Authors, Poets & Novelists Posters & Prints, “Pl...-Po...-”
for literature, language arts and social studies classrooms and home schoolers.

Sylvia Plath
b. 10-27-1932; Boston, MA
d. 2-11-1963; London

A Troubled Genius - Few poets in the 20th century literature could match the lyricism and emotional intensity of Sylvia Plath's work. Afflicted with bipolar disorder, Plath transformed her inner turmoil into poems full of sadness, anger, and beauty – combining a sense of profound loss with surprising personal strength. Though she lived only a short time, Plath not only inspired admiration and imitation – she also helped launch an emerging feminist movement.

Sylvia Plath quotes:
• “Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call.”
• “If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.”
• “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

• Bell Jar movie poster
• Sylvia Plath in Famous Author Educational Mini poster set

Pliny the Elder
b. AD 23; Como, Roman Empire
d. 8-25-79 AD; Eruption of Vesuvius

Gaius Plinius Secundus, an author and natural philosopher, wrote Naturalis Historia, an encyclopedia that became the model for referencing original authors and a comprehensive index of extensive content covering subjects of natural objects and phenomena, as well as man-made objects.

Plutarch, neé Plutarcho
b. 46; Greece
d. c. 127 AD

Plutarch, a priest of Apollo at the Oracle of Delphi, is better know as a biographer and historian for works like Parallel Lives and Moralia.

Plutarch quotes ~
• “It is not histories I am writing, but lives; and in the most glorious deeds there is not always an indication of virtue or vice, indeed a small thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of a character than battles where thousands die.” - Life of Alexander/Life of Julius Caesar
• “The soul, being eternal, after death is like a caged bird that has been released. If it has been a long time in the body, and has become tame by many affairs and long habit, the soul will immediately take another body and once again become involved in the troubles of the world. The worst thing about old age is that the soul's memory of the other world grows dim, while at the same time its attachment to things of this world becomes so strong that the soul tends to retain the form that it had in the body. But that soul which remains only a short time within a body, until liberated by the higher powers, quickly recovers its fire and goes on to higher things.” - The Consolation, Moralia

FYI ~ Plutarch's works were inspirational to Montaigne.

Henrik Pontoppidan
b. 7-24-1857; Denmark
d. 8-21-1943; Denmark

Realist writer Henrik Pontoppidan was the 1917 Nobel Prize for Literature recipient for “for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark.” Sven H. Rossel said “Henrik Pontoppidan characterized himself as a ‘popular storyteller.’ This modest self-characterization by an inspired epic writer corresponds to his clear style, which ‘de-lyricizes’ language. No other modern Danish author has been able to paint so precisely a complete picture of his time - its intellectual movements and its people.” (A History of Scandinavian Literature, 1870-1980, 1982)

Pontoppidan shared the award with fellow Dane Karl Adolph Gjellerup.

Edgar Allan Poe
b. 1-19-1809; Boston, MA
d. 10-7-1849; Baltimore, MD

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore ...
“The Raven”

Edgar Allan Poe is often called the father of the modern mystery story. He was truly one of America's most gifted poets, short story writers and critic. These lines from his famous poem “The Raven” are a good example of the of his, often terrifying works. Poe was born in 1809 in Boston. His parents both died before he was three. Young Edgar was raised by John Allan, a rich tobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia. Edgar was an excellent student and went to the University of Virgina, but stayed only a year due to money problems. He next moved to Boston and joined the army. By this time, he had written his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), and had it printed at his own expense. Edgar then started writing short stories. His most productive years were from 1837 to 1845. But, despite his success as an editor and writer his family often went without enough food. Some of his best stories were in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840) which included The Pit and the Pendalum and The Tell-Tale Heart. But as good as these stories were, they brought Poe little fame and money. Not until the publication of The Raven and Other Poems (1845) did he start to become well-known. Sadly, the last years of his life were tragic. His wife died in 1847, and in his grief, Poe developed a drinking problem. In October 1849 he was found lying unconscious, and he died four days later at age 40. the cause of his death remains unknown.

• more Poe posters
• more 19th Century American Authors

Alexander Pope
b. 5-22-1688; England
d. 5-30-1744

Alexander Pope, generally regarded as the greatest English poet of the eighteenth century, is said to be the third most frequently quoted writer in the English language, after Shakespeare and Tennyson.

His words,“Education forms the common mind. Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.”, taken with his biography of being denied an education because he was Catholic, has special poigancy.

His Great Dane Bounce may have inspired “Histories are more full of examples of fidelity of dogs than of friends.”

• The Works of Alexander Pope

Katherine Anne Porter
née Callie Russel Porter
b. 5-15-1890; Texas
d. 9-18-1980

Katherine Anne Porter, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist, is known for her insight into the dark themes of betrayal, death and the origin of human evil. Her only novel was Ship of Fools (1962).

Beatrix Potter
b. 7-28-1866; London, England
d. 12-22-1943

The Tale of Peter Rabbit-
But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed under the gate! First he ate some lettuces and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes; and then, feeling rather sick, he went to look for some parsley.

• more Beatrix Potter posters
• more Classic Children's Authors posters
• food posters

Ezra Pound
b. 10-30-1885; Haley, Idaho
d. 11-1-1972

• The Cantos of Ezra Pound