1781 in literature
Encyclopedia
Events
- Friedrich SchillerFriedrich SchillerJohann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
arrested after the first performance of his play, The Robbers
New books
- Anna Barbauld - Hymns in Prose for Children
- Robert BageRobert BageRobert Bage may refer to:* Robert Bage , English novelist* Edward Frederick Robert Bage , Australian explorer and soldier...
- Mount Henneth - Christoph Friedrich BretznerChristoph Friedrich BretznerChristoph Friedrich Bretzner was a Leipzig merchant famous for writing the libretto to a singspiel Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail, produced in Berlin and adapted in 1782 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gottlieb Stephanie as Die Entführung aus dem Serail...
- Belmont und ConstanzeBelmont und ConstanzeBelmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner is a libretto, published in 1781, telling the story of the hero Belmonte, assisted by his servant Pedrillo, attempting to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the seraglio of the Pasha Selim... - William CombeWilliam CombeWilliam Combe was a British miscellaneous writer. His early life was that of an adventurer, his later was passed chiefly within the "rules" of the King's Bench Prison. He is chiefly remembered as the author of The Three Tours of Dr. Syntax, a comic poem...
- Letters of an Italian Nun and an English Gentelman - Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
- A Letter To A Royal AcademyFart Proudly"Fart Proudly" is the popular name of a "notorious essay" about flatulence written by Benjamin Franklin circa 1781 while he was living abroad as United States Ambassador to France.-Description:"A Letter To A Royal Academy" was composed in response to a call for scientific papers from the Royal... - Charles JohnstoneCharles JohnstoneCharles Johnstone , novelist. Prevented by deafness from practising at the Irish Bar, he went to India, where he was proprietor of a newspaper. He wrote one successful book, Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea, a somewhat sombre satire, and some others now utterly forgotten.-External links:...
- The History of John Juniper - Henry MackenzieHenry MackenzieHenry Mackenzie was a Scottish novelist and miscellaneous writer. He was also known by the sobriquet "Addison of the North."-Biography:Mackenzie was born in Edinburgh....
- Julia de Roubignei - 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...
- Melanpus - Anna SewardAnna SewardAnna Seward was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield.-Life:Seward was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward , prebendary of Lichfield and Salisbury, and author...
- Monody on Major Andre
New drama
- Miles Peter AndrewsMiles Peter AndrewsMiles Peter Andrews was an 18th century English playwright, gunpowder manufacturer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1796 to 1814.-Biography:...
- Dissipation - Frances BrookeFrances BrookeFrances Moore Brooke was an English novelist, essayist, playwright and translator.-Biography:Brooke was born in, Claypole, Lincolnshire, the daughter of a clergyman. By the late 1740s, she had moved to London, where she embarked on her career as a poet and playwright...
- The Siege of Sinope - John Delap - The Royal Supplicants
- Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
- Iphigenia in Tauris (revised version) - 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...
- Duplicity - Elizabeth InchbaldElizabeth InchbaldElizabeth Inchbald was an English novelist, actress, and dramatist.- Life :Born on 15 October 1753 at Standingfield, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, Elizabeth was the eighth of the nine children of John Simpson , a farmer, and his wife Mary, née Rushbrook. The family, like several others in the...
– Polygamy - Robert JephsonRobert JephsonRobert Jephson was an Irish dramatist and politician.He was born in Ireland. After serving for some years in the British army, he retired with the rank of captain, and lived in England where he was the friend of David Garrick, Joshua Reynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke,...
- The Count of Narbonne - Samuel Jackson PrattSamuel Jackson PrattSamuel Jackson Pratt was a prolific English poet, dramatist and novelist, writing under the pseudonym of "Courtney Melmoth" as well as under his own name...
- The Fair Circassian - Friedrich SchillerFriedrich SchillerJohann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
- Die RäuberDie RäuberThe Robbers was the first drama by German playwright Friedrich Schiller. The play was published in 1781 and premiered on January 13, 1782 in Mannheim, Germany. It was written towards the end of the German Sturm und Drang movement and has been considered by many critics, such as Peter Brooks, to...
(The Robbers) - Richard Brinsley SheridanRichard Brinsley SheridanRichard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
- A Trip to Scarborough
- The Critic
New poetry
- William CowperWilliam CowperWilliam Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...
- Anti-Thelyphthora - George CrabbeGeorge CrabbeGeorge Crabbe was an English poet and naturalist.-Biography:He was born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, the son of a tax collector, and developed his love of poetry as a child. In 1768, he was apprenticed to a local doctor, who taught him little, and in 1771 he changed masters and moved to Woodbridge...
- The Library - Santa Rita DurãoSanta Rita DurãoJosé de Santa Rita Durão was a Colonial Brazilian Neoclassic poet, orator and Augustinian friar. He is considered a forerunner of the "Indianism" in the literature of Brazil, with his epic poem Caramuru....
- CaramuruCaramuru (epic poem)Caramuru is an epic poem written by Brazilian Augustinian friar Santa Rita Durão. It was published in 1781, and it is one of the most famous Indianist works of the Brazilian Neoclassicism — the other being Basílio da Gama's O Uraguai.... - Anne FrancisAnne FrancisAnne Lloyd Francis was an American actress, best known for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet , and as the female private detective in the television series Honey West . She won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy award for her role in Honey West...
- A Poetical Translation of the Song of SolomonSong of songsSong of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:* Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants* A generic term for medleysPlays... - Philip Freneau - The British Prison-Ship
- William HayleyWilliam HayleyWilliam Hayley was an English writer, best known as the friend and biographer of William Cowper.-Biography:...
- The Triumphs of Temper - George KeateGeorge KeateGeorge Keate was an English poet and writer.-Life:He was son of George Keate of Isleworth, Middlesex, who married Rachel Kawolski, daughter of Count Christian Kawolski. He was born at Trowbridge in Wiltshire, where his father had property, on 30 November 1729...
- Works - Samuel Jackson PrattSamuel Jackson PrattSamuel Jackson Pratt was a prolific English poet, dramatist and novelist, writing under the pseudonym of "Courtney Melmoth" as well as under his own name...
- Sympathy
Non-fiction
- Edward GibbonEdward GibbonEdward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
- Volumes II and III of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireThe History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireThe History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a non-fiction history book written by English historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89... - Henry Home - Loose Hints Upon Education
- 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...
- The Beauties of Johnson
- Lives of the Most Eminent English PoetsLives of the Most Eminent English PoetsLives of the Most Eminent English Poets was a work by Samuel Johnson, comprising short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during the eighteenth century...
- Immanuel KantImmanuel KantImmanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
- Critique of Pure ReasonCritique of Pure ReasonThe Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, first published in 1781, second edition 1787, is considered one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy. Also referred to as Kant's "first critique," it was followed by the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgement... - John MooreJohn Moore (Scottish physician)John Moore was a Scottish physician and writer.He was born at Stirling, the son of a clergyman. After taking his medical degree at Glasgow, he served with the army in Flanders during the Seven Years' War, then proceeded to London to continue his studies, and eventually to Paris, where he was...
- A View of Society and Manners in Italy - John NewtonJohn NewtonJohn Henry Newton was a British sailor and Anglican clergyman. Starting his career on the sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of...
- Cardiphonia - John NicholsJohn 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...
- Biographical Anecdotes of William HogarthWilliam HogarthWilliam Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"... - Jean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
- Essai sur l'origine des langues
Births
- January 26 - Ludwig Achim von ArnimLudwig Achim von ArnimLudwig Achim von Arnim was a German poet and novelist born in Berlin.-Life:Arnim was descended from a Prussian noble family. His father was Joachim Erdmann von Arnim , associated with the Prussian court and, among other roles, active as the Director of the Berlin theater...
, poet and novelist (d. 1831) - January 30 - Adelbert von ChamissoAdelbert von ChamissoAdelbert von Chamisso was a German poet and botanist.- Life :He was born Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot at the château of Boncourt at Ante, in Champagne, France, the ancestral seat of his family...
, poet (d. 1838) - February 26 - Peter Andresen OelrichsPeter Andresen OelrichsPeter Andresen Oelrichs was a lexicographer and linguist.He is the author of Snake Jim Hollunder. A dictionary/lexicography translating the language spoken on the island of Heligoland into German, French and English....
, lexicographer - March - Józef ZawadzkiJózef Zawadzki (publisher)Józef Zawadzki was a Polish pressman, publisher, typographer and bibliopolist, one of the most prominent Polish publisher in the 19th century. Bibliopolist of the Vilnius University and initiator of national bibliography...
, publisher (d. 1838) - March 17 - Ebenezer ElliottEbenezer ElliottEbenezer Elliott was an English poet, known as the Corn Law rhymer.-Early life:Elliott was born at the New Foundry, Masbrough, in the Parish of Rotherham, Yorkshire. His father, was an extreme Calvinist and a strong Radical, and was engaged in the iron trade...
, poet (d. 1849) - May 14 - Friedrich Ludwig Georg von RaumerFriedrich Ludwig Georg von RaumerFriedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer was a German historian. He was the first scientific historian to popularize history in German. He traveled extensively and served in German legislative bodies.-Biography:...
, historian (d. 1873) - November 6 - Lucy AikinLucy AikinLucy Aikin , born at Warrington, England into a distinguished literary family of prominent Unitarians, was a historical writer.-Family and education:...
, historical writer (d. 1864) - December 6 - Charlotte von AhlefeldCharlotte von AhlefeldCharlotte Sophie Luise Wilhelmine von Ahlefeld was a German novelist....
, novelist (d. 1849) - December 11 - David BrewsterDavid BrewsterSir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA FSSA MICE was a Scottish physicist, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, writer and university principal.-Early life:...
, scientist and writer (d. 1868) - date unknown - Christian Isobel JohnstoneChristian Isobel JohnstoneChristian Isobel Johnstone was a prolific journalist and author in Scotland in the nineteenth century. She was a significant early feminist and an advocate of other liberal causes in her era....
, journalist and novelist (d. 1857)
Deaths
- February 15 - Gotthold Ephraim LessingGotthold Ephraim LessingGotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...
, Enlightenment philosopher and dramatist (b. 1729) - March 17 - Johannes EwaldJohannes EwaldJohannes Ewald was a Danish national dramatist and poet.-Biography:Ewald, normally regarded as the most important Danish poet of the 2nd half of the 18th Century, led a short and troubled life, marked by alcoholism and poor health...
, dramatist and poet (b. 1743) - April 4 - Henry ThraleHenry ThraleHenry Thrale was an 18th century English Member of Parliament and a close friend of Samuel Johnson. Like his father, he was the proprietor of the large London brewery, H. Thrale & Co....
, friend of 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...
and husband of Hester ThraleHester ThraleHester Lynch Thrale was a British diarist, author, and patron of the arts. Her diaries and correspondence are an important source of information about Samuel Johnson and 18th-century life.-Biography:Thrale was born at Bodvel Hall, Caernarvonshire, Wales...
(b. c. 1730) - May 8 - Richard JagoRichard JagoRichard Jago was an English poet. He was the third son of Richard Jago, Rector of Beaudesert, Warwickshire.-Education:Jago was educated at Solihull School in the West Midlands. One of the school's five houses bears his name...
, poet (b. 1715) - June 24 - Anna MillerAnna MillerAnna, Lady Miller was an English poet and salon hostess, widely ridiculed in fashionable society for what were seen as pretensions to good taste.-Life:...
, poet and salon hostess (b. 1741) - November 2 - José Francisco de IslaJosé Francisco de IslaJosé Francisco de Isla was a Spanish Jesuit, celebrated as a preacher and a humorist and satirist of the stamp of Cervantes.-Early career:He was born in Vidanes, León...
, satirist (b. 1703) - November 4 - Johann Nikolaus GötzJohann Nikolaus GötzJohann Nikolaus Götz was a German poet from Worms.-Biography:He studied theology at Halle , where he became intimate with the poets Johann W. L. Gleim and Johann Peter Uz, acted for some years as military chaplain, and afterwards filled various other ecclesiastical offices...
, poet (b. 1721) - December 7 - Judith MadanJudith MadanJudith Madan was an English poet. She was the grand daughter of Lady Sarah Cowper , the diarist....
, poet (b. 1702)