Who was Thomas More and what was his contribution to English literature?

Thomas More was a writer in the Renaissance period.

• – He was a pioneer of travel writing and a political critic of the English monarchy
• – He was involved in the scandals between the Church and King Henry VIII: he opposed the King’s divorce and his second marriage – because of that he was beheaded
• His most famous work is Utopia:
• – we believe the term ‘utopia’ was coined by More himself; Utopia = nowhere land, imaginary society
• – the search for Utopia = the search for the perfect government (equal right for men and women, free will in religion)
• – Political science fiction
• – 2 books:
• o Book 1 analyses the evils of his age in an ironic, realistic manner
• o Book 2 is satirical – state with religious tolerance, physical comforts, honesty and good faith
• – Translated into many language and an inspiration to many other authors (Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe; Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels; William Golding’s Lord of The Flies; Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World;…)