Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Irish Satirist and Poet

Jonathan Swift is best known for his brilliant book Gulliver’s Travel. He is one of the greatest satirists in the English language. His rebellious nature drove him to attack unjust laws and ridiculous customs.

Early Life of Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland on November 30, 1667 and lived in Ireland for most of his life, although he was born to English parents.

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Books by Jonathan Swift

• Battle of the Books, 1704
• A Tale of a Tub, 1704
• Journal to Stella, 1710-1713
• Cadenus and Vanessa, 1713
• On the Conduct of Allies, 1713
• Drapier’s Letters, 1724
• Gulliver’s Travels, 1726
• A Modest Proposal, 1729
• Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, 1739

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) 
Irish Children’s Writer and Novelist

C.S. Lewis, British author and scholar, created one of the best-loved series of books for children in English literature, The Chronicles of Narnia. He applied his great intellect to English poetry and defense of Christianity.

Clive Staples Lewis was born on November 29, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland. When he was nine years old, his mother died, and Lewis was sent away to boarding school.

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William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Irish Poet and Playwright, Known for The Tower

Irish poet and playwright W.B. Yeats was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923. He is best known for plays The Land of Heart’s Desire and Cathleen Ni Houlihan, and other works, including The Tower, The Winding Stair, and Last Poems and Plays.

William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865 in Sandymount, Dublin. His family was Anglo-Irish, Protestant upper class that felt strong ties to England.

Read more… William Butler Yeats, Biography

Works by William Butler Yeats

• The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, 1889
• The Celtic Twilight, 1893
• The Land of Heart’s Desire, 1894
• The Secret Rose, 1897
• Cathleen Ni Houlihan, 1902
• The Second Coming, 1921
• A Vision, 1925
• The Tower, 1928
• The Winding Stair, 1928
• Last Poems and Plays, 1936-39

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Anglo-Irish Playwright, Critic and Essayist

George Bernard Shaw is probably Ireland’s most famous playwright whose masterpiece is Saint Joan but is best-known for Pygmalion, musical My Fair Lady. During his long life he wrote numerous plays; over 50 of them. A powerful public speaker with great wit, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

G.B. Shaw (1856-1950) was born in Dublin, Ireland, on July 26, and died at the age of 94. Shaw had a troubled childhood. His father drank heavily, eventually forcing his mother to leave the family to teach music in London.

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Works by George Bernard Shaw

• The quintessence of Ibsenism, 1891
• Widower’s Houses, 1892
• Arms and the Man, 1894
• Mrs. Warren’s Profession, 1902
• Man and Superman, 1903
• Major Barbara, 1905
• Pygmalion, 1912, musical “My Fair Lady”
• Androcles and the Lion, 1913
• Heartbreak House, 1919
• Back to Methuselah, 1921
• Saint Joan, 1923

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Irish Poet, Playwright, Novelist and Essayist

An Irish poet, essayist, playwright and novelist, Oscar Wilde was famous for his wit. He is best known for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his fairy tale The Happy Prince and his play The Importance of Being Earnest.

Early Life

Oscar Fingall O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin, Ireland, on October 16, the second son of a surgeon, Sir William Wilde. His mother was Lady Jane Francesca Wilde, a poet. Oscar Wilde was a natural scholar, and he did well at both university in Dublin and Oxford. With his flamboyant and charming manner and conversation, he was soon well known in London society.

Works by Oscar Wilde

• The Happy Prince and Other Tales, 1888
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, Novel, 1890
• Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories, 1891
• The Duchess of Padua, play, 1891
• Lady Windermere’s Fan, 1892
• A Woman of No Importance, 1893
• The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895
• An Ideal Husband, 1895
• Salome, 1896
• The Ballad of Reading Gaol, 1898

James Joyce

James Joyce (1882-1941)

Irish Novelist, Poet, Short-Story Writer

Irish novelist, poet and short-story writer James Joyce (1882-1941), is considered one of 20th century’s most important authors. He is famous for Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Dubliners. He invented a new kind of storytelling, and experimented to create a kind of writing unlike anything that had been seen before. Ulysses had a huge influence on many 20th century writers.

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Works by James Joyce

• Chamber Music, 1907
• Dubliners, 1914
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1916
• Exiles, 1918
• Ulysses, 1922
• Poems Penyeach, 1927
• Collected Poems, 1936
• Finnegan’s Wake, 1939

Rebecca West

Rebecca West (1892-1983)

British writer, Modernist, Feminist, Critic, Journalist

© Tel Asiado

Dame Rebecca West, famous for The Meaning of Treason, had a three-fold reputation: novelist, journalist, and writer for women suffrage. As a novelist, she wrote from a feminist point of view; a journalist, she covered the trials of Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg (Germany) after World War II; and as a writer, wrote articles supporting women’s suffrage.

She was created a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1959.

Rebecca West (Cicily Isabel Fairfield) was born in Ireland on December 21, 1892, daughter of a Scottish pianist and an Irish journalist. Educated in Edinburgh, she initially trained as a stage actress, turned to journalism, then joined the women’s suffragist movement.

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Books by Rebecca West

• Henry James 1916
• The Return of the Soldier 1918
• The Judge 1922
• Harriet Hume 1939
• The Thinking Reed 1929
• The Meaning of Treason 1949
• A Train Powder 1955
• The Fountain Overflows 1956
• The Birds Fall Down 1966