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Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

Duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, illustration after a painting by J. Mund.

10 Famous Duels

Chapter 4 pg 42 - Chapter header of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Published in 1884 by The American Publishing Company

Periods of American Literature

Scene from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, 1843. The irascible, curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge with the Ghost of Christmas Present, the third of the four apparitions that visit him on Christmjas Eve. From "A Christmas Carol" by...

Diagnosing 9 of Charles Dickens’s Most Famous Characters

Painting titled: "Washington as Statesman at the Constitutional Convention" oil on canvas by Junius Brutus Stearns, 1856; in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. (Note from museum) The painting represents George Washington's role as president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The normally reserved Washington urges passage of a new federal constitution, a draft of which he holds in his hands.

How Many of the Signers of the U.S. Constitution Were Enslavers?

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Adolf Hitler (Nazi, nazism, German leader).

9 Things You Might Not Know About Adolf Hitler

General Pershing's troops moving into Mexico in 1917 during World War I.

Timeline of World War I

Queen Elizabeth II addresses at opening of Parliament. (Date unknown on photo, but may be 1958, the first time the opening of Parliament was filmed.)

All 119 References in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained

Eid al-Fitr

The Battle of New Orleans, by E. Percy Moran, c. 1910. Andrew Jackson, War of 1812.

26 Decade-Defining Events in U.S. History

Young boys working in a thread spinning mill in Macon, Georgia, 1909. Boys are so small they have to climb onto the spinning frame to reach and fix broken threads and put back empty bobbins. Child labor. Industrial revolution

The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution

Shadow of a man holding large knife in his hand inside of some dark, spooky buiding

7 of History's Most Notorious Serial Killers

Arts & Culture

essay

literature

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 2, 2024 • Article History

Category: Arts & Culture

Key People:: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Mark Twain; Samuel Johnson; Charles Dickens; William Blake

Related Topics:: literature; causerie; casual; genre

On the Web:: BCcampus Open Publishing - Fraser Valley India's Writing for Success for LMS - The Structure of a Persuasive Essay (Apr. 02, 2024)

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essay, an analytic, interpretative, or critical literary composition usually much shorter and less systematic and formal than a dissertation or thesis and usually dealing with its subject from a limited and often personal point of view. Some early treatises—such as those of Cicero on the pleasantness of old age or on the art of “divination,” Seneca on anger or clemency, and Plutarch on the passing of oracles—presage to a certain degree the form and tone of the essay, but not until the late 16th century was the flexible and deliberately nonchalant and versatile form of the essay perfected by the ...(100 of 559 words)

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