Henry James Biography
Early life Henry James (1843–1916), American author, was born in New York on the 15th of April 1843. His father was Henry James (1811–1882), a theological writer of great originality, from whom both he...
Category: Excellence in Literature: The Curriculum
Daniel Defoe Biography
Daniel Defoe (c. 1659–1731) was an English author and political pamphleteer born in the parish of St Giles, Cripplegate, London, in the latter part of 1659 or early in 1660, of a nonconformist family. Other...
How to Make a Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype, an early photographic process, was invented by French artist and photographer Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. Introduced in 1830, it was the first publicly available photographic process but was superseded by less complicated processes in...
Washington Irving: A Biography
A biography can be told from many different perspectives, so I thought it would be interesting to share this more modern version of Washington Irving’s life story here. The main biography provides a broader...
Robert Louis Stevenson Poetry
Robert Louis Stevenson poetry ranges from children’s nursery rhymes to poems of travel and adventure. Here are a few samples for your enjoyment. From A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885) This collection was one...
William Wordsworth Biography
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (1770-1850), an English poet, was born at Cockermouth, on the Derwent, in Cumberland, on the 7th of April 1770. Wordsworth’s family and childhood He was the son of John Wordsworth...
Why Read The Odyssey?
A Letter to Students Why We Read The Odyssey Tuesday, March 9, 2010 By Deborah Stokol I’ve been full-time substitute teaching English at Harvard-Westlake, my Alma mater, for six weeks now, lecturing on The...
Sarah Orne Jewett Biography
Sarah Orne Jewett Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) was an American author born in South Berwick, Maine, on the 3rd of September 1849. She was a daughter of the physician Theodore H. Jewett (1815-1878), by...
Washington Irving Timeline
Washington Irving’s place in history This timeline documents major events and influences on Washington Irving’s life and work. It begins by outlining the events and publications in Irving’s life, then looks at American literature, visual...
![Major Andres Tree by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) (from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) (New York Public Library Digital Collections) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/excellence-in-literature.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Major_Andres_Tree_Rackham-sm-1.jpg?resize=256%2C121&ssl=1)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow A short story by Washington Irving Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the story of the ill-fated 1790 courtship of Katrina Van Tassel, daughter of a wealthy...
