1745 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1745 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
- The London theatres stage competing productions of Shakespeare's King John in response to the Jacobite invasion of Bonnie Prince Charlie. David GarrickDavid GarrickDavid Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
's production of the original text at Drury LaneTheatre Royal, Drury LaneThe Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
contrasts with Colley CibberColley CibberColley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
's adaptation Papal Tyranny in the Reign of King John at Covent GardenRoyal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
. The rivalry anticipates "the Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
war" of five years later. - September 21 - Friedrich Gottlieb KlopstockFriedrich Gottlieb KlopstockFriedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was a German poet.-Biography:Klopstock was born at Quedlinburg, the eldest son of a lawyer.Both in his birthplace and on the estate of Friedeburg on the Saale, which his father later rented, young Klopstock passed a happy childhood; and more attention having been given...
delivers a speech on epic poetry--Abschiedsrede über die epische Poesie, kultur- und literargeschichtlich erläutert-- to mark his leaving school.
New books
- Anonymous - Der höfliche Schüler (3rd ed)
- Mark AkensideMark AkensideMark Akenside was an English poet and physician.Akenside was born at Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the son of a butcher. He was slightly lame all his life from a wound he received as a child from his father's cleaver...
- Odes - John BrownJohn Brown (essayist)John Brown was an English divine and author.His father, a descendant of the Browns of Coalston, near Haddington, became Vicar of Wigton in that year...
- An Essay on Satire (in honor of the death of Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
) - John Gilbert CooperJohn Gilbert CooperJohn Gilbert Cooper or John Gilbert was a British poet and writer.-Biography:John Gilbert was born in Lockington, Leicestershire. His father was left a legacy which included Thurgarton Priory which he was allowed if he changed his name to Cooper...
- The Power of Harmony - Philip DoddridgePhilip DoddridgePhilip Doddridge DD was an English Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter.-Early life:...
- The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul - Henry FieldingHenry FieldingHenry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
- A Serious Address to the People of Great Britain (on the Jacobite rebellion)
- The True Patriot (periodical)
- Samuel JohnsonSamuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
- Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth
- Proposals for Printing a New Edition of the Plays of William Shakespear
- Samuel MaddenSamuel MaddenSamuel Madden was an Irish author. His works include Themistocles; The Lover of His Country, Reflections and Resolutions Proper for the Gentlemen of Ireland, and Memoirs of the Twentieth Century. Dr...
- Boulter's Monument - Pierre de MarivauxPierre de MarivauxPierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux , commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French novelist and dramatist....
- La Vie de MarianneLa Vie de MarianneLa Vie de Marianne is an unfinished novel by Pierre de Marivaux.The novel was written in sections, eleven of which appeared between 1731 and 1745...
(last published section of unfinished novel) - Moses Mendes - Henry and Blanche (trans. of Alain-René LesageAlain-René LesageAlain-René Lesage was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks , his comedy Turcaret , and his picaresque novel Gil Blas .-Youth and education:Claude Lesage, the father of the novelist, held the united...
) - Glocester RidleyGlocester Ridley-Life:Called 'Glocester' because he was born at sea in the Glocester East Indian in 1702, Glocester Ridley was a collateral descendant of Bishop Nicholas Ridley, and son of Matthew Ridley of Bencoolen, East Indies . He was educated at Winchester College, becoming scholar in 1718, when he was...
- Jovi Eleutherio - Thomas Scott - England's Danger and Duty
- Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
- Directions to Servants (unfinished, posth.) - William ThompsonWilliam Thompson-Academics and scientists:* William Thompson , Irish ornithologist and botanist* William Thompson , Englishman who developed the Thompson Seedless grape...
- Sickness
New drama
- Thomas Broughton - Hercules (musical)
- Colley CibberColley CibberColley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
- Papal Tyranny in the Reign of King John (adapted from Shakespeare) - Robert DodsleyRobert DodsleyRobert Dodsley was an English bookseller and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school....
- Rex et Pontifex - Charles JennensCharles JennensCharles Jennens was an English landowner and patron of the arts, who assembled the text for five of Handel's oratorios: Saul, Israel in Egypt, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Messiah, and Belshazzar...
- Belshazzar (oratorio by HandelHANDELHANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
) - James Miller - The Picture (adapted from MolièreMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's Sganarelle) - James Thomson - Tancred and Sigismunda
Births
- January 4 - Johann Jakob GriesbachJohann Jakob GriesbachJohann Jakob Griesbach , German biblical textual critic, was born at Butzbach, a small town in the state of Hesse, where his father, Konrad Kaspar , was pastor...
, Biblical commentator (d. 1812) - February 2
- John Nichols (printer)John Nichols (printer)John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...
(died 1826) - Hannah MoreHannah MoreHannah More was an English religious writer, and philanthropist. She can be said to have made three reputations in the course of her long life: as a poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, as a writer on moral and religious subjects, and as a practical...
, religious writer and philanthropist (d. 1833)
- John Nichols (printer)
- February 20 - Henry James PyeHenry James PyeHenry James Pye was an English poet. Pye was Poet Laureate from 1790 until his death. He was the first poet laureate to receive a fixed salary of £27 instead of the historic tierce of Canary wine Henry James Pye (20 February 1745 – 11 August 1813) was an English poet. Pye was Poet Laureate...
, English poet (d. 1813) - September - Karl von MarinelliKarl von MarinelliKarl Edler von Marinelli was an actor, theatre manager and playwright....
, actor and dramatist (d. 1803) - September 3 - Charles Victor de BonstettenCharles Victor de BonstettenCharles Victor de Bonstetten , was a Swiss liberal writer.By birth a member of one of the great patrician families of Bern, he was educated in his native town, at Yverdon, and at Geneva, where he came under the influence of Rousseau and of Charles Bonnet, and imbibed liberal sentiments...
, Swiss liberal writer (d. 1832) - December 10 - Thomas HolcroftThomas HolcroftThomas Holcroft was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer.-Early life:He was born in Orange Court, Leicester Fields, London. His father had a shoemaker's shop, and kept riding horses for hire; but having fallen into difficulties was reduced to the status of hawking peddler...
(died 1809) - date unknown - William CroweWilliam Crowe (poet)William Crowe was an English poet, born in Midgham, Berkshire, England. He was the son of a carpenter and was educated as a foundationer at Winchester. He then proceeded to Oxford, where he became Public Orator. He wrote a smooth, but somewhat...
, poet (d. 1829) - probable - Olaudah EquianoOlaudah EquianoOlaudah Equiano also known as Gustavus Vassa, was a prominent African involved in the British movement towards the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807...
, African writer (died 1797)
Deaths
- July 11 - Pierre Desmaiseaux, biographer (born c.1673)
- October 19 - Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, satirist (born 1667) - December 16 - Pierre DesfontainesPierre DesfontainesThe Abbé Pierre François Guyot-Desfontaines was a French journalist, translator and popular historian....
, journalist and historian (b. 1685) - date unknown
- William BroomeWilliam BroomeWilliam Broome was an English poet and translator. He was born in Haslington, near Crewe, Cheshire and died in Bath.He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, entered the Church, and became rector of Sturston in Suffolk, and later Pulham in Norfolk and Eye in Suffolk...
, poet and translator (b. 1689) - Charles CoffeyCharles CoffeyCharles Coffey was an Irish playwright and composer.His best known opera is probably The Beggar’s Wedding , which capitalizes on the success of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera...
, dramatist and composer - William MestonWilliam MestonWilliam Meston was a Scottish poet.The son of a blacksmith, he was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, took part in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, and had to go into hiding. His Knight of the Kirk is an imitation of Hudibras....
, poet (born c.1688) - David WilkinsDavid Wilkins (orientalist)David Wilkins , originally named Wilke or Wilkius, was a Prussian orientalist, born in Memel, who settled in England. His 1716 publication of the Coptic New Testament was the editio princeps.-Life:...
, orientalist (b. 1685)
- William Broome