Knowra Thomas De Quincey Thomas De Quincey Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859) was an English essayist and literary critic whose autobiographical writing, especially Confessions of an English Opium-Eater , helped shape modern prose.
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater : Thomas De Quincey’s autobiographical account of opium use, first published in 1821. This is the work that made his life with opium a subject of literary nonfiction.
Prose style : The characteristic choices of diction, syntax, rhythm, and structure in written prose. De Quincey’s elaborate sentences and shifts in tone made style central to his reputation.
William Wordsworth : An English Romantic poet whose works include Lyrical Ballads and The Prelude . De Quincey knew Wordsworth and wrote influential reminiscences of the poet and his circle.
On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth : An essay by De Quincey interpreting the knocking heard after Duncan’s murder in Shakespeare’s Macbeth . It exemplifies his close attention to a small dramatic detail and its psychological force.
Literary Modernism : A broad literary movement that experimented with form and represented fractured experience, especially in the early twentieth century. Modernist writers inherited a tradition of prose that treats consciousness and memory as formal subjects.
Romanticism : A cultural movement emphasizing imagination, emotion, nature, and individual experience. De Quincey’s heightened imagination and inward-looking prose belong to Romantic literary culture.
Digression : A departure from a work’s main subject before returning to it or moving elsewhere. His essays often use extended detours to generate reflection and narrative momentum.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge : An English Romantic poet and critic, best known for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Biographia Literaria . De Quincey’s encounters with Coleridge informed his portraits of the Lake Poets.
On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts : A satirical essay by De Quincey that treats murder as though it were an art subject to aesthetic judgment. Its dark comic premise displays his ability to combine criticism, parody, and provocation.
Gothic fiction : A literary mode using terror, mystery, and uncanny settings to explore fear and transgression. His opium visions and accounts of terror fed later Gothic treatments of psychological experience.
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