Short biography of Robert Lee Frost

  Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California. His father, William Prescott Frost Jr., was  a teacher and later became an editor with San Francisco Evening Bulletin.   His mother, Isabelle Moodie Frost, was an immigrant from Scotland. His father was a journalist who dabbled in politics, was rebellious and named his son after the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. William Frost was also an alcoholic and tubercular. Frost’s father was also an unsuccessful candidate for city tax collector and died on 5 May, 1885.

Robert attended Lawrence High School, where his first poems were published in the school's bulletin. In 1892, Robert Frost graduated from Lawrence High School. Frost entered Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in September 1892, but left after one semester.

Despite being popular for his rural life poetry, Frost was brought up in the city. His first published poem, "My Butterfly: An Elegy", appeared in the New York magazine "The Independent" in 1894, and he eventually self-published a book of poems. Frost sold out his first poem called"My Butterfly: An Elegy" in 1894 for $15.

In 1912, Frost with his family shifted to Great Britain, lived initially in Glasgow. Later, he settled in Beaconsfield outside London. His first poetry book titled “A Boy's Will” was published the very next year.

During the years 1916-20, 1923-24, and 1927-38, Frost taught English at Amherst College, in Massachusetts. He used to influence and encourage his students to bring sound of the human voice in their writings.

At the age of 20, in 1894, he proposed marriage to Elinor Miriam White, who agreed and the two tied the nuptial knot. They had six children namely son Elliot, daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine, son Carol, daughter Irma, daughter Marjorie and daughter Elinor Bettina (died just three days after her birth in 1907). Robert Frost died on January 29, 1963 in Boston. . Frost was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont.

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Short biography of William Butler Yeats

An Anglo-Irishman, William Butler Yeats was born in Sandymount, County Dublin, Ireland,on June 13,1865. His father, John Butler Yeats (1839–1922), was a descendant of Jervis Yeats, a Williamite soldier and linen merchant who died in 1712.

.He was also a barrister who eventually became a portrait painter. His mother, Susan Pollexfen, was the daughter of a prosperous merchant in Sligo, in western Ireland. Through both parents Yeats claimed kinship with various Anglo-Irish Protestant families who are mentioned in his work.

At the time of his marriage, John Yeats was studying law but abandoned his studies to study art at Heatherley's Art School in London. Yeats grew up as a member of the former Protestant Ascendancy at the time undergoing a crisis of identity. Yeats’s best hope, he felt, was to cultivate a tradition more profound than either the Catholic or the Protestant. In 1880 his family moved back to Dublin, where he attended the high school. In 1883 he attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, where the most important part of his education was in meeting other poets and artists.

Meanwhile, Yeats started to write: his first publication, two brief lyrics, appeared in the Dublin University Review in 1885. When the family moved back to London in 1887, Yeats took up the life of a professional writer. He joined theTheosophical Society, whose mysticism appealed to him because it was a form of imaginative life.

In 1997, his biographer R. F. Foster observed that Napoleon's dictum that to understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty "is manifestly true of W.B.Y." Yeats had a life-long interest in mysticism, spiritualism, occultism and astrology. He read extensively on the subjects throughout his life, became a member of the paranormal research organization. . However, some critics have dismissed these influences as lacking in intellectual credibility.

In particular, W. H. Auden criticised this aspect of Yeats' work as the "deplorable spectacle of a grown man occupied with the mumbo-jumbo of magic and the nonsense of India."

Yeats was already a proud young man, and his pride required him to rely on his own taste and his sense of artistic style. He was not boastful, but spiritual arrogance. Yeats published several volumes of poetry during this period, notably Poems(1895) and The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), which are typical of his early verse in their dreamlike atmosphere and their use of Irish folklore and legend. But in the collections In the Seven Woods (1903) and The Green Helmet (1910), Yeats slowly discarded the Pre-Raphaelite colours and rhythms of his early verse and purged it of certain Celtic and esoteric influences.

In 1917 Yeats published The Wild Swans at Coole. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Now a celebrated figure, he was indisputably one of the most significant modern poets of the 20^th  Century literature. ). Yeats was a very good friend of Indian Bengali poet Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

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Short biography of Satyendranath Dutta

Satyendranath Dutta was born in the village of Nimta near Kolkata. He was the son of Rajaninath Dutta, who was a trader.  His grandfather, akshay kumar datta, was editor of the Tattwabodhini patrika.  He was also the guiding spirit of the Tattwabodhini Patrika. Satyendranath Dutta completed his schooling from Central Collegiate School in 1899 and joined the General Assembly's Institution in Kolkata, presently known as Scottish Church College, for graduation.

Satyendranath Dutta ,a Bengali poet, is considered the wizard of rhymes. Satyendranath Dutta was an expert in many disciplines of intellectual enquiry including medieval Indian history, culture, and mythology.

He was loved by Rabindranath. A condolence meeting of Satyendranath was held on 11th July in Rammohan Library.

Satyendranath Dutta began his literary career by composing poem for the Bengali magazine titled Bharati. His initial style of writing previously reflected the influences of renowned poets like Debendranath Sen, Akshay Kumar Boral and Michael Madhusudan Dutt. Satyendranath Dutta had written with a number of pseudonyms such as Kalamgir, Tribikram Varman, Ashitipar Sharma, Kaviratna and Nabakumar. Some people say that he is only comparable with Rabindranath in respect of Bengali leanguage and prosody.But Rabindranath said , ' Without any submission, I openly declare that he has unparalleled grasp in Bengali language and its rhymes which has no comparison."

Satyendranath Dutta died at the age of 40, on 25th June 1922. After his death the great poet has been immortalized in a poem authored by Rabindranath Tagore.

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Short biography of William Blake

William Blake was born in London, England, on November 28, 1757. His father was a successful London hosier and attracted by the Religious teachings of Emmanuel Swedenborg. He was the second son of a men’s clothing merchant.

At age ten Blake started at the well-known Park's drawing school, and at age fourteen he began a seven-year apprenticeship (studying and practicing under someone skilled) to an engraver. Blake was first educated at home, chiefly by his mother.  Blake remained very close to his mother and wrote much poetry about her. 

The Bible had an early, profound influence on Blake, and it would remain a lifetime source of inspiration, coloring his life and works with intense spirituality. In 1779, at age 21, Blake completed his seven-year apprenticeship and became a journeyman copy engraver, working on projects for book and print publishers. Also preparing himself for a career as a painter, that same year, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Art's Schools of Design, where he began exhibiting his own works in 1780.

When he was twenty-six, he wrote a collection entitled Poetical Sketches. In August 1782, Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher, who was illiterate. Blake taught her how to read, write, draw and color (his designs and prints). He also helped her to experience visions, as he did. Catherine believed explicitly in her husband's visions and his genius, and supported him in everything he did, right up to his death 45 years later.

After his father died in 1784, Blake set up a print shop next door to the family shop. In 1787 his beloved brother Robert died; thereafter William claimed that Robert communicated with him in visions. In 1787 Blake produced Songs of Innocence (1789) as the first major work in his new process, followed by Songs of Experience (1794). Blake spent the years 1800 to 1803 in Sussex working with William Hayley, a minor poet and man of letters.

In 1804, Blake began to write and illustrate Jerusalem (1804-20), his most ambitious work to date. He also began showing more work at exhibitions (including Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims and Satan Calling Up His Legions), but these works were met with silence, and the one published review was absurdly negative; the reviewer called the exhibit a display of "nonsense, unintelligibleness and egregious vanity," and referred to Blake as "an unfortunate lunatic."

Blake died on August 12 1827, he was buried in an unmarked grave in a public cemetery and Bunhill Fields. After his death his influence steadily grew through the Pre-Raphaelites and later noted poets such as T. S. Eliot and W. B. Yeats.

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Short biography of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay

Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay was born in 1838 in Kanthalpara, district 24 Paraganas. His father, Jadavchandra, an orthodox Kulin Brahmin, was a deputy collector of revenues. He was the youngest of three brothers. His elder brother, Sanjibchandra, was also an author.

 Bankimchandra received much of his early traditional Hindu education from a family priest. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee had his early education in Midnapur. He was a brilliant student. After his early education in Midnapur Bankim Chandra Chatterjee joined the Mohsin College at Hoogly and studied there for six years .He was married at the age of 11 to a girl of 5 and in the same year, 1849, was enrolled in Hooghly College. Later  he graduated from the Presidency College, Calcutta. He was one of the first (two) graduates from this college. Later, he obtained a degree in Law, and was appointed Deputy Collector of Jessore. He retired as a Deputy Magistrate.

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay  also known as Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was one of the greatest novelists and poets of India. He is famous as author of Vande Mataram, the national song of India. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee began his literary career as a writer of verse. Bankimchandra wrote his first novel, Rajmohan's Wife (1864), in English. Thereafter he wrote 14 novels in Bengali from 1865 to 1884. Among his novels areDurgeshnandini, Kapalkundala, Mrinalini, Vishabriksha, Devi Chaudhurani, Anandamath, Rajani, etc. Besdies novels, he wrote considerable volume of essays and satires, such as Kamalakanter Daptar. He edited one of the influential magazines of the time called Bangadarshan.

Bankim Chatterjee was superb story-teller, and a master of romance. His first three novels were pure romance decked out in historical costume. He passed away on April 8, 1894.

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Short biography of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay

Saratchandra Chattopadhyay was born on September 15, 1876 in the village of Devanandpur in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Born in an extremely deprived and poor family, he and his family members were financially supported by other members.

His father was Motilal Chattopadhyay and mother was Bhubanmohini. Saratchandra spent most of his childhood with his mother at her family's home in Bhagalpur, Bihar. He started his education at "Pyari Pandit"s" pathshala and then he took admission at Hooghly Branch High School. Although he began as a fine arts student, Chattopadhyay left his studies due to his persistent state of poverty.

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay  is one of the most popular Bengali novelists and short story writers of early 20th century. He spent 20 years of his life in Bhagalpur and a significant portion of his novels were either written in Bhagalpur or based on his experience in Bhagalpur.

At the age of 27 he went to Burma and found a job as a clerk in a government office at Rangoon. He left Rangoon in 1916 and settled, first at Baje Shibpur, Howrah, near Kolkata. But before his departure from Burma  he submitted a short story for a prize competition under his uncle's name, Surendranath Ganguli. It won first prize in 1904.

He has been an extremely popular author ever since. Among his novels are Devdas (written in 1901 but published in 1917),Parineeta (1914), Biraj Bou (1914), Palli-Samaj (1916), Srikanta (in four parts; 1917, 1918, 1927, 1933), Charitraheen (1917), Grihadaha (1919),Pather-Dabi (1926), Shesh Prashno (1931), Bipradas (1935). Saratchandra's works have been repeatedly translated into many Indian languages. Many of these have also been successfully dramatized on stage and adapted to movies.

Apart from his literary and painting career, Sarat Chandra Chatterji took active participation in Indian freedom movement. As a result, he even became the president of Howrah District Congress. He stood for the equality of Hindu-Muslim rites and essayed the issues of love and marriage.

He died in Kolkata of liver cancer in 1938.

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Short biography of James Dewey Watson

James Dewey Watson was born on April 6^th, 1928 in Chicago. His father D. James Watson was a businessman and his mother was Jean Mitchell.His father was also a tax collector of Scottish ancestry. As a child, he was bright and inquisitive. One of his favorite words was "why?" and he wasn't satisfied with simple answers.

At the age of 15 Watson entered the University of Chicago. He did well in courses that interested him, like Zoology and Biology, and not as well in other courses. He decided that he would go to graduate school and study to become the curator of ornithology at the Museum of Natural History.In 1950 he received  his Ph.D degree in Zoology. After his Ph.D. in 1950, Watson spent time in Europe, first in Copenhagen and then at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. By now, Watson knew that DNA was the key to understanding life and he was determined to solve its structure. James Watson gained worldwide fame and prominence as the joint author of the four scientific papers between 1953 and 1954.

During the 1960s, Watson became one of the most celebrated science writers, as he published his textbook “Molendor Biology of the Gene” in 1965, and his best-selling autobiographical book “The Double Helix” in 1968. Watson became the undisputed leading voice in the whole of American science. In 1962, Watson shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins who, with Rosalind Franklin, provided the data on which the structure was based.

 Watson has been described by many as brilliant, outspoken and eccentric. One of his major interests is education. Watson is unmarried. His recreations are bird-watching and walking. Watson is an avid tennis player and  he still tries to play tennis every day.

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Short biography of Dr Meghnad Saha

Meghnad Saha was born on October 6, 1893 in Sheoratali, Dacca District , now in Bangladesh.His father Jagannath Saha was a petty grocer who barely managed to keep his large family from starvation.His mother was Smt.Bhubneshwari Devi . . Meghnad Saha started his education in the primary school of the village. The nearest such school was in another village about 10 kilometers away. . As his family could hardly able to make both ends meet, Meghnad Saha managed to pursue his schooling only due to Dr Ananta Kumar Das, who provided him with boarding and lodging in his house.

In 1905, British Government took the decision of partition of Bengal.  There was great political unrest in Bengal as popular opinion was against the partition. Sir Bampfylde Fuller was governor of East Bengal at that time. One day he came to visit the Collegiate school. Meghnad Saha along with other students boycotted his visit. As a result he was suspended from the school and his scholarship was cancelled. In 1909,Meghnad Saha took admission in the Kishorilal Jubilee School and passed the Entrance examination of the Calcutta University.  In 1911, he ranked third in the ISc exam while the first position went to another great scientist Satyendranath Bose. After that he took admission in Presidency College ,Calcutta. In 1913, he graduated from Presidency College with Mathematics While studying in Presidency College, Meghnad got involved with Anushilan Samiti to take part in freedom fighting movement.

In 1917, He started his professional career and joined as lecturer at the newly opened University College of Science in Calcutta.Meghnad Saha   translated the papers published in German by Einstein and Minkowski on relativity into English versions. He spent time in research at Imperial College, London and at a research laboratory in Germany. In 1927, Meghnad Saha was elected as a fellow of London's Royal Society.

 Meghnad Saha was an Indian astrophysicist who nominated for the ‘Nobel prize’ in physics in 1935-36. In 1952, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for the North-West Calcutta constituency. He died on February 16, 1956 due to a heart attack.

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Short biography of Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson was born on August 6,1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England, where his father was the rector. Alfred Tennyson is one of the most well-loved Victorian poets. He was the fourth of twelve children. Alfred was a talented and bright boy, and the fine physique and manly good looks which characterized him as an adult were noticeable even at an early age.

At the age of twelve he wrote a 6,000-line epic poem. His father, the Reverend George Tennyson, tutored his sons in classical and modern languages. Until he was eleven, Tennyson attended a grammar school in the nearby town of Louth, of which he later had very unhappy memories. From then on, he remained at home, where he studied under the close supervision of his scholarly father.

Tennyson escaped home in 1827 to attend Trinity College, Cambridge. In that same year, a small volume entitled Poems by Two Brothers, containing works by Alfred and Charles Tennyson, as well as a few short contributions by Frederick Tennyson, was published in Louth. Although the poems in the book were mostly juvenilia, they attracted the attention of the “Apostles," an undergraduate literary club led by Arthur Hallam. In 1828, Tennyson enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. Despite his intelligence and good looks, he was excessively shy and was quite unhappy.

Hallam’s sudden death in 1833 greatly affected the young poet. The long elegy In Memoriam and many of Tennyson’s other poems are tributes to Hallam. Queen Victoria was a fervent admirer of Tennyson’s writings and made him the Baron Tennyson of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of Freshwater in the Isle of Wight in 1884.

At the age of 41, Tennyson had established himself as the most popular poet of the Victorian era. The money from his poetry (at times exceeding 10,000 pounds per year) allowed him to purchase a house in the country and to write in relative seclusion.

Alfred Tennyson married Emily Sellwood on June 13, 1850 in the village of Shiplake. Both knew each other since childhood days, but didn’t come close until Tennyson’s brother Charles married Emily’s younger sister, Louisa.

All his life Tennyson continued to write poetry. His later volumes include Maude, A Monodrama (1853),Enoch Arden (1864), Ballads and Poems (1880), Tiresias and Other Ballads (1885), Locksley Hall Sixty Years After (1886), Demeter and Other Poems (1889), and The Death of Oenone (published posthumously in 1892). He also wrote a number of historical dramas in poetic form, among which areQueen Mary (1875), Harold (1877), Beckett (1884), and The Foresters (1892). Tennyson published the first poems of Idylls of the Kings, which sold more than 10,000 copies in one month. In 1884.

At the age of 83, Tennyson died at Aldworth House, his home in Surrey, on October 6, 1892 He was buried at Westminster Abbey. Later, a memorial was erected for him in All Saints' Church, Freshwater.

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Short biography of Sunil Gangopadhyay

Sunil Gangopadhyay was born on September 7, 1934 at Faridpur in what is now Bangladesh. He (Shunil Gônggopaddhae), is an Indian poet and novelist. A prolific and versatile writer, Sunil Gangopadhyay  got his Master's degree in Economics from the Calcutta University in 1954. He is currently associated with the Ananda Bazar group, a major publishing house in Calcutta.

Sunil Gangopadhyay was the founder editor of the popular seminal magazine named Krittibas, which started publishing from the year 1953. Author of well over 200 books, Sunil is a prolific writer who has excelled in different genres but declares poetry to be his "first love".

As in poetry, Sunil is known for his unique style in prose. Arjun, Pratidwandi, filmed by Satyajit Ray (English title: The Adversary), Aranyer Din-Raatri (also filmed by satyajit Ray - The Days and Nights of the Forest), Ekaa ebong Koyekjon are some of his well known works of fiction.

Sunil has written (and still writes) in many other genres including travelogues, children's fiction, short stories, features and essays. Among his pen-names are: Nil Lohit, Sanatan Pathak, and Nil Upadhyay.

Another of his popular novel - Sei Somoy (translated into English by Aruna Chakravorty as Those Days) received the Indian Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985. Sei Somoy continues to be a best seller more than two decade after its first publication. As in poetry, Sunil is known for his unique style in prose. His first novel was 'atmaprakash' and it was also the first writing from a new comer in literature published in the prestigious magazine- 'desh' (1965).

He married Swati Bandopadhyay on 26 February 1967. Their only son, Souvik, who stays in Boston, was born on 20 November 1967.

Sunil Gangopadhyay has written over 35 novels of this popular series, most of which appeared in Anandamela magazine.

One of Sunil Gangopadhyay's cult poems, Smritir Shohor has been turned into a song for the film Iti Mrinalini (2011) directed by Aparna Sen. . Sunil Gangopadhay breathed his last on 23 October 2012.

                                                               

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Short biography of Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was born June 2, 1840, in the village of Upper Bockhampton, located in Southwestern England, the eldest son of Thomas Hardy and Jemima (Hand) Hardy. His father was a stone mason and violinist. His father also worked as a builder. His mother enjoyed reading and relating all the folk songs and legends of the region. Between his parents, Hardy gained all the interests that would appear in his novels and his own life: his love for music and architecture, his interest in the lifestyles of the country folk, and his passion for all sorts of literature.

Thomas received his initial schooling from his mother at home. But when he was at the age of eight, Hardy began to attend Julia Martin's school in Bockhampton.  He learned French, German, and Latin by teaching himself through those books that he found in Dorchester, the nearby town. Most of his education came from the books. His primary school education lasted until he was sixteen, at that time he was sent to an apprenticeship with John Hicks, a local architect. By 1862, Hardy left for London to work as a draftsman in the office of Arthur Blomfield. Despite his work, Hardy would study with the Greek scholar Horace Moule in the evening.

From 1867, Hardy wrote poetry and novels. Hardy's novels were published in serial forms in magazines that were popular in England and America. His first popular novel was Under the Greenwood Tree, published in 1872. The next great novel, Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) was so popular that with the profits, on that time he was able to give up architecture and marry Emma Gifford. The Poor Man and the Lady (1867-68), was rejected by several publishers, but one editor, George Meredith encouraged him. Hardy wrote short stories, poems, and plays for the rest of his life. Two further volumes of poetry and short stories appeared, The Dynasts: A Drama of the Napoleonic Wars (1903-08) and Winter Words (1928), a volume of verse.

In December 1927, Hardy fell sick with pleurisy and eventually he died on January 11,1928,at the age of 87. Hardy's body was buried at Westminster Abbey in Poet's Corner.

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Short biography of Robert Browning

Robert Browning was born on May 7, 1812, in Camberwell, London, England. His father, who worked as a bank clerk, was also an artist, scholar, antiquarian, and collector of books and pictures. His mother was an accomplished pianist, gave him a love of music, while her strong and simple religious faith provided him with a lifelong belief in the existence of God.

Robert was a bright child creating "masterpieces" of jam and pencil at the age of two and attending day school as "an infant."At the age of fourteen,Browning went to primary school.His parents decided that he should be educated at home, attended to by various tutors in music, drawing, dancing, and horsemanship. The Brownings were a small, close-knit family, and Robert spent much time reading in his father's library of over seven thousand volumes. Robert was very attached to all species of animals, hosting a wide variety of pets in his childhood.In 1828,Browning entered the University of London and left after only one session.

Browning started to write verses at the age of six.His first published work was Pauline.  In 1840 he published Sordello, which was widely regarded as a failure. This major step in Browning's poetic development was evident in his next long poem, Paracelsus (1835), whose hero was a Renaissance  alchemist. After the disappointing reception of both Strafford and Sordello, Browning turned to the dramatic monologue. He experimented with and perfected this form in the long poem Pippa Passes (1841) and two collections of shorter poems, Dramatic Lyrics (1842) and Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (1845).

Robert Browning died on the same day that his final volume of verse, Asolando, was published, in 1889 and he was buried at Westminster Abbey.

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Short biography of Edward Morgan Forster

Edward Morgan Forster was born in London on the first day of 1879. Edward Morgan Forster was the only child of Edward Morgan Llewellyn Forster who was an architect by profession and Alice Clara Lily. Both his parents died in his childhood leaving him with a legacy of 8000 Pounds. This money helped him in his livelihood and enabled him to follow his ambition of becoming a writer. Forster was educated as a dayboy at the Tonbridge School in Kent where the theater got named after him. He then attended King's College, Cambridge, which greatly broadened his intellectual interests and provided him with his first exposure to Mediterranean culture, which counterbalanced the more rigid English culture in which he was raised.

After graduating from King’s college he started his career as a writer; his novels being about the varying social circumstances of that time. In his first novel ‘Where Angels Fear to Tread’, which was published in 1905. Between 1905 and 1924, Forster published five novels, most notably “Howards End” and “A Passage to India.” For the following 46 years, however, until his death in 1970, he wrote no more novels, merely a few short biographies, some essays and literary journalism.

 However, Forster's first major success was Howards End (1910), a novel centered on the alliance between the liberal Schlegel sisters and Ruth Wilcox, the proprietor of the titular house, against her husband, Henry Wilcox, an enterprising businessman. Forster spent three wartime years in Alexandria doing civilian work and visited India twice. After he returned to England, inspired by his experience in India, he wrote A Passage to India (1924).

In 1911 Forster  published several short stories with a rustic and unpredictable writing tone. These include “The Celestial Omnibus” and “The Eternal Moment”. He also wrote for many magazines like “The Athenaeum”. Forster was one of those Englishmen who found freedom, inspiration and relief in places like India and Egypt. The old age of this great Englishman was much cheered up by trips to America, by the sly knowledge that he had a hidden manuscript, by the rooms he was given at King’s College, Cambridge, which were his main residence between his mother’s death and his own death.

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Short biography of George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was born July 26, 1856, in Dublin, Ireland. His parents were George Carr Shaw (1815-1885), a retired civil servant, and 'Bessie' Lucinda Elizabeth nee Gurly (1830-1913), amateur mezzo soprano singer.He had two older sisters,Lucinda Frances and Elinor Agnes.

His education was irregular, due to his dislike of any organized training. In 1876 he moved to London, where he wrote regularly but struggled financially but  his mother essentially supported him while he spent time in the British Museum reading room, working on his first novels..In London, he established himself as a leading music and theatre critic in the eighties and nineties.Unfortunately, despite the time he spent writing them, his novels were dismal failures, widely rejected by publishers. Shaw soon turned his attention to politics and the activities of the British intelligentsia and became a prominent member of the Fabian Society.

The year after he joined the Fabian Society, Shaw landed some writing work in the form of book reviews and art, music and theater criticism, and in 1895 he was brought aboard the Saturday Review as its theater critic. His other novels are Cashel Byron's Profession (1882), An Unsocial Socialist (1887),The Irrational Knot (1880), and Love Among the Artists (1881).

 His earliest dramas were called appropriately Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant(1898). Among these, Widower's Houses and Mrs. Warren's Profession savagely attack social hypocrisy, while in plays such as Arms and the Man and The Man of Destiny the criticism is less fierce.

Shaw won an Academy Award for the screenplay. Since he had won the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature, his Oscar win made him the only person to receive both awards.Pygmalion went on to further fame when it was adapted into a musical and became a hit, first on the Broadway stage (1956) with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, and later on the screen (1964) with Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

Shaw died in 1950 at age 94.It is a great loss in the history of English literature.

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Short biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Broadbridge Heath ,England,on August 4,1792.His father was Timothy Shelley and  his mother was Elizabeth Pilfold.He was the eldest of seven children born to them.He is one of the epic poets of the 19^th century.

By the age of 6,he was sent to study under the local Vicar,Evan Edwards and in 1802,he entered Sion House Academy in Isleworth. In the fall of 1810, Shelly entered University College, Oxford. It seemed a better academic environment for him.Throughout his education,Percy remained an average student  and his performance in academics could be hailed as ‘poor and disappointing’

 In 1809,he published at his own expense Original Poetry By Victor and Cazire . Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the epic poets of the 19th century, and is best known for his classic anthology verse works such as Ode to the West Wind and The Masque of Anarchy. He is also well known for his long-form poetry, includingQueen Mab and Alastor.

He developed an attachment for his cousin,Harriet Grove,composing several poems of regret when they are separated by their respective fathers.  In August of 1811, Shelley eloped with Harriet Westbrook, a 16-year-old woman his parents had explicitly forbidden him to see. His love for her was centered on a hope that he could save her from committing suicide. They eloped, but Shelley was soon annoyed with her and became interested in a woman named Elizabeth Hitchener, a schoolteacher.In 1816,Shelley’s previous wife Harriet killed herself. After his marriage to Mary, Percy became acquaintance with the great poet Lord Byron and the two consolidated a strong friendship which would last until his death.

On July 8, 1822, just shy of turning 30, Shelley drowned while sailing his schooner back from Livorno to Lerici, after having met with Leigh Hunt to discuss their newly printed journal, The Liberal. Shelley’s bodied was cremated on the beach in Viareggio, where his bodied had washed ashore. Mary Shelley, as was the custom for women during the time, did not attend her husband’s funeral.It  is a great loss in the history of English literature.

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