blocks

title

description

User must be logged in to see this content. Hidden from sitemap and search crawlers.

private

Map this to a content key in the sub navigation to load that into the page header

contentKey

page

Core:Section

Core:Button

Columns

Text

EARLY LESSONS<o:p></o:p>I was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri, the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. When I was four years old, our family moved to nearby Hannibal, a bustling town of 1,000 people on the Mississippi River. I loved to watch the riverboats and dreamed of becoming a riverboat pilot.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F39ccd4a035154e669c2a425718ae4c31" alt="" style="width: 25%;"> <o:p></o:p>My father had many jobs and longed to be rich, but sometimes he found it hard just to feed his family. I don’t think I ever heard him laugh. My mother, on the other hand, was fun-loving and enjoyed telling stories to us. She also encouraged us to see the positives in any situation, although she sometimes despaired when I was mischievous!<o:p></o:p>My father died unexpectedly when I was 11. Our family became almost destitute and endured years of poverty. This impacted my beliefs and attitudes towards life. I was determined to seize every opportunity life gave me. I left school at the age of 12 to help earn an income for my family.<o:p></o:p>FINDING A CAREER<o:p></o:p>When I was 15, I got a job at my brother’s newspaper. My job was to arrange the letters for the newspaper’s stories, and this allowed me to read the news of the world while doing my work. I also created articles and sketches for the paper and became known for my humour.<o:p></o:p>When I was 18, I decided to head east to New York City and Philadelphia. I worked on several different newspapers and had a bit of success in writing articles. <o:p></o:p>In 1857, I returned home to fulfil my dream of becoming a riverboat pilot. Two years later, with my pilot license in hand, I began work on the river. I loved it – but in 1861 there was the start of the Civil War and all boats along the river came to a halt. <o:p></o:p>I was hired as a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. I began writing news, sketching and creating articles under the name of Mark Twain. I chose the name because ‘mark the twain’ was slang in the steamboat world for ‘12 feet of water’, which meant it was safe to travel.<o:p></o:p>My writing was friendly, funny, and down to earth. I became one of the best-known storytellers in the West.<o:p></o:p>A PUBLISHED AUTHOR<o:p></o:p>My first ‘big break’ came with the publication of my short story ‘Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog’, in papers across the country. A year later, I was hired by a newspaper in Sacramento, California, to visit and report on the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii). My writings were so popular that when I got back, I went on my first stage tour.<o:p></o:p>My next success came in1867, when I took a five-month cruise around the Mediterranean, writing about the sights in a tongue-in-cheek way for American newspapers. I later reworked the articles into a book titled ‘The Innocents Abroad’. It was published in 1869 and was an instant success and nationwide best seller. At just 34 years old, I had become one of the most popular and famous writers in America. <o:p></o:p>On that trip I met Charles Langdon, the son of a wealthy coal merchant. He showed me a photo of his sister, Olivia, and I fell in love with her right then and there. Livy and I got married in 1870. We went to live in Buffalo, New York, where I became a partner, editor and writer for the daily newspaper the Buffalo Express.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F85c2e0e450f54313a4e17a1383f986d3" alt="" style="width: 386.123px; height: 263.266px;"> <o:p></o:p>TELLING STORIES<o:p></o:p>Sadly, our son Langdon died of diphtheria when he was just 19 months old. But we were blessed with three daughters. In 1871, our family moved to Hartford, Connecticut. Parenthood led to my writing ‘river novels’ for children: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,&nbsp;Life on the Mississippi and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And I read each chapter to my family as I wrote them. The books were based on all the adventures I’d had living and working on the Mississippi River, and I wanted to retell them for young readers. <o:p></o:p>In 1900, Olivia and I moved to New York City. Olivia became ill and she and I decided to return to Italy, a place we both loved.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F4b340654c1c049c4aae299ba64e25640" alt="" style="width: 25%;"> <o:p></o:p>Tragically, Olivia died a year later. My dear friend, Helen Keller, who I had met in 1895, helped me through my grief. She also encouraged me to keep writing. <o:p></o:p>I spent the next few years, travelling, giving talks and receiving awards. In 1908, I moved from New York City to Redding, Connecticut. I was working on my autobiography, an incredible story of a poor boy from Hannibal, Missouri, who grew up to be one of the most well-known and well-loved humourists and writers of his time. Sadly, I was never able to finish it.<o:p></o:p>GLOSSARY<o:p></o:p>Destitute – very poor.<o:p></o:p>Tongue in cheek – to say something jokingly, but which appears to be serious. <o:p></o:p>Diphtheria – a serious illness that affects breathing and can cause heart failure and death.<o:p></o:p>Humourists – Writers who specialise in writing funny and amusing things.<o:p></o:p>LEGACY AND RECOGNITION<ul><li>Often called ‘the Father of American Literature’, Mark Twain was the most influential and famous writer in the USA. The great American author Ernest Hemingway wrote, ‘All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn’.</li><li>He went on a worldwide lecture tour in 1895 that took him across North America and then on to Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and points in between, arriving in England a little more than a year later.</li><li>Mark Twain believed in equal rights and he delivered the famous ‘Votes for Women’ speech.</li><li>Numerous places and structures have been named in his honour, including a cave, a lake, a national forest, a bridge over the Mississippi River and even an asteroid.</li><li>Mark Twain’s books have been translated into more than 75 languages, with more than 6,500 editions.</li></ul>IMAGE CAPTIONS AND CREDITS<o:p></o:p>Twain’s boyhood home, Andrew Balet, CC BY 2.5, viaWikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain,True Williams, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p>Mark Twain, A.F. Bradley, New York, Public domain,via Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p><div> </div>

Image

More Amazing People! If you liked this story, you might also enjoy these.

Want more? Check out these amazing resources and keep the learning going

EuHu

Character Strengths Strategic Overview

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Overview

Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategic Overview

Special Education Needs & Disability Strategic Overview