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SUMMARY: Robert Louis Stevenson (November 13, 1850 – December 3, 1894) Scotland novelist, poet, travel writer
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Robert Louis Stevenson was a diverse Scottish writer who authored a number of books, essays, poems, and children’s books. He is best known for such action books such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped.

Early life and education
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was born November 13, 1850, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of a prominent lighthouse engineer. As a child, Stevenson had tuberculosis and weakened lungs as a result.

When he was 17, he began college to study engineering, like his father. However, he soon determined that engineering was not something he was interested in. His father took him on a sea voyage, presumably to help him become interested in lighthouses. However, the voyage inspired him to want to write adventures about the coast and islands and instead decided to pursue a career in literature. His father eventually allowed this, but made him get a law degree too. He passed the bar exam at the age of 25.

Travels
After college, he began to travel abroad to find a climate that would agree better with his condition. He wrote about his travels in some of his earlier writings, including An Inland Voyage in 1878 and Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes in 1879.

In 1876, Stevenson met his wife in France. However, she was married at the time. She returned to California a few months later, and he followed her. In 1879 he traveled from New York to California, where he met up with and married his wife Frances Obsourne, who was divorced by this time. He spent the last five years of his life in Samoa, before dying in Samoa in December of 1894.

Writing
Stevenson was a diverse author and wrote a wide range of things, from poems to children’s books to novels. He is perhaps most famous for his adventure novels and stories, many of which include shipwrecks, stolen inheritances, and other such excitement. In 1883 Treasure Island was published, about a young boy who travels with pirates in search of buried treasure. In 1886, both The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Kidnapped were published, then The Black Arrow in 1888 and the Master of the Ballantrae in 1889. These were his most famous adventure stories.

He also wrote essays and criticisms, which were also very well-received. These include Virginibus Puerisque (1881), Familiar Studies of Men and Books (1882), and Memories and Portraits (1887). In addition to this, he wrote a number of travel pieces based on his own adventures and travels. These include The Silverado Squatters (1883), which recounts his visit to a mining camp in California, as well as Across the Plains (1892) and In the South Seas (1896).

In addition to this, he also wrote poetry for children. A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885) is perhaps his most famous, even today. Other poetry collections include Underwoods (1887) and Ballads (1890). He also wrote a number of short stories that were published in his books The New Arabian Nights (1882) and Island Nights’ Entertainments (1893).

Stevenson’s stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, was also a writer. Together, the two collaborated and wrote the novels The Wrong Box (1891) and The Wrecker (1892).

Robert Louis Stevenson was a gifted writer who authored a wide range of books, poems, and literary works that are still enjoyed today.

Filed Under: Biography

SUMMARY: Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) American poet
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One of the best known poets of all time, Robert Frost is studied in classrooms across the world for his poignant poetry, often involving nature. The following is information about Robert Frost’s life and poetry.

Life and education
Robert Lee Frost, who was named after the Civil War general Robert E. Lee, was born March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. Both parents were teachers, exposing him from an early age to literature and famous poets such as Shakespeare and Wordsworth.

His poetry career started at a young age as well, publishing poems in his school paper as young as 16. He graduated at the top of his class and went on to begin his college career at Dartmouth in 1892. However, he decided college life wasn’t for him and took odd jobs, from teaching to laboring, while writing poetry.

At the height of his career, Frost experienced a great deal of loss. His four children were married and he spent a great deal of time with his children and grandchildren within a period of a few years. His daughter Marjorie died in 1934 after the birth of her first child. In 1938, his wife died of a heart attack. Two years later, in 1940, his son Carol committed suicide.

Robert Frost died January 29, 1963, in Boston. He was buried in his family’s plot in Vermont.

Poetry career
Although he began writing poems from a young age, he got his break when, in 1894, Independent, a magazine based in New York, published his poem, “My Butterfly: An Elegy,” for which he was paid $15.

In 1911, Frost, his wife Elinor, and their four children moved to England. In 1913, Frost got his big break when his first collection of poetry, A Boy’s Will, was published. Two years later in 1915, it was printed in America. The collection was a great success, in part from the promotion and support of other famous poets of the time, including Henry Holt and Ezra Pound.

In 1915, Frost and his family moved back to the United States to a farm in New Hampshire. Not long after, Frost published a book of poetry called Mountain Interval and began touring for his fans.

Many of Frost’s poems were written in nature and about nature on the various farms he lived in throughout his life. In 1920 he purchased Stone House in Vermont and continued writing successful poetry. It was here where he wrote most of the poems published in his fourth collection of poetry, which won him the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923. Included in this collection was perhaps his most famous poem, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Frost won numerous awards for his collections of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1923, as well as again in 1931 for Collected Poems, in 1937 for A Further Range, as well as in 1943 for A Witness Tree. He also spoke at the inauguration of President John F Kennedy on January 20, 1961, where he recited his poem The Gift Outright.

Frost’s collections of poetry are numerous and include West Running Brook (1928), Collected Poems (1930), A Further Range (1936), Collected Poems (1939, again) A Witness Tree (1942), A Masque of Reason (play, 1945), Steeple Bush (1947), A Masque of Mercy (another play, 1947), Complete Poems (1949), and In the Clearing (1962).

Robert Frost was an American poet who wrote many well-known poems that are still revered today.

Filed Under: Biography

SUMMARY: Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) British novelist
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When it comes to great writers in children’s literature, one name that is sure to come up is Roald Dahl. While he wrote a number of great books and stories for children, his most notable include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Life
Roald Dahl was born on September 13, 1916 in Wales, the third of five children. He spent the majority of his childhood in English boarding schools, which later inspired some of his writing. He traveled throughout the world after finishing school, eventually joining the Royal Air Force. Blinding headaches ended his career in the Air Force early, and he returned to England in 1941. He married American actress Patricia Neal in 1953. Together, they had five children and were married thirty years before divorcing in 1983, after which he quickly married Felicity Dahl, who he remained married to until his death in 1990 of a rare blood disease.

Children’s books
Many people know Roald Dahl better through a number of popular movies that were actually based on books of his. His first book for children, Gremlins, was commissioned to be made for a Walt Disney movie, which never happened. In addition to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books, his most popular books include James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG, which were all eventually made into motion pictures.

His children’s books typically feature a child being mistreated in one way or another by an adult figure. Some believe that these are in reference to the abuse he experienced at boarding schools as a child himself; in fact, Dahl himself has said that his book Boy was the most closely related to his life and experiences growing up. Despite being written for children, the books often feature dark humor and a good deal of cartoonish violence.

Other famous books of Dahl’s include Fantastic Mr. Fox; Danny, Champion of the World; and he also wrote the screen play for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Adult writings
While he was enjoying fame as a successful children’s author, he was also writing adult short stories. Typically, these had surprise endings and a dark sense of humor not unlike that featured in his children’s books. During his lifetime, he wrote over 60 short stories, many of which were published in Ladies Home Journal, Harper’s, The New Yorker, and Playboy. Eventually they were published into anthologies and became worldwide best sellers.

Awards and honors
The awards he received for his writing were numerous, including three Edgar awards for his short stories. He was also honored posthumously in a number of ways as well. Not long after his death in 1990, the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery was opened at Buckinghamshire County Museum in Aylesbury, not far from where he was buried.

In 2002, the Oval Basin plaza in Cardiff was renamed Roald Dahl Plass (Plass translates to plaza in Norwegian, which was a tribute to his Norwegian heritage). His widow also formed the Roald Dahl Foundation, which donates to fields of neurology, hematology, and literature. In addition to this, in 2005, the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre opened in Great Missenden to celebrate the work of the late author.

In England, Roald Dahl Day is held to honor the author’s birthday of September 13.

Roald Dahl was a beloved children’s author whose writing is sure to be enjoyed for years to come.

Filed Under: Biography

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