Special Sub-Topic: Literary Anecdotes And Small Talk Click Here To Play: Literary Anecdotes And Small Talk

When did John Donne write his famous lines: 'John Donne, Anne Donne, Undone.'?

When his father-in-law rejected the marriage and dismissed the poet from the job he had with him. Donne lived from 1573(?) till 1631. He lost his political office as secretary to the Great Seal when he secretly married his boss's daughter. He and his wife had to move to a more modest house. He scratched the famous quotation of a windowpane of his new residence. Name of his boss: Sir George Moore.

An American publisher, after having visited the residence of a famous poet in London, unintentionally spoke a line which when in print turned out to create an unexpected effect.The line was :'Was it _______'s toilet I saw?' Who was the poet?

Eliot. A palindrome of course.

An author sending a manuscript to her publisher, added a note: 'Would you please publish the enclosed manuscript or return it without delay, as I have other irons in the fire.' The novel was soon returned with a rejection reply :'Put this with your _____ ______'.

other irons. The author was Elinor Glyn nee Sutherland (1864-1943). Her novel 'Three Weeks' was a big 'succes de scandale'.(1907). An anonymous author commented: Would you like to sin with Elinor Glyn on a tiger skin? Or would you prefer to err with her on some other fur?

Which of these English authors died in 1616 in the same month and probably on the same day of the month as he had been born 52 years earlier in 1564?

William Shakespeare. Well after all, didn't he write about 'the uncertain glory of an April day'? He died on St. George's Day, April 23,1616, possibly after having caught a fever as an after effect of a 'merry meeting' with Drayton and Jonson. His baptism was recorded on April 26,1564.It is unlikely that he was born more than two or three days before that recording. Sidney 1554- 1586. Spenser 1552-1599. Sir Thomas Wyatt, 'the father of the English sonnet' was born in 1503, died in 1542.

During Elizabeth the First's reign performances of Shakespeare's 'Richard II' were forbidden because in its plot a king is deposed.Because of a similar fear that parallels might be drawn, one of Shakespeare's best plays was forbidden during the rule of George III. Which play?

King Lear. As King Lear goes mad in the play of that name, performances might have caused some embarassment.

Some names of authors may create confusion.What was the exact name of the author of 'The Castle of Otranto'?

Horace Walpole. Horace lived from 1717 till 1797. Sir Robert from 1676 till 1745.Prime Minister and father of Horace.He was first chief minister to reside at 10 Downing Street. Alroy Kear is the name given by Somerset Maugham to Hugh Walpole in 'Cakes And Ale'.

Some authors seem to have enjoyed the use of many and various noms de plume. Which great English author hid behind all of these pennames: {T.R.D.J.S.D.O.P.I.I.;} {M.B.Drapier;} Isaac {Bickerstaff;} A Dissenter.

Jonathan Swift. Who else but The Reverend Doctor Jonathan Swift, Dean Of Patrick's In Ireland? Sterne lived from 1713 till 1768. Steele from 1662 till 1729. Defoe from 1660 till 1731. Swift himself from 1667 till 1745.

Another celebrity from English literature kept changing his nom de guerre and in turn hid behind all of these names: George Savage Fitzboodle, Michael Angelo Titmarsh,Theophile Wagstaff,Esq. and C.J.Yellowplush, Esq. Sometimes he even posed as a woman: Dorothea Julia Ramsbottom.

William Makepeace Thackeray. Trollope (1815-1882).Disraeli (1804-1881).Dickens (1812-1870. Thackeray (1811 - 1863)

Which of these were the horses in Gulliver's Travels?

Houyhnhnms. The Lilliputians were 'little' as we all know, but the Brrrr...were giants. The 'winimz' were nice...but after all aren't horses the noblest companions of Man on this planet, as Buffon said?

Schools for writers certainly give a lot of good advice. One of the frequently mentioned golden rules for beginning authors and editors is: 'Avoid Latin derivatives.Use brief Anglo-Saxon monosyllables.' How many Anglo-Saxon words are there in that piece of advice itself?

1. Example is better than precept? Anglosaxon derives from Old-English Angulseaxe. All the other words have non-Germanic roots. Use derives from Latin usus and French us(as in 'les us et coutumes'). Brief as in French bref, Latin brevis. Monosyllable: monos is Greek for 'alone'. Avoid derives from Old French evuider,now eviter. Latin from Latium, nowadays Lazio in Italy. Derivative from derivare which means getting its water supply from a particular stream or brook (Latin rivus). French 'riviere' was either a river or the bank of a river and 'riverains' are those that live on the banks of a river, near to it.