Thomas Dunn English

author

Thomas Dunn English

1819–1902

A doctor, novelist, and politician, he led a life far wider than the page alone. He is also remembered for his long-running feud with Edgar Allan Poe, which still shadows his literary reputation.

1 Audiobook

The boy's book of battle-lyrics : a collection of verses illustrating some notable events in the history of the United States of America, from the colonial period to the outbreak of the sectional war

The boy's book of battle-lyrics : a collection of verses illustrating some notable events in the history of the United States of America, from the colonial period to the outbreak of the sectional war

by Thomas Dunn English

About the author

Born in Philadelphia in 1819, Thomas Dunn English built an unusually varied career as a physician, lawyer, newspaper editor, songwriter, novelist, and politician. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, practiced as a doctor, and later served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from New Jersey.

As a writer, he published poems, fiction, and songs, including the once-popular ballad Ben Bolt. His work appeared in the lively magazine culture of the 1840s, and his name remains closely tied to Edgar Allan Poe because of their public quarrel, which spilled into essays, fiction, and personal attacks.

English died in 1902 in Newark, New Jersey. Though he is not as widely read today as some of his contemporaries, his life offers a vivid glimpse of 19th-century American literary and political life, where one person could move between medicine, journalism, Congress, and the writing desk.