Maya Angelou`s Biography

Author, Activist, Civil Rights Activist, Poet (19282014)

Maya Angelou was a poet and award-winning author known for her acclaimed memoir I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings and her numerous poetry and essay collections.

Born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou is known
for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction
best-seller by an African-American woman. In 1971, Angelou published the Pulitzer Prize-nominated
poetry collection Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die. She later wrote the poem "On the Pulse of
Morning"one of her most famous workswhich she recited at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in
1993. Angelou received several honors throughout her career, including two NAACP Image Awards in the
outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, in 2005 and 2009. She died on May 28, 2014. Early Years

Multi-talented barely seems to cover the depth and breadth of Maya Angelou's accomplishments.
She was an author, actress, screenwriter, dancer and poet. Born Marguerite Annie Johnson, Angelou had a
difficult childhood. Her parents split up when she was very young, and she and her older brother, Bailey,
were sent to live with their father's mother, Anne Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas.

As an African American, Angelou experienced firsthand racial prejudices and discrimination in

Arkansas. She also suffered at the hands of a family associate around the age of 7: During a visit with her
mother, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend. Then, as vengeance for the sexual assault,
Angelou's uncles killed the boyfriend. So traumatized by the experience, Angelou stopped talking. She
returned to Arkansas and spent years as a virtual mute.

During World War II, Angelou moved to San Francisco, California, where she won a scholarship to
study dance and acting at the California Labor School. Also during this time, Angelou became the first
black female cable car conductora job she held only briefly, in San Francisco.

In 1944, a 16-year-old Angelou gave birth to a son, Guy (a short-lived high school relationship had
led to the pregnancy), thereafter working a number of jobs to support herself and her child. In 1952, the
future literary icon wed Anastasios Angelopulos, a Greek sailor from whom she took her professional
namea blend of her childhood nickname, "Maya," and a shortened version of his surname.

Later Successes

Angelou wrote several autobiographies throughout her career, including All God's Children Need
Traveling Shoes (1986) and A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002), but 1969's I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings continues to be regarded as her most popular autobiographical work. She also published several
collections of poetry, including Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die (1971), which was
nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

One of Angelou's most famous works is the poem "On the Pulse of Morning," which she wrote
especially for and recited at President Bill Clinton's inaugural ceremony in January 1993marking the first
inaugural recitation since 1961, when Robert Frost delivered his poem "The Gift Outright" at President
John F. Kennedy's inauguration. Angelou went on to win a Grammy Award (best spoken word album) for
the audio version of the poem. In 1995, Angelou was lauded for remaining on The New York Times'
paperback nonfiction best-seller list for two yearsthe longest-running record in the chart's history.

Seeking new creative challenges, Angelou made her directorial debut in 1998 with Down in the
Delta, starring Alfre Woodard. She also wrote a number of inspirational works, from the essay
collection wouldnt Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1994) to her advice for young women in Letter to
My Daughter (2008). Interested in health, Angelou has even published cookbooks, including Hallelujah!
The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes (2005) and Great Food, All Day Long (2010).

Angelou's career has seen numerous accolades, including the Chicago International Film Festival's
1998 Audience Choice Award and a nod from the Acapulco Black Film Festival in 1999 for Down in the
Delta; and two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, for her 2005
cookbook and 2008's Letter to My Daughter.
 Biography of Edwin Arlington Robinson
Edwin Arlington Robinson was born in the village of Head Tide in the town of Alna, Maine, on
December 22, 1869, third son of Edward and Mary Elizabeth (Palmer) Robinson. Because his mother had
expected a daughter, no male name had been selected for a possible son. The following summer when the
family vacationed at a resort in Harpswell, Maine, the ladies on the verandah challenged her to name the
baby. The ladies placed names in a lottery, and the name drawn was Edwin. Because the lady who
proposed Edwin as a name was from Arlington, Massachusetts, baby Robinson became Edwin Arlington
Robinson, a name that was anathema to him throughout his life. He hated the familys habit of calling him
Win, and as an adult he always signed himself as E. A. Robinson, a shy and quiet child, was utterly
fascinated by the sound of words. He early became an incorrigible fisher of words as he reflected upon
the matter late in his life. His neighbors, the Jordans, said that his greatest delight seemed to be hunting
difficult words. He would appear in their doorway, and cry Nebuchadnezzar or Melchizedek. However,
his early life in Gardiner was not as isolated as some accounts would suppose. He swam in Kennebec River
with the Swanton brothers, picked apples with the Barstow brothers, and sneaked cigarettes in Deanes
Grove. Taller than his contemporaries, he appeared gaunt and uncoordinated. That he had no athletic
skills (in stark contrast with his handsome and poised brother Herman) must have created the impression
that he was a loner.

Late in life Robinson wrote, It must have been the year 1889 when I realized finally that I was
doomed, or elected, or sentenced for life, to the writing of poetry. There was nothing else that interested
me. At this time he introduced himself to the homeopathic physician Dr. Alanson Tucker Schumann, a
neighbor across the ravine from the Robinson house. Dr. Schumann immediately recognized Robinsons
talent and spared no effort to tutor him in formal poetic forms such as sonnets, ballads, and villanelles.
Then Dr. Schumann introduced him to the Gardiner Poetry Group that met weekly in the residence
of Caroline Swan. Another Gardiner lyricist and composer, Kate Vannah, was a peripheral member of the
poetry circle in Gardiner. While his brothers, Dean and Herman, pursued careers in medicine and
business, Robinson wrote. After high school he attended Harvard College where his intellectual interests
and his circle of friends broadened. Two years later his family suffered severe financial losses in the panic
of 1893. Robinsons studies came to an end, and he returned to Gardiner. During this dismal period,
Robinson found solace in corresponding with his friend Harry De Forest Smith, then a student at Bowdoin,
and frequently visited Smiths parents at the family home on Iron Mine Hill. They envisioned a translation
of Greek poetry. Back in Gardiner, Robinson formed a small poetry and philosophy group called
the Quadruped Club where he often read drafts of his poems. In 1896 he self-published his first book, The
Torrent and the Night Before (the first half of the title referring to the waterfall on Rolling Dam Brook).
Another poem in this book, The Clerks of Time was associated with J. T. Stones Dry Goods Store. His
first book received several positive reviews, and Robinson soon reworked the collection into his first
commercial publication, The Children of the Night.

Eventually Herman Robinson failed in business after making many faulty investments. He then
sank slowly into alcoholism. Incidentally, his investment in the poorly run Jasper Mines gave rise to the
title of Robinsons last book of poetry, King Jasper. Hermans death was viewed by Emma herself as the
basis of Robinsons most famous poem, Richard Cory. The new biography of Robinson espouses this
view and rejects the 1938 Herman Hagedorn attribution of Sedgewick Plummer. There is no evidence that
Robinson had any knowledge of Plummer, and therefore the Plummer house on Brunswick Avenue is
purposely omitted from the list of Robinson sites. Even before Hermans death, Emma and their three
daughters, Ruth, Marie, and Barbara, were reduced to poverty. Creditors seized the Robinson house on
Lincoln Avenue, forcing Emma and her daughters to rejoin the Shepherd family in Farmingdale. After
Hermans death, Emma rejected two further proposals of marriage from Win. It is ironic that the
youngest Robinson brother who was viewed (at least in his estimation) as a failure by the community
should earn enough money to support his brothers heirs. Robinson died of cancer on April 6, 1935 in the
New York Hospital (now New York Cornell Hospital) in New York City. It is a strange coincidence that the
architect of the hospital, Henry R. Shepley, was related to the Richards family by marriage and eventually
designed the memorial to Robinson on the Gardiner Common. Robinsons ashes were returned to
Gardiner, and shortly before their interment in the Palmer-Robinson plot in the Oak Grove Cemetery,
pressed blossoms from the loves of his life, Emma Robinson and Rosalind Richards, were sealed within the
urn.
 William Shakespeare`s Biography
William Shakespeare, often called the English national poet, is widely considered the greatest
dramatist of all time. He was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. From roughly
1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlains Men company of theatrical players.
Written records give little indication of the way in which Shakespeares professional life molded his
artistry. All that can be deduced is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture
the complete range of human emotion and conflict.

Mysterious Origins

Known throughout the world, the works of William Shakespeare have been performed in countless
hamlets, villages, cities and metropolises for more than 400 years. And yet, the personal history of
William Shakespeare is somewhat a mystery. There are two primary sources that provide historians with a
basic outline of his life. One source is his workthe plays, poems and sonnetsand the other is official
documentation such as church and court records. However, these only provide brief sketches of specific
events in his life and provide little on the person who experienced those events.

Theatrical Beginnings

By 1592, there is evidence William Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a playwright in
London and possibly had several plays produced. The September 20, 1592 edition of the Stationers'
Register (a guild publication) includes an article by London playwright Robert Greene that takes a few jabs
at William Shakespeare: "...There is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's
heart wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of
you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country,"
Greene wrote of Shakespeare. Scholars differ on the interpretation of this criticism, but most agree that it
was Greene's way of saying Shakespeare was reaching above his rank, trying to match better known and
educated playwrights like Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe or Greene himself.

By the early 1590s, documents show William Shakespeare was a managing partner in the Lord
Chamberlain's Men, an acting company in London. After the crowning of King James I, in 1603, the
company changed its name to the King's Men. From all accounts, the King's Men Company was very
popular, and records show that Shakespeare had works published and sold as popular literature. The
theater culture in 16th century England was not highly admired by people of high rank. However, many of
the nobility were good patrons of the performing arts and friends of the actors. Early in his career,
Shakespeare was able to attract the attention of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he
dedicated his first- and second-published poems: "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece"
(1594).

Establishing Himself

By 1597, 15 of the 37 plays written by William Shakespeare were published. Civil records show
that at this time he purchased the second largest house in Stratford, called New House, for his family. It
was a four-day ride by horse from Stratford to London, so it is believed that Shakespeare spent most of
his time in the city writing and acting and came home once a year during the 40-day Lenten period, when
the theaters were closed.

By 1599, William Shakespeare and his business partners built their own theater on the south bank
of the Thames River, which they called the Globe. In 1605, Shakespeare purchased leases of real estate
near Stratford for 440 pounds, which doubled in value and earned him 60 pounds a year. This made him
an entrepreneur as well as an artist, and scholars believe these investments gave him the time to write
his plays uninterrupted.
Writing Style

William Shakespeare's early plays were written in the conventional style of the day, with elaborate
metaphors and rhetorical phrases that didn't always align naturally with the story's plot or characters.
However, Shakespeare was very innovative, adapting the traditional style to his own purposes and
creating a freer flow of words. With only small degrees of variation, Shakespeare primarily used a metrical
pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, to compose his plays. At the
same time, there are passages in all the plays that deviate from this and use forms of poetry or simple
prose.

Early Works: Histories and Comedies

With the exception of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare's first plays were mostly histories
written in the early 1590s. Richard II, Henry VI (parts 1, 2 and 3) and Henry V dramatize the destructive
results of weak or corrupt rulers, and have been interpreted by drama historians as Shakespeare's way of
justifying the origins of the Tudor Dynasty.

Shakespeare also wrote several comedies during his early period: the witty romance A Midsummer
Night's Dream, the romantic Merchant of Venice, the wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing, the
charming As You Like It and Twelfth Night. Other plays, possibly written before 1600, include Titus
Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Later Works: Tragedies and Tragicomedies

It was in William Shakespeare's later period, after 1600, that he wrote the tragedies Hamlet, King
Lear, Othello and Macbeth. In these, Shakespeare's characters present vivid impressions of human
temperament that are timeless and universal. Possibly the best known of these plays is Hamlet, which
explores betrayal, retribution, incest and moral failure. These moral failures often drive the twists and
turns of Shakespeare's plots, destroying the hero and those he loves.

In William Shakespeare's final period, he wrote several tragicomedies. Among these

are Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Though graver in tone than the comedies, they are
not the dark tragedies of King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness.

Death

Tradition has it that William Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616, though many
scholars believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at Trinity Church on April 25, 1616.

In his will, he left the bulk of his possessions to his eldest daughter, Susanna. Though entitled to a
third of his estate, little seems to have gone to his wife, Anne, whom he bequeathed his "second-best
bed." This has drawn speculation that she had fallen out of favor, or that the couple was not close.
However, there is very little evidence the two had a difficult marriage. Other scholars note that the term
"second-best bed" often refers to the bed belonging to the household's master and mistressthe marital
bedand the "first-best bed" was reserved for guests.
 Rudyard Kipling`s Biography
Rudyard Kipling was an English author famous for an array of works like 'Just So Stories' and 'The
Jungle Book.' He received the 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature. Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30,
1865, in Bombay, India. He was educated in England but returned to India in 1882. A decade later, Kipling
married Caroline Balestier and settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he wrote The Jungle Book (1894),
among a host of other works that made him hugely successful. Kipling was the recipient of the 1907 Nobel
Prize in Literature. He died in 1936.

Background and Early Years

Considered one of the great English writers, Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30,
1865, in Bombay (now called Mumbai), India. At the time of his birth, his parents, John and Alice, were
recent arrivals in India as part of the British Empire. The family lived well, and Kipling was especially close
to his mother. His father, an artist, was the head of the Department of Architectural Sculpture at the
Jeejeebhoy School of Art in Bombay. However, at the age of 6, Kipling's life was torn apart when his
mother, wanting her son to receive a formal British education, sent him to Southsea, England, where he
attended school and lived with a foster family named the Holloways. These were hard years for Kipling.
Mrs. Holloway was a brutal woman who quickly grew to despise her foster son. She beat and bullied the
youngster, who also struggled to fit in at school. His only break from the Holloways came in December,
when Kipling, who told nobody of his problems at school or with his foster parents, traveled to London to
stay with relatives for the month.

Kipling's solace came in books and stories. With few friends, he devoted himself to reading. He
particularly adored the work of Daniel Defoe, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Wilkie Collins. When Mrs.
Holloway took away his books, Kipling snuck in literature time, pretending to play in his room by moving
furniture along the floor while he read. By the age of 11, Kipling was on the verge of a nervous
breakdown. A visitor to his home saw his condition and immediately contacted his mother, who rushed
back to England and rescued her son from the Holloways. To help relax his mind, Alice took her son on an
extended vacation and then placed him in a new school in Devon. There, Kipling flourished and discovered
his talent for writing, eventually becoming editor of the school newspaper.

The Young Writer

In 1882, Kipling returned to India. It was a powerful time in the young writer's life. The sights and
sounds, even the language, which he'd believed he'd forgotten, rushed back to him upon his arrival.
Kipling made his home with his parents in Lahore and, with his father's help, found a job with a local
newspaper. The job offered Kipling a good excuse to discover his surroundings. Nighttime, especially,
proved to be valuable for the young writer. Kipling was a man of two worlds, somebody who was accepted
by both his British counterparts and the native population. Suffering from insomnia, he roamed the city
streets and gained access to the brothels and opium dens that rarely opened their doors to common
Englishmen. Kipling's experiences during this time formed the backbone for a series of stories he began to
write and publish. They were eventually assembled into a collection of 40 short stories called Plain Tales
From the Hills, which gained wide popularity in England. In 1889, seven years after he had left England,
Kipling returned to its shores in hopes of leveraging the modest amount of celebrity his book of short
stories had earned him. In London, he met Wolcott Balestier, an American agent and publisher who
quickly became one of Kipling's great friends and supporters. The two men grew close and even traveled
together to the United States, where Balestier introduced his fellow writer to his childhood home of
Brattleboro, Vermont.

Life in America
Around this time, Kipling's star power started to grow. In addition to Plain Tales From the Hills,
Kipling published a second collection of short stories, Wee Willie Winkie (1888), and American
Notes (1891), which chronicled his early impressions of America. In 1892, he also published the poetry
work Barrack-Room Ballads.
Fame With 'Jungle Book' and 'Naulahka'
Following their wedding, the Kiplings set off on an adventurous honeymoon that took them to
Canada and then Japan. But as was often the case in Kipling's life, good fortune was accompanied by hard
luck. During the Japanese leg of the journey, Kipling learned that his bank, the New Oriental Banking
Corporation, had failed. The Kiplings were broke. Left only with what they had with them, the young
couple decided to travel to Brattleboro, where much of Carrie's family still resided. Kipling fell in love with
life in the states, and the two decided to settle there. In the spring of 1891, the Kiplings purchased from
Carrie's brother Beatty a piece of land just north of Brattleboro and had a large home constructed, which
they called the Naulahka. As a writer, too, Kipling flourished. His work during this time included The
Jungle Book (1894), The Naulahka: A Story of West and East (1892) and The Second Jungle Book (1895),
among others. Kipling was delighted to be around childrena characteristic that was apparent in his
writing. His tales enchanted girls and boys all over the English-speaking world. But life again took another
dramatic turn for the family when Kipling had a major falling out with Beatty. The two men quarreled, and
when Kipling made noise about taking his brother-in-law to court because of threats Beatty had made to
his life, newspapers across America broadcast the spat on their front pages. The gentle Kipling was
embarrassed by the attention and regretful of how his celebrity had worked against him. As a result, in
1896 he and his family left Vermont for a new life back in England.

Family Tragedy
In the winter of 1899, Carrie, who was homesick, decided that the family needed to travel back to New
York to see her mother. But the journey across the Atlantic was brutal, and New York was frigid. Both
Kipling and young Josephine arrived in the states gravely ill with pneumonia. For days, the world kept
careful watch on the state of Kipling's health as newspapers reported on his condition. Kipling did
recover, but his beloved Josephine did not. The family waited until Kipling was strong enough to hear the
news, but even then, Carrie could not bear to break it to him, asking his publisher, Frank Doubleday, to do
so instead. To those who knew him, it was clear that Kipling never recovered from Josephine's death. He
vowed never to return to America. Over time, Kipling would become known for harboring a sense of
English imperialism and views on certain cultures that would draw much objection and be seen as
disturbingly racist. Yet even as Kipling grew more rigid in his viewpoints as he got older, aspects of his
earlier work would still be celebrated.

Life in England
The turn of the century saw the publication of another novel that would become quite
popular, Kim (1901), which featured a youth's adventure on the Grand Trunk Road. In 1902, the Kiplings
bought a large estate in Sussex known as Bateman's. The property had been erected in 1634, and for the
private Kiplings, it offered the kind of isolation they now cherished. Kipling revered the new home, with its
lush gardens and classic details. "Behold us," he wrote in a November 1902 letter, "lawful owners of a
grey stone, lichened houseA.D. 1634 over the doorbeamed, paneled, with old oak staircase and all
untouched and unfaked." At Bateman's, Kipling found some of the happiness he thought he had forever
lost following the death of Josephine. He was dedicated as ever to his writing, something Carrie helped
ensure. Adopting the role of the head of the household, she held reporters at bay when they came calling
and issued directions to both staff and children. Kipling's books during his years at Bateman's
included Puck of Pook's Hill(1906), Actions and Reactions (1909), Debts and Credits (1926), Thy Servant a
Dog (1930) and Limits and Renewals (1932).

The same year he purchased Bateman's, Kipling also published his Just So Stories, which were
greeted with wide acclaim. The book itself was in part a tribute to his late daughter, for whom Kipling had
originally crafted the stories as he put her to bed. The book's name had in fact come from Josephine, who
told her father he had to repeat each tale as he always had, or "just so," as Josephine often said.

Disney Adaptations
Jungle Book, a 1967 animated musical loosely based on the original tale. A live-action/CGI version
of the movie was later released in 2016, with direction by Jon Favreau and the vocal talents of Idris
Elba, Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyong'o and Scarlett Johansson.