2. Poet introduction

William Makepeace Thackeray was born in \(1811\) in Kolkata, India. He was an English novelist, poet and illustrator. He was the son of an administrator who worked in the East India company and therefore was attached to the Indian culture as well. But he was taken back to London at a very young age, where he grew up to be one of the famous writers. His early school life was lonely and miserable, but he made the best out of his college as he went to Trinity College, Cambridge.

 

He initially considered choosing painting as his profession. He was a very creative person who was gifted with the ability to write. But in his initial days, he did not have much luck with publishing his works. He was an ardent fan of travelling and exploring new places.

 

He started publishing his articles in magazines first, as the nineteenth century in England was the age of magazines. Great writers published their works as a series of chapters. Every week would bring out a new chapter. Thackeray contributed heavily to Fraser's Magazine and Plush. Writers use pen names to publish in earlier days, where they would use a different name for their identity to be hidden. He used a lot of pen names such as The Fat Contributor, Ikey Solomons.

 

Thackeray is famous for his satirical style of writing. Satire is a style where one writes humorously to attack a silly idea or person. He wrote light verse and comedies. His most famous work is the novel  'Vanity Fair', which he published serially in monthly parts. This was the first work that was published under his own name. His most famous quote, "We are for the most part foolish and selfish people all eager after vanities" appeared in this novel.

 

His famous works include: