I've been reading a few of the grammar tips in Mignon Fogarty's 'The Grammar
Devotional' and her Language Rock Star sections really interest me. For today's
blog post, I'm compiling a list of my personal top ten people who most
influenced literature or the English language! (On a side note, anyone who is
interested in grammar or who struggles with it should look up Grammar Girl's
website -- http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ -- or read her books. Both
'The Grammar Devotional' and 'Quick and Dirty Tips For Better Writing' are full
of simple and useful tips; even if you have excellent grammar, you're likely to
come across a few things you didn't know.)
This is not an ordered list and it is by no means a complete one; these are
just some people who I feel influenced the field of English Literature or the
English language itself.
1. Lexicographer Noah Webster is responsible for much of American
English (such as the American spelling of the word "color"), having
created the very first American dictionary. He also created a series of speller
books that helped teach five generations of American children how to read.
2. Rudyard Kipling was both a poet and a novelist; he won the Nobel
Prize in Literature in 1907. He was offered the title of British Poet Laureate
but declined it, as well as declining knighthood several times. The more famous
of his works include 'The Jungle Book' and 'Kim'.
3. William Golding was another Nobel Prize winner and is best known
for his allegoric novel 'Lord of the Flies', which is a popular text to study
for GCSE exams in the UK. Golding was a playwright and a poet in addition to
being a novelist.
4. I've talked about William Shakespeare before, but he needs
mentioning again here. Shakespeare added multiple words to the English language
-- or at least popularised them --and wrote a total of 38 plays and 154
sonnets.
5. Jane Austen is probably the best-known female writer to have
lived. Though only four of her novels were published during her lifetime, two
more were published posthumously, along with other works. Since 1833, her
novels have never been out of print.
6. Leo Tolstoy's epic 'War and Peace' is one of the longest novels
ever to be written. Another well-known novel of his, 'Anna Karenina' has
recently been made into a film.
7. Only 10 of Emily Dickinson's poems were published during her
lifetime, but around 1700 have been published since her death. She is ranked as
one of the most gifted poets of all time, and is almost as famous for her
secluded life as for her poetry.
8. Edgar Allan Poe is considered the inventor of the detective
fiction genre. He was the author, poet, and literary critic after whom the
Edgar Award was named.
9. Oscar Wilde is one of the most successful playwrights of all time;
he is also famous for his novel, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and multiple
poems and short stories. He was famously arrested for gross indecency with
other men and sentenced to two years of hard labour. Upon his release, he wrote
his last work, 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol', and died two years later.
10. J. K. Rowling is the author of 'Harry Potter', the best-selling
book series in history. In 2010, she was named the most influential woman in
Britain. Her new book -- and her only book outside of the 'Harry Potter' series
-- 'The Casual Vacancy' will be released this Thursday.
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