave English an astonishing new rhythm and color. He invigorated the theater with vibrant, multifaceted characters and stories so compelling that stage and film artists continue to discover new ways to present them.

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Mark Twain
b. 11-30-1835; Missouri
d. 4-21-1910; Connecticut

An American Original - Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) was among the first to develop a distinctly American literary voice – and many consider him the most observant and compelling writer in the nation's history. Twain's greatest stories draw upon the rustic experiences of his youth and his deep, tragicomic understanding of human nature. Full of sly commentary, they typically offer the reader grand adventure, a naive or unreliable narrator, and the opportunity for wide-ranging interpretation.

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• Banned Books and Authors

Walt Whitman
b. 5-31-1819; Long Island, NY
d. 3-26-1892; Camden, NJ

Poet of a Young Nation - Walt Whitman's best-known work was virtually ignored when first published – but Leaves of Grass now ranks among the world's most influential volumes of poetry. Although Whitman spent much of his life revising the collection, his achievements go far beyond a single book. Full of compassion, spirituality and eroticism, his entire body of work focuses on the importance of universal experience – what it means to be an American, to be human, to be alive.

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• Civil War posters