Literary England
England has been home to many luminaries of the written word, with some of the world’s most famous novelists and playwrights hailing from its shores. Join us on our journey to discover the landscapes that inspired three big names of English literature: William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen and follow in the footsteps of these giants of world literature.
For many people, the first name that comes to mind when thinking about English literature is William Shakespeare, the 16th century playwright whose dramas and sonnets dealt with universal themes that remain relevant today. The Bard of Avon, as Shakespeare is also known, offered a perceptive understanding of what it is to be a human being that continues to resonate with contemporary audiences.
He was born in 1564 in the market town of Stratford-upon-avon in England’s West Midlands. The town, where he spent the early and later years of his life, is a two-hour train ride from London Marylebone station. Stratfordupon-avon is also home to the Royal Shakespeare Company, which perform an ever-changing repertoire of the Bard’s works.
In and around the town you can walk in Shakespeare’s footsteps and visit a number of buildings associated with England’s most famous scribe, including the timber-framed house where he was believed to have been born, his wife
Anne Hathaway’s thatched cottage and the site of Shakespeare’s New Place, which was his main family home from
1597 until his death in 1616. These museums are open all year round.
It was in London that Shakespeare was to find fame and fortune on the stage, first as an actor, then subsequently as a playwright and poet, with a body of work that consisted of 37 plays and 154 sonnets.
To experience one of his plays as it would have been performed at the time, head for London’s Globe Theatre, a modern-day recreation of an Elizabethan-era theatre. It’s open to the elements, so do check the weather before you go. The Globe is located in South London, and the nearby London Bridge station is also the starting point for an informative guided walk run by shakespearewalks.com that takes in many of the sights in London associated with England’s greatest playwright.
Urban chronicler
After William Shakespeare, England’s most famous writer is probably Charles Dickens, the pre-eminent novelist of the Victorian era. In his novels he created some of the most memorable characters in world fiction, including Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield and Ebenezer Scrooge. Dickens wrote about London and the cast of characters that inhabited the metropolis with a keen eye for the poverty and squalor in which many of its residents lived.
His works served as a social
commentary on life in London, which was in the mid-19th century the world’s largest city, but his work was also imbued with a rich vein of satire and humour. He took his inspiration from pounding the streets of the capital with his observations forming the basis for Sketches by Boz, an early work that collected together all the sketches he had written as a result of these expeditions.
Although many of the buildings that featured in his works have long since disappeared, it’s still possible to get a sense of the Victorian city he chronicled, warts and all. A good place to start is the house in central London where he lived and wrote some of his most famous novels, including The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist.
The house has been preserved as the Charles Dickens Museum and is located at 48 Doughty Street near Russell Square tube station. The museum recreates a typical Victorian family of the time. Some of the prominent exhibits are the author’s writing desk and handwritten drafts from his early
novels. It’s open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00.
Some of the pubs and taverns that are mentioned in his novels are still working today. The atmospheric Ye
Olde Cheshire Cheese, located in an alley leading off Fleet Street in the City of London, was mentioned in A Tale of Two Cities. Heading across the River Thames to London Bridge station will bring you to The George Inn, which was mentioned in Little Dorrit and served as a model for an inn featured in Our Mutual Friend. A selection of guided walks of Dickens’ London are offered by dickenslondontours.co.uk all year round.
Country life
Alongside Charles Dickens, Jane Austen is arguably Britain’s best-known novelist. Her novels, written at the start of the 19th century, take an insightful look at the lives of Britain’s landed gentry and the limited roles women could play in society at that time. Her books are written with a deep sense of irony and her social commentary and the use of realistic elements in her work help keep them fresh for new generations of readers.
The house where Austen wrote and revised her most famous books,
including Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, is now a museum with a collection of memorabilia associated with the author. Situated in the village of Chawton, in the county of Hampshire, the house was owned by her brother Edward and the writer lived here for the last eight years of her life.
The house has been preserved much as it would have been in the early 19th century and the museum has a fascinating collection of 41 items that explore different sides of Austen’s life and works, such as her jewellery, writing desk, bookcase, first editions of her novels and some of the letters she wrote to her family. The house is set in its own grounds in the beautiful Hampshire countryside where you can stroll around and soak up the atmosphere that inspired Austen.
The museum is open seven days a week and can be reached in around one and a half hours from London. If you don’t have your own transport, you can catch a train to Alton from London Waterloo station and then get a connecting bus to Chawton.