George Byron He was the son of Capt. John (“Mad Jack”) Byron and second wife, Catherine Gordon of Gight. His father died in 1791, and Byron, born with a clubfoot, was subjected alternately to the excessive tenderness and violent temper of his mother. In 1798, after years of poverty, Byron succeeded to the title and took up residence at the family seat, New stead Abbey. He subsequently attended Dullish school and Harrow (1801-5) and then matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Although the academic atmosphere did nothing to lessen Byron’s sensitivity about his lameness, he made several close friends while at school. (89-words)
Robert Burns The son of the hard-working and intelligent farmer, Burns was the oldest of seven children, all of whom had to help in the work on the farm. Although always hard pressed financially, the elder Burns, until his death in 1784, encouraged his sons with their education. As a result, Burns as a boy not only read the Scottish poetry of Ramsay and the collections compiled by Hailers and Herd, but also the works of Pope, Locke, and Shakespeare. By 1781, Burns had tried his hand at several agricultural jobs without success. Although he had begun writing, and his poems were circulated widely in manuscript, none were published until 1786. (91-words)
Daniel Defoe The son of a London butcher, and educated at a Dissenters’ academy, he was typical of the new kind of man reaching prominence in England in the 18th century-self-reliant, industrious, possessing a strong notion of personal and moral responsibility. Although intended for the Presbyterian ministry, he had by 1683 set himself up as a merchant dealing in many different commodities. In spite of his own considerable saving and his wife’s dowry, Defoe went bankrupt in 1692. Although he paid his creditors, he was never entirely free from debt again. Defoe’s firs important publication was An Essay upon Project (1698), but it was not until the poem The True-born Englishman (1701), a defense of William III from his attackers, that he received any real fame. (106-words)