William Shakespeare
Renaissance poet, playwright, writer, actor
Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam
Painter, writer, translator of the King James Bible, author of New Atlantis, rumored pen name (or ghost writer) of William Shakespeare, freemasonry, Freemasonic Order, Rosicrucians, attorney general, Lord Chancellor of England
1561-1626 (65)
Johann Goethe
Poet aka Johann Goethe, playwright, novelist, scientist, theatre director
King Henry VI of England
King of England, Lord of Ireland from 1422-1461 and briefly again 1470-1471, disputed King of France from 1422-1453, House of Hohenstaufen, scholar, founder of Eton College, King's College at Cambridge
1421-1471 (50)
Homer
Greek Hellenistic poet, Homeric epics are poems such as the Iliad (aka the Eliad, Iliás), The Odyssey, philosopher in the Bronze Ages
800 BCE-701 BCE
worldhistory.org
Honoré de Balzac
Writer, novelist, playwright, La Comédie humaine (The Human Comedy)
1799-1850 (51)
britannica.com
Isaac Asimov
Biochemist, author of Foundation, I Robot, writer, professor of biochemistry at Boston University
1920-1992 (72)
asimovonline.com
James Baldwin
Novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, writer, black activist
1924-1987 (63)
John Milton
Poet, writer about Satan, author, civil servant, pioneer in Areopagitica poetry, poem by the name of Paradise Lost in 1645-1667
1608-1674 (66)
Michelangelo
Italian Renaissance sculptor aka Michaelangelo, architect, painter, The Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel ceiling, the David sculpture, Pietà, worked for Pope Julius II in Rome
1475-1564 (89)
Miguel de Cervantes
Renaissance novelist, author of Don Quixote, one of the greatest Spanish language writers
1547-1616 (69)
Noel Coward
Playwright of Blithe Spirit, writer, poet, socialite, novelist
Percy Shelley
Playwright, writer of The Cenci, Prometheus Unbound, Hellas, The Necessity of Atheism
Philip II, the Prudent of Spain
King of Naples and Sicily from 1554-1598, King of Spain from 1558-1598, King of Portugal from 1580-1598, Duke of Milan, Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands
1527-1598 (71)
habsburger.net
Friedrich Schiller
Playwright, Joan of Arc, The Robbers, Maria Stuart, Wallenstein, poet, writer of Ode to Joy, Song of the Bell, The Pledge, Der Handschuh, Kallias Letters, On Grace and Dignity, Good Samaritan, Der Geisterseher ("The Ghost Seer"), philosopher
1759-1805 (46)
plato.stanford.edu
Seneca the Younger
Stoic philosopher, playwright, dramatist, statesman, satyrist, author of Natural Questions on the shortness of life and living a happy life
4 BC-65 AD
Thespis
Dramatic artist, where the word Thespian originated, theatre dramatist, playwright
Virgil
Poet in the iron age and golden age, author of The Aeneid (annuit cœptis) in 19 BCE, Virgil's Fourth Eclogue (Eclogue 4) in 40 BCE where he coined the phrase "novus ordo seclorum" (that's on the US dollar bill)
70 BC-19 BC
Walter Scott
Novelist, poet, playwright, historian, lecturer, Scottish King's seal society the Writers of the Signet, author of Ivanhoe
1771-1832 (61)
historic-uk.com
W.B. Yeats
senator of the Irish Free State, poet, playwright, writer, dramatist, founded the Abbey Theatre
1865-1939 (74)
poetryfoundation.org