Character guide

Unknown

major

Also known as me, mine, myself

The narrator or focal character, heavily present throughout the book.

Shakespeare

major

Also known as Man, The Man Shakespeare, a Shakespeare, Mr. Shakespeare, sweet Mr. Shakespeare

Central literary figure discussed extensively as a model of writing.

Homer

supporting

Also known as The great Homer

Ancient Greek poet referenced as a foundational influence on literature.

Milton

supporting

English poet cited for his verse and prose style.

Samuel Johnson

supporting

Also known as Johnson, Samuel

Lexicographer and critic frequently quoted on writing principles.

Chaucer

supporting

Medieval English poet discussed as a master of narrative verse.

Professor Saintsbury

minor

Contemporary literary critic referenced in the lectures.

Wordsworth

supporting

Romantic poet examined for his theories on poetic diction.

Plato

minor

Greek philosopher invoked in discussions of rhetoric and style.

Virgil

minor

Roman poet used as an example of epic verse craftsmanship.

Ben Jonson

minor

Also known as Jonson, Ben

Elizabethan playwright and poet cited for his critical views.

Marlowe

minor

Elizabethan dramatist referenced for his blank verse.

Cardinal Newman

minor

Also known as Newman

Victorian prose stylist discussed for his clarity and rhythm.

Gray

minor

Poet mentioned in relation to poetic diction and elegy.

Browning

minor

Victorian poet cited for dramatic monologue and style.

Matthew Arnold

minor

Also known as Arnold

Critic and poet referenced on the function of criticism.

Byron

minor

Also known as Byron Byron

Romantic poet discussed for his satirical verse and style.

Keats

minor

Also known as these three Keats , who died young , cut off in his prime

Romantic poet admired for his sensuous imagery and early death.

Aristotle

minor

Greek philosopher whose Poetics informs discussions of drama.

Coleridge

minor

Romantic poet and critic quoted on imagination and language.

Dryden

minor

Restoration poet and critic cited for his prose style.

Dante

minor

Also known as Dante Lord Buckhurst

Italian poet referenced as a master of vernacular epic.

Edmund Spenser

minor

Also known as Spenser

Elizabethan poet discussed for his allegorical epic The Faerie Queene.

Goethe

minor

Also known as The shrewder Goethe

German writer cited for his views on world literature.

Alexander Pope

minor

Also known as Pope

Augustan poet referenced for his heroic couplets and satire.

Tennyson

minor

Victorian poet laureate mentioned for his lyrical verse.

Sappho

minor

Ancient Greek lyric poet cited for her emotional intensity.

Bede

minor

Anglo-Saxon historian referenced in literary lineage.

Malory

minor

Author of Le Morte d'Arthur discussed as a prose stylist.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

minor

Also known as Wyat

Tudor poet and courtier, early sonneteer in English.

Sir Joshua Reynolds

minor

Also known as Reynolds

Painter and writer on art, quoted on general principles.

Professor Freeman

minor

Also known as the late Professor Freeman

Historian referenced in discussions of historical style.

Carlyle

minor

Victorian essayist and historian cited for his prose energy.

Rossetti

minor

Pre-Raphaelite poet and painter mentioned for style.

Petrarch

minor

Also known as the Earl of Surrey

Italian poet whose sonnets influenced English Renaissance.

Izaak Walton

minor

Also known as Isaak Walton

Angler and biographer, praised for his simple prose.

Sir Thomas Browne

minor

Also known as Sir Thomas, Browne

17th-century physician and writer on style and meditation.

Bacon

minor

Elizabethan philosopher and essayist cited for aphoristic style.

Cicero

minor

Roman orator referenced as a model of prose rhythm.

Quintilian

minor

Roman rhetorician cited on education and style.

Lucian

minor

Greek satirist mentioned for his dialogue form.

Herodotus

minor

Greek historian referenced as a narrative stylist.

Aristophanes

minor

Greek comic playwright cited for his verbal wit.

Pliny

minor

Roman author referenced for his epistolary style.

Tertullian

minor

Early Christian writer noted for his rhetorical force.

Lessing

minor

German critic and dramatist discussed in comparative context.

Flaubert

minor

French novelist cited for his pursuit of le mot juste.

Carducci

minor

Italian poet and critic referenced in literary lineage.

Gabriel Harvey

minor

Elizabethan scholar and friend of Spenser, mentioned in context.

John Jenkins

minor

Minor figure referenced in a literary anecdote.

Mr. Lloyd George

minor

Contemporary politician mentioned in a stylistic example.

Dr. Courthope

minor

Literary historian cited in lectures on English literature.

Arthur John Butler

minor

Also known as Arthur

Scholar and translator referenced in academic context.

Sir Philip Sidney

minor

Also known as Philip Sidney, Sidney, G. Gascoyn

Elizabethan poet and critic, author of An Apology for Poetry.

Benvenuto Cellini

minor

Italian Renaissance artist and autobiographer mentioned for style.

Beowulf

minor

Old English epic poem discussed as a foundational text.

Alcuin

minor

Anglo-Saxon scholar and advisor to Charlemagne, mentioned in lineage.

Barbour

minor

Scottish poet, author of The Bruce, cited in literary history.

Ascham

minor

Tudor scholar and author of The Schoolmaster, referenced for style.

Daniel

minor

Elizabethan poet and historian mentioned in literary context.

Abelard

minor

Medieval philosopher and theologian cited in passing.

Giraud de Borneil

minor

Occitan troubadour mentioned in discussion of lyric poetry.

Sainte-Beuve

minor

French literary critic referenced for his critical method.

Pope Gregory the Great

minor

Also known as St. Gregory, Gregory, Pope

Pope and Doctor of the Church, mentioned in historical context.

William Tyndale

minor

Also known as Tyndale

Biblical translator and Protestant reformer, cited for prose.

Wolfe

minor

General James Wolfe, mentioned in a historical allusion.

Lord Brougham

minor

Also known as Brougham, Lord Chancellor Brougham

British statesman and orator, referenced for rhetorical style.

Mr. Frederick Lamond

minor

Also known as Mr. Lamond, Beethoven Mr. Frederick Lamond, Beethoven

Pianist mentioned in an analogy about performance and style.

Captain Oates

minor

Also known as Oates

Antarctic explorer cited as an example of understatement.

Duchess

minor

Title character in a literary example or anecdote.

the stranger

minor

Generic figure used in illustrative examples of narrative.

Adonis

minor

Mythological figure referenced in poetic allusions.

Apollo

minor

Greek god of poetry, invoked in classical references.

Zeus

minor

King of the gods in Greek mythology, mentioned in passing.

Venus

minor

Also known as Alma Venus

Goddess of love, referenced in poetic contexts.

Athene

minor

Greek goddess of wisdom, mentioned in classical allusion.

Minos

minor

Mythological king of Crete, referenced in literary example.

Demonax

minor

Greek philosopher cited in a rhetorical illustration.

Belisarius

minor

Byzantine general mentioned in a historical analogy.

Parmenides

minor

Pre-Socratic philosopher referenced in philosophical context.