Artists & Writers
Painters, poets, and storytellers of the human soul.
records written
Early Modern era
Michel de Montaigne
February 28, 1533 – September 12, 1592
French author, philosopher, and statesman (1533–1592)
Early Modern era
Miguel de Cervantes
September 29, 1547 – April 22, 1616
Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright (1547-1616)
Early Modern era
William Shakespeare
1564 – April 23, 1616
English playwright and poet, the most performed dramatist in history
Early Modern era
Christopher Marlowe
February 6, 1564 – May 30, 1593
English dramatist, poet and translator (1564–1593)
Early Modern era
John Donne
1572 – March 31, 1631
English poet and cleric (1572–1631)
Early Modern era
John Milton
December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674
English poet and civil servant (1608–1674)
Early Modern era
Moliere
January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673
French playwright and actor (1622–1673)
Early Modern era
John Locke
August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704
English philosopher and physician (1632-1704)
Early Modern era
Voltaire
November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778
French Enlightenment writer and fighter for reason and tolerance
Early Modern era
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778
Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer (1712-1778)
Early Modern era
David Hume
April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776
Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian (1711-1776)
Early Modern era
Adam Smith
June 5, 1723 – July 17, 1790
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist (1723–1790)
Early Modern era
Edmund Burke
January 12, 1729 – July 9, 1797
Anglo-Irish statesman, political theorist and conservative philosopher (1729–1797)
Early Modern era
Thomas Paine
February 9, 1737 – June 8, 1809
American Founding Father, philosopher, and political activist (1737–1809)
Early Modern era
Mary Wollstonecraft
April 27, 1759 – September 10, 1797
English writer and intellectual (1759–1797)
Early Modern era
Friedrich Schiller
November 10, 1759 – May 9, 1805
German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian (1759–1805)
Early Modern era
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831
German philosopher and theologian (1770–1831)
Early Modern era
Arthur Schopenhauer
February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860
German philosopher (1788-1860)
Modern era
Soren Kierkegaard
May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855
Danish theologian, philosopher, poet and social critic (1813–1855)
Modern era
Karl Marx
May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883
Philosopher and economist whose critique of capital shaped a century
Modern era
Friedrich Engels
November 28, 1820 – August 5, 1895
German philosopher, sociologist and economist (1820–1895)
Modern era
Friedrich Nietzsche
October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900
German philosopher (1844-1900)
Modern era
Ralph Waldo Emerson
May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882
American philosopher (1803–1882)
Modern era
Henry David Thoreau
July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862
American essayist, poet, and philosopher (1817–1862)
Early Modern era
William Blake
November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827
English poet and artist (1757–1827)
Early Modern era
Robert Burns
January 25, 1759 – July 21, 1796
Scottish poet and lyricist (1759–1796)
Early Modern era
William Wordsworth
April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850
English Romantic poet (1770–1850)
Early Modern era
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834
English poet, literary critic and philosopher (1772–1834)
Early Modern era
Lord Byron
January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824
English Romantic poet and lyricist (1788–1824)
Early Modern era
Percy Bysshe Shelley
August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822
British Romantic poet (1792–1822)
Early Modern era
Mary Shelley
August 30, 1797 – February 1, 1851
English writer (1797–1851)
Early Modern era
John Keats
October 31, 1795 – February 23, 1821
English Romantic poet (1795–1821)
Modern era
Jane Austen
December 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817
English novelist whose social comedies never left print
Early Modern era
Walter Scott
August 15, 1771 – September 21, 1832
Scottish novelist, poet and playwright (1771–1832)
Modern era
Hans Christian Andersen
April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875
Danish writer and poet (1805–1875)
Early Modern era
Wilhelm Grimm
February 24, 1786 – December 16, 1859
German author, philologist, collector of fairy tales and legends (1786–1859)
Modern era
Victor Hugo
February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885
French novelist, poet, dramatist and politician (1802–1885)
Modern era
Alexandre Dumas
July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870
French writer and dramatist (1802–1870)
Early Modern era
Honore de Balzac
May 20, 1799 – August 18, 1850
French novelist and playwright (1799–1850)
Modern era
Gustave Flaubert
December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880
French novelist (1821–1880)
Modern era
Charles Baudelaire
April 9, 1821 – August 31, 1867
French poet and critic (1821–1867)
Early Modern era
Alexander Pushkin
May 26, 1799 – January 29, 1837
Russian poet, playwright, and novelist (1799–1837)
Modern era
Nikolai Gogol
March 19, 1809 – February 21, 1852
Russian writer of Ukrainian origin (1809–1852)
Modern era
Fyodor Dostoevsky
November 11, 1821 – January 28, 1881
Russian novelist (1821–1881)
Modern era
Leo Tolstoy
August 28, 1828 – November 7, 1910
Russian novelist of War and Peace and moral philosopher
Modern era
Anton Chekhov
January 17, 1860 – July 2, 1904
Russian dramatist and author (1860–1904)
Modern era
Charles Dickens
February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870
English novelist and social critic (1812–1870)
Modern era
Charlotte Bronte
April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855
British novelist and poet (1816-1855)
Modern era
Emily Bronte
July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848
English novelist and poet (1818–1848)
Modern era
George Eliot
November 22, 1819 – December 22, 1880
English novelist, essayist, poet and journalist (1819–1880)
Modern era
Thomas Hardy
June 2, 1840 – January 11, 1928
English novelist and poet (1840–1928)
Modern era
Oscar Wilde
October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900
Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete (1854-1900)
Modern era
Lewis Carroll
January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898
British author and scholar (1832–1898)
Modern era
Bram Stoker
November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912
Irish novelist and short story writer (1847–1912)
Modern era
Robert Louis Stevenson
November 13, 1850 – December 3, 1894
Scottish novelist and poet (1850–1894)
Modern era
Arthur Conan Doyle
May 22, 1859 – July 7, 1930
British writer and physician (1859–1930)
Modern era
Rudyard Kipling
December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936
English writer and poet (1865–1936)
Modern era
Jules Verne
February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905
French writer (1828–1905)
Modern era
H. G. Wells
September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946
English writer (1866–1946)
Modern era
Edgar Allan Poe
January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849
American writer and literary critic (1809–1849)