Samuel Langhorne Clemens was an American author and humorist. He is considered to be “the father of American literature", while “all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”
He was born two months prematurely on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He remained in poor health until the age of seven. According to Mark Twain’s official biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine his mother, Jane Clemens was “an outspoken, keen-witted, charitable woman” with “a heart full of pity” (14), but had a firm hand when the occasion required it.”Whereas his father John Clemens “seldom devoted any time to the company of his children” and “rarely laughed”. (as cited by Shrum, 2014a, para.3, in the article Mark Twain’s …show more content…
Samuel Clemens’s life experiences, mainly as a Mississippi River Boat Captain are portrayed in Mark Twain’s writings. These very experiences on the river are the reason of why Clemens received the pseudonym Mark Twain. The term ‘mark twain’ was used by sailors who used their sounding lead to determine the depth water. ‘Twain’ means two, which is a safe depth of water for steamboats to sail. He first used this pen name in a satirical article while he was working as a report for the newspaper Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City. “All of his writings to date had appeared anonymously, or over his initials, or under a ‘nom de plume’ (pen name) such as W. Epaminondas Adrastus Blab, Sergeant Fathom, Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, or Josh.” (Scharnhorst, G., 2016, …show more content…
Three years later, he writes his first travel book The Innocents Abroad. In one of the travels he met Charles Langdon, the son of a wealthy coal merchant. He was charmed by his sister’s photograph and demanded to see her in person. He and Olivia Langton exchanged letters for a year and even though she turned him down once, she married him in 1870 in Elmira, New York. She was his editor in many of his literary works. They had four children: his son Langdon, and his three daughters Susy, Sara and Jean. Unfortunately, only Clara survived. Due to several bad investments which brought financial struggles, the Clemens family could not afford to live in Connecticut. That is why they moved to Europe. His wife, Olivia Clemens died in 1904 at age 58.
Two weeks after Twain was born, the Halley’s Comet had approached the Earth. The Comet returns every 75 years. He foresaw in 1909 that he would die the following year along with the Comet’s coming. That is exactly what happened. He died in 1910, at the age of 75 from a heart attack.
Other novels that Mark Twain has written include The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1881), Life on the Mississippi (1883), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), The American Claimant (1892), Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894), Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896),
He was born two months prematurely on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He remained in poor health until the age of seven. According to Mark Twain’s official biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine his mother, Jane Clemens was “an outspoken, keen-witted, charitable woman” with “a heart full of pity” (14), but had a firm hand when the occasion required it.”Whereas his father John Clemens “seldom devoted any time to the company of his children” and “rarely laughed”. (as cited by Shrum, 2014a, para.3, in the article Mark Twain’s …show more content…
Samuel Clemens’s life experiences, mainly as a Mississippi River Boat Captain are portrayed in Mark Twain’s writings. These very experiences on the river are the reason of why Clemens received the pseudonym Mark Twain. The term ‘mark twain’ was used by sailors who used their sounding lead to determine the depth water. ‘Twain’ means two, which is a safe depth of water for steamboats to sail. He first used this pen name in a satirical article while he was working as a report for the newspaper Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City. “All of his writings to date had appeared anonymously, or over his initials, or under a ‘nom de plume’ (pen name) such as W. Epaminondas Adrastus Blab, Sergeant Fathom, Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, or Josh.” (Scharnhorst, G., 2016, …show more content…
Three years later, he writes his first travel book The Innocents Abroad. In one of the travels he met Charles Langdon, the son of a wealthy coal merchant. He was charmed by his sister’s photograph and demanded to see her in person. He and Olivia Langton exchanged letters for a year and even though she turned him down once, she married him in 1870 in Elmira, New York. She was his editor in many of his literary works. They had four children: his son Langdon, and his three daughters Susy, Sara and Jean. Unfortunately, only Clara survived. Due to several bad investments which brought financial struggles, the Clemens family could not afford to live in Connecticut. That is why they moved to Europe. His wife, Olivia Clemens died in 1904 at age 58.
Two weeks after Twain was born, the Halley’s Comet had approached the Earth. The Comet returns every 75 years. He foresaw in 1909 that he would die the following year along with the Comet’s coming. That is exactly what happened. He died in 1910, at the age of 75 from a heart attack.
Other novels that Mark Twain has written include The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1881), Life on the Mississippi (1883), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), The American Claimant (1892), Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894), Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896),