Famous english essayists

Renowned British essayist Charles Lamb was a major figure of the Romantic period. He is best remembered for his Essays of Elia and his book of abridged versions of Shakespeare’s plays, Tales from Shakespeare, which he co-wrote with his sister, Mary. He had also once spent time in a mental facility.

Essayist, biographer, lexicographer, and literary critic Samuel Johnson, or Dr. Johnson, is remembered for his A Dictionary of the English Language and Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets. He was also a poet, a playwright, and a staunch Tory.

The French author Michel de Montaigne who lived during the 16th century is often hailed as the first essayist, though he himself claimed to have been influenced by the writings of Plutarch and Seneca.

English literature has had a plethora of essayists who have only raised the standard of the language through their literary pieces. While Robert Burton and Sir Thomas Browne acted as torchbearers of the genre, the 19th century saw a proliferation of greatest like William Hazlitt, Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt and Thomas de Quincey.