In the famed English poet Shelley's "A Defence of Poetry," he mentions a number of prose writers whom he feels embody and prove and demonstrate and employ certain qualities in their writing and in their writings which put them more in the classification of poet than writer. Here, then is that list of those great men (only sadly, a very few of whom have I yet read or even heard of):
I). The Greco-Roman Classical Incunubular Historian Prose-Writer Poets (According to Shelley and his "A Defence of Poetry"):
1. Herodotus (Greek)
2. Plato (Greek)
3. Livy (Roman)
4. Plutarch (Roman)
II). The Neoclassical European (Franco-English/Anglo-French) Philosopher/Political Pundit Prose-Writer Poets (Once again, according to Shelley's "A Defence of Poetry"):
1. Bacon (English)
2. Rousseau (French)
Also, in his "ADOP," Shelley mentions that most poets are "the unacknowledged legislators of the world." I just thought that was rather neat, and so have included it. I would also, somewhat relevantly, like to include a quote of Bulwer-Lytton's which goes: "......The pen is mightier than the sword." I think, too, if I am not mistaken, that Bulwer-Lytton is the author of "The Last Days of Pompeii" a classic novel I have always wanted to read-and own-ever since first discovering it. That desire to read that, in turn, probably stems from my enjoyment of Lew Wallace's epic of the ancient Near Eastern world, "Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ", and I always seem to enjoy the works of eighteenth or nineteenth century Anglo-American (or even Western/Central/Southern/Eastern European) authors that are about and are set in ancient times or are about Ancient Rome or Ancient Greece or anything like that, so long as it is fictional...historical fiction in the classical sense.
Miscellaneous Note: I do, however, happen to have a work of Rousseau's entitled, I believe, "A Social Contract" or "The Social Contract"
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