1.
Human
–
Modern humans are the only extant members of Hominina tribe, a branch of the tribe Hominini belonging to the family of great apes. Several of these hominins used fire, occupied much of Eurasia and they began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago. In several waves of migration, anatomically modern humans ventured out of Africa, the spread of humans and their large and increasing population has had a profound impact on large areas of the environment and millions of native species worldwide. Humans are uniquely adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression and the exchange of ideas. Humans create complex structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families. Social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals. These human societies subsequently expanded in size, establishing various forms of government, religion, today the global human population is estimated by the United Nations to be near 7.5 billion. In common usage, the word generally refers to the only extant species of the genus Homo—anatomically and behaviorally modern Homo sapiens. In scientific terms, the meanings of hominid and hominin have changed during the recent decades with advances in the discovery, there is also a distinction between anatomically modern humans and Archaic Homo sapiens, the earliest fossil members of the species. The English adjective human is a Middle English loanword from Old French humain, ultimately from Latin hūmānus, the words use as a noun dates to the 16th century. The native English term man can refer to the species generally, the species binomial Homo sapiens was coined by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th century work Systema Naturae. The generic name Homo is a learned 18th century derivation from Latin homō man, the species-name sapiens means wise or sapient. Note that the Latin word homo refers to humans of either gender, the genus Homo evolved and diverged from other hominins in Africa, after the human clade split from the chimpanzee lineage of the hominids branch of the primates. The closest living relatives of humans are chimpanzees and gorillas, with the sequencing of both the human and chimpanzee genome, current estimates of similarity between human and chimpanzee DNA sequences range between 95% and 99%. The gibbons and orangutans were the first groups to split from the leading to the humans. The splitting date between human and chimpanzee lineages is placed around 4–8 million years ago during the late Miocene epoch, during this split, chromosome 2 was formed from two other chromosomes, leaving humans with only 23 pairs of chromosomes, compared to 24 for the other apes. There is little evidence for the divergence of the gorilla, chimpanzee. Each of these species has been argued to be an ancestor of later hominins
2.
Gustave Flaubert
–
Gustave Flaubert was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. He is known especially for his debut novel Madame Bovary, his Correspondence, the celebrated short story writer Guy de Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert. Flaubert was born on 12 December 1821, in Rouen, in the Seine-Maritime department of Upper Normandy and he was the second son of Anne Justine Caroline and Achille-Cléophas Flaubert, director and senior surgeon of the major hospital in Rouen. He began writing at an age, as early as eight according to some sources. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen, and did not leave until 1840, in Paris, he was an indifferent student and found the city distasteful. He made a few acquaintances, including Victor Hugo, toward the end of 1840, he traveled in the Pyrenees and Corsica. In 1846, after an attack of epilepsy, he left Paris, from 1846 to 1854, Flaubert had a relationship with the poet Louise Colet, his letters to her have survived. After leaving Paris, he returned to Croisset, near the Seine, close to Rouen and he made occasional visits to Paris and England, where he apparently had a mistress. According to his biographer Émile Faguet, his affair with Louise Colet was his only serious romantic relationship, with his lifelong friend Maxime Du Camp, he traveled in Brittany in 1846. In 1849–50 he went on a journey to the Middle East, visiting Greece. He spent five weeks in Istanbul in 1850 and he visited Carthage in 1858 to conduct research for his novel Salammbô. Flaubert was very open about his activities with prostitutes in his writings on his travels. He suspected that a chancre on his penis was from a Maronite or a Turkish girl and he also engaged in intercourse with male prostitutes in Beirut and Egypt, in one of his letters, he describes a pockmarked young rascal wearing a white turban. Flaubert was a worker and often complained in his letters to friends about the strenuous nature of his work. He was close to his niece, Caroline Commanville, and had a close friendship and he occasionally visited Parisian acquaintances, including Émile Zola, Alphonse Daudet, Ivan Turgenev, and Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. The 1870s were a time for Flaubert. Prussian soldiers occupied his house during the War of 1870, after her death, he fell into financial difficulty due to business failures on the part of his nieces husband
3.
W. S. Gilbert
–
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for the fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. The most famous of these include H. M. S, Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre, The Mikado. The popularity of works was supported for over a century by year-round performances of them, in Britain and abroad, by the repertory company that they founded. Eleven of the Savoy operas continue to be performed in the English-speaking world and beyond by opera companies, repertory companies, schools. Lines from these works have become part of the English language, such as short, sharp shock, What, and Let the punishment fit the crime. Gilberts creative output included over 75 plays and libretti, and numerous stories, poems and lyrics. He also began to write burlesques and his first comic plays, developing a unique absurdist and he also developed a realistic method of stage direction and a reputation as a strict theatre director. M. S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, in the 1880s, Gilbert focused on the Savoy operas, including Patience, Iolanthe, The Mikado, The Yeomen of the Guard and The Gondoliers. Gilbert won the lawsuit, but the argument caused hurt feelings among the partnership. Although Gilbert and Sullivan were persuaded to collaborate on two last operas, they were not as successful as the previous ones, in later years, Gilbert wrote several plays, and a few operas with other collaborators. He retired, with his wife and ward, Nancy McIntosh, to a country estate, Gilbert died of a heart attack while attempting to rescue a young woman to whom he was giving a swimming lesson in the lake at his home. Gilbert was born at 17 Southampton Street, Strand, London and his father, also named William, was briefly a naval surgeon, who later became a writer of novels and short stories, some of which were illustrated by his son. Gilberts mother was the former Anne Mary Bye Morris, the daughter of Thomas Morris, Gilberts parents were distant and stern, and he did not have a particularly close relationship with either of them. They quarrelled increasingly, and following the break-up of their marriage in 1876, his relationships with them, especially his mother, Gilbert was nicknamed Bab as a baby, and then Schwenck, after his fathers godparents. As a child, Gilbert travelled to Italy in 1838 and then France for two years with his parents, who returned to settle in London in 1847. He then attended Kings College London, graduating in 1856, instead he joined the Civil Service, he was an assistant clerk in the Privy Council Office for four years and hated it. In 1859 he joined the Militia, a volunteer force formed for the defence of Britain, with which he served until 1878. In 1863 he received a bequest of £300 that he used to leave the service and take up a brief career as a barrister
4.
William Shakespeare
–
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
5.
Timon of Athens
–
Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare, published in the First Folio and probably written in collaboration with another author, most likely Thomas Middleton, in about 1605–1606. It is about the fortunes of an Athenian named Timon, the central character is a well beloved citizen of Athens who through tremendous generosity spends his entire fortunes on corrupt hangers-on only interested in getting the next payout. The earliest known production of the play was in 1674, when Thomas Shadwell wrote an adaptation under the title The History of Timon of Athens, multiple other adaptations followed over the next century, by writers such as Thomas Hull, James Love and Richard Cumberland. The straight Shakespearean text was at Smock Alley in Dublin in 1761, Timon of Athens was originally grouped with the tragedies, but some scholars name it one of the problem plays. In the beginning, Timon is a wealthy and generous Athenian gentleman and he hosts a large banquet, attended by nearly all the main characters. Timon gives away money wastefully, and everyone wants to him to get more, except for Apemantus. He accepts art from Poet and Painter, and a jewel from the Jeweller, Timons servant, Lucilius, has been wooing the daughter of an old Athenian. The man is angry, but Timon pays him three talents in exchange for the couple being allowed to marry, because the happiness of his servant is worth the price, Timon is told that his friend, Ventidius, is in debtors prison. He sends money to pay Ventidiuss debt, and Ventidius is released, Timon gives a speech on the value of friendship. The guests are entertained by a masque, followed by dancing, as the party winds down, Timon continues to give things away to his friends, his horses, and other possessions. The act is divided arbitrarily into two scenes but the experimental and/or unfinished nature of the play is reflected in that it does not naturally break into a five-act structure. Now Timon has given all his wealth. Shadowing Timon is another guest at the banquet, the cynical philosopher Apemantus and he was the only guest not angling for money or possessions from Timon. Along with a Fool, he attacks Timons creditors when they show up to make their demands for immediate payment, Timon cannot pay, and sends out his servants to make requests for help from those friends he considers closest. Timons servants are turned down, one by one, by Timons false friends, elsewhere, one of Alcibiadess junior officers has reached an even further point of rage, killing a man in hot blood. Alcibiades pleads with the Senate for mercy, arguing that a crime of passion should not carry as severe a sentence as premeditated murder, the senators disagree, and, when Alcibiades persists, banish him forever. He vows revenge, with the support of his troops, the act finishes with Timon discussing with his servants the revenge he will carry out at his next banquet. Timon hosts a party, intended only for those he feels have betrayed him
6.
Jonathan Swift
–
Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin. Swift is remembered for such as A Tale of a Tub, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, Gullivers Travels. He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language and he originally published all of his works under pseudonyms – such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, Drapiers Letters as MB Drapier – or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles and his deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed Swiftian. Jonathan Swift was born on 30 November 1667 in Dublin, Ireland and he was the second child and only son of Jonathan Swift and his wife Abigail Erick of Frisby on the Wreake. Swifts father died in Dublin about seven months before he was born, Swifts family had several interesting literary connections. His grandmother Elizabeth Swift was the niece of Sir Erasmus Dryden, the same grandmothers aunt Katherine Dryden was a first cousin of Elizabeth, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh. His great-great grandmother Margaret Swift was the sister of Francis Godwin and his uncle Thomas Swift married a daughter of poet and playwright Sir William Davenant, a godson of William Shakespeare. Swifts benefactor and uncle Godwin Swift took primary responsibility for the young man and he attended Dublin University in 1682, financed by Godwins son Willoughby, from which he received his B. A. in 1686 and developed his friendship with William Congreve. Temple was an English diplomat who arranged the Triple Alliance of 1668 and he had retired from public service to his country estate to tend his gardens and write his memoirs. Gaining his employers confidence, Swift was often trusted with matters of great importance, within three years of their acquaintance, Temple had introduced his secretary to William III and sent him to London to urge the King to consent to a bill for triennial Parliaments. Swift took up his residence at Moor Park where he met Esther Johnson, then eight years old, Swift was her tutor and mentor, giving her the nickname Stella, and the two maintained a close but ambiguous relationship for the rest of Esthers life. In 1690, Swift left Temple for Ireland because of his health, the illness consisted of fits of vertigo or giddiness, now known to be Ménières disease, and it continued to plague him throughout his life. During this second stay with Temple, Swift received his M. A. from Hart Hall, then he left Moor Park, apparently despairing of gaining a better position through Temples patronage, to become an ordained priest in the Established Church of Ireland. He was appointed to the prebend of Kilroot in the Diocese of Connor in 1694, with his parish located at Kilroot, Swift appears to have been miserable in his new position, being isolated in a small, remote community far from the centres of power and influence. While at Kilroot, however, he may well have become involved with Jane Waring, whom he called Varina. A letter from him survives, offering to remain if she would marry him and promising to leave and she presumably refused, because Swift left his post and returned to England and Temples service at Moor Park in 1696, and he remained there until Temples death. There he was employed in helping to prepare Temples memoirs and correspondence for publication, during this time, Swift wrote The Battle of the Books, a satire responding to critics of Temples Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning, though Battle was not published until 1704
7.
Gulliver's Travels
–
Gullivers Travels, whose full title is Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. It is Swifts best known work, and a classic of English literature. He himself claimed that he wrote Gullivers Travels to vex the world rather than divert it, the book became popular as soon as it was published. John Gay wrote in a 1726 letter to Swift that It is universally read,4 May 1699 The travel begins with a short preamble in which Lemuel Gulliver gives a brief outline of his life and history before his voyages. After giving assurances of his behavior, he is given a residence in Lilliput. He is also given permission by the King of Lilliput to go around the city on condition that he must not harm their subjects, at first, the Lilliputians are hospitable to Gulliver, but they are also wary of the threat that his size poses to them. The Lilliputians reveal themselves to be a people who put emphasis on trivial matters. For example, which end of an egg a person becomes the basis of a deep political rift within that nation. They are a people who revel in displays of authority and performances of power, Gulliver assists the Lilliputians to subdue their neighbors the Blefuscudians by stealing their fleet. However, he refuses to reduce the nation of Blefuscu to a province of Lilliput, displeasing the King. Gulliver is charged with treason for, among other crimes, making water in the capital though he was putting out a fire and he is convicted and sentenced to be blinded. With the assistance of a friend, a considerable person at court. Here, he spots and retrieves an abandoned boat and sails out to be rescued by a passing ship,20 June 1702 –3 June 1706 He soon sets out again. The grass of that land is as tall as a tree and he is then found by a farmer who was about 72 ft. tall, judging from Gulliver estimating a mans step being 10 yards. He brings Gulliver home and the farmers daughter Glumdalclitch cares for Gulliver, the giant-sized farmer treats him as a curiosity and exhibits him for money. After a while the constant shows make Gulliver sick, and the farmer sells him to the queen of the realm, Glumdalclitch is taken into the Queen of Brobdingnags service to take care of the tiny man. Between small adventures such as fighting giant wasps and being carried to the roof by a monkey, the King is not happy with Gullivers accounts of Europe, especially upon learning of the use of guns and cannons. On a trip to the seaside, his traveling box is seized by a giant eagle which drops Gulliver,5 August 1706 –16 April 1710 Setting out again, Gullivers ship is attacked by pirates and he is marooned close to a desolate rocky island near India
8.
Philip Larkin
–
Philip Arthur Larkin CH CBE FRSL was an English poet, novelist and librarian. His many honours include the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry and he was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman. After graduating from Oxford in 1943 with a first in English language and literature and it was during the thirty years he worked with distinction as university librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull that he produced the greater part of his published work. Eric Homberger called him the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket—Larkin himself said that deprivation for him was what daffodils were for Wordsworth, influenced by W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, his poems are highly structured, Larkins public persona was that of the no-nonsense, solitary Englishman who disliked fame and had no patience for the trappings of the public literary life. On 2 December 2016, the 31st anniversary of his death, a floor stone memorial for Larkin was unveiled at Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey. Philip Larkin was born on 9 August 1922 at 2, Poultney Road, Radford, Coventry, the son and younger child of Sydney Larkin, who came from Lichfield. His sister Catherine, known as Kitty, was 10 years older than he was and he introduced his son to the works of Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce and above all D. H. Lawrence. His mother was a nervous and passive woman, a kind of defective mechanism. Her ideal is to collapse and to be taken care of, although home life was relatively cold, Larkin enjoyed support from his parents. For example, his passion for jazz was supported by the purchase of a drum kit. From the junior school he progressed to King Henry VIII Senior School and he fared quite poorly when he sat his School Certificate exam at the age of 16. Despite his results, he was allowed to stay on at school, two later he earned distinctions in English and History, and passed the entrance exams for St Johns College, Oxford. Larkin began at Oxford University in October 1940, a year after the outbreak of Second World War, the old upper class traditions of university life had, at least for the time being, faded, and most of the male students were studying for highly truncated degrees. Due to his eyesight, Larkin failed his military medical examination and was able to study for the usual three years. Through his tutorial partner, Norman Iles, he met Kingsley Amis, who encouraged his taste for ridicule and irreverence, Amis, Larkin and other university friends formed a group they dubbed The Seven, meeting to discuss each others poetry, listen to jazz, and drink enthusiastically. During this time he had his first real social interaction with the opposite sex, in 1943 he sat his finals, and, having dedicated much of his time to his own writing, was greatly surprised at being awarded a first-class honours degree. In 1943 Larkin was appointed librarian of the library in Wellington. It was while working there that in early 1944 he met his first girlfriend, Ruth Bowman, in 1945, Ruth went to continue her studies at Kings College London, during one of his visits their friendship developed into a sexual relationship
9.
Michelangelo
–
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since described as one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of Michelangelos works of painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence and he sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library, at the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peters Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan so that the end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification. Michelangelo was unique as the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive, in his lifetime he was often called Il Divino. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, the attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelos impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance. Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, at the time of Michelangelos birth, his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelos mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, the Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa, this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it. Several months after Michelangelos birth, the returned to Florence. There Michelangelo gained his love for marble, as Giorgio Vasari quotes him, If there is good in me. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, as a young boy, Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study grammar under the Humanist Francesco da Urbino. The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches, the city of Florence was at that time the greatest centre of the arts and learning in Italy. Art was sponsored by the Signoria, by the merchant guilds and by patrons such as the Medici. The Renaissance, a renewal of Classical scholarship and the arts, had its first flowering in Florence, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti had laboured for fifty years to create the bronze doors of the Baptistry, which Michelangelo was to describe as The Gates of Paradise. The exterior niches of the Church of Orsanmichele contained a gallery of works by the most acclaimed sculptors of Florence – Donatello, Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Nanni di Banco. The interiors of the churches were covered with frescos, begun by Giotto. During Michelangelos childhood, a team of painters had been called from Florence to the Vatican, among them was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master in fresco painting, perspective, figure drawing, and portraiture who had the largest workshop in Florence at that period
10.
Morrissey
–
Steven Patrick Morrissey, professionally known as Morrissey, is an English singer, songwriter and author. He rose to prominence as the singer of the indie rock band The Smiths. Since then, Morrissey has had a career, making the top ten of the UK Singles Chart on ten occasions. Born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, to a working-class Irish migrant family, as a child he developed a love of literature, kitchen sink realism and popular music. Involved in Manchesters punk rock scene during the late 1970s, he fronted The Nosebleeds, beginning a career in music journalism, he authored a number of books on music and film in the early 1980s. With Johnny Marr he established The Smiths in 1982, soon attracting national recognition for their debut album. Personal differences between Morrissey and Marr resulted in The Smiths separation in 1987, in 1988, Morrissey launched his solo career with the album Viva Hate. This and its follow-up albums – Bona Drag, Kill Uncle, Your Arsenal, in the mid-to-late 1990s, his subsequent albums, Southpaw Grammar and Maladjusted, also charted but were less well received. After a hiatus between 1998 and 2003, Morrissey released a comeback album, You Are the Quarry. Relocating to Italy, ensuing years saw the release of albums Ringleader of the Tormentors, Years of Refusal, in 2013 Morrissey released his autobiography, followed by his first novel in 2015. Highly influential, Morrissey is widely credited as being a figure in the emergence of indie rock. He has been acclaimed as one of the greatest lyricists in British history, in a 2006 poll held by the BBCs Culture Show, Morrissey was voted the second greatest living British icon. Steven Patrick Morrissey was born on 22 May 1959, at Park Hospital, Davyhulme and his parents – Elizabeth and Peter Morrissey – were working-class Irish Catholics. They had emigrated to Manchester from Dublin with his sibling, elder sister Jacqueline. They had given him the forename of Steven after the American actor Steve Cochran and his earliest home was a council house at 17 Harper Street in the Hulme area of inner Manchester. He also became aware of the sentiment in British society against Irish migrants to Britain. In 1970 the family relocated to another house at 384 Kings Road. Following an early education at St. Wilfreds Primary School, Morrissey failed his 11-plus exam, and proceeded to St. Marys Technical Modern School and he excelled at athletics, although he was an unpopular loner at the school
11.
Fernando Pessoa
–
He also wrote in and translated from English and French. Pessoa was a writer, and not only under his own name. He did not call them pseudonyms because he felt that did not capture their true independent intellectual life and these imaginary figures sometimes held unpopular or extreme views. On July 13,1893, when Pessoa was five, his father, Joaquim de Seabra Pessoa, died of tuberculosis and next year, on January 2, his younger brother Jorge, aged one, the dates of the voyages related to the above event are, 1st. Voyage to Africa – left Lisbon beginning January 1896, return – left Durban in the afternoon of 1st. Voyage to Africa – left Lisbon about 20th, return – left Durban about 20th. The young Pessoa received his education at St. Joseph Convent School. He moved to the Durban High School in April,1899, becoming fluent in English, while preparing to enter university, he also attended the Durban Commercial High School during one year, in the evening shift. Meanwhile, Pessoa started writing stories in English, some under the name of David Merrick. In December, The Durban High School Magazine published his essay Macaulay and his poems often carried humorous versions of Anon as the authors name. Pessoa started using pen names quite young, the first one, still in his childhood, was Chevalier de Pas, supposedly a French noble. In addition to Charles Robert Anon and David Merrick, the writer also signed up, among other pen names, as Horace James Faber, Alexander Search. In the preface to The Book of Disquiet, Pessoa wrote about himself and he had spent his childhood alone. He never pursued a course of study and he never belonged to a crowd. How old he was at this time I don’t know, and he was pale and thin and appeared physically to be very imperfectly developed. He had a narrow and contracted chest and was inclined to stoop and he had a peculiar walk and some defect in his eyesight gave to his eyes also a peculiar appearance, the lids seemed to drop over the eyes. Although younger than his schoolfellows of the class he appeared to have no difficulty in keeping up with. For one of his age, he thought much and deeply and he took no part in athletic sports of any kind and I think his spare time was spent on reading
