epistle: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Topics

literature Novel children’s literature dramatic literature biography folk literature Modernist literature short story epic romance Poetry

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

nonfictional prose: Dialogues

Key People

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

Anglo-Irish author and clergyman

Emily Dickinson, c. 1847

Emily Dickinson

American poet

Horace, bronze medal, 4th century; in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

Horace

Roman poet

Marble bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero, shown with short hair and draped clothing, displayed against a black background.

Cicero

Roman statesman, scholar, and writer

Engraving of Petrarch wearing a laurel wreath and a robe, holding a closed book in his left hand.

Petrarch

Italian poet

David Garrick as Richard III

David Garrick

English actor, poet, and producer

Portrait of Abigail Adams by Gilbert Stuart, showing her seated and wearing a lace bonnet and shawl over a red dress, with a neutral background.

Abigail Adams

American first lady

default image

Leslie Marmon Silko

American author

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, detail of an oil painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1715; in a private collection

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

British author

Portrait of novelist Frances Burney

Frances Burney

British author

Pliny the Younger

Pliny the Younger

Roman author

Poggio Bracciolini, Gian Francesco

Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini

Italian scholar

Walpole, Horace

Horace Walpole

English author

Lamb, Mary Ann; Lamb, Charles

Charles Lamb

British author

default image

Pietro Aretino

Italian author

default image

Titus Pomponius Atticus

Roman author

portrait of Philip Stanhope, 4th earl of Chesterfield

Philip Stanhope, 4th earl of Chesterfield

British statesman, diplomat, and writer

default image

Magnus Felix Ennodius

Italian bishop and writer

Bettina von Arnim

Bettina von Arnim

German writer

default image

Thomas Creevey

English politician