English literature Also in 1896 A.E. Housman published at his own expense "A Shropshire Lad". Writers of comic verse included the dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator W.S. Gilbert (1836–1911), who is best known for his fourteen comic operas, produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include "H.M.S. Pinafore", and "The Pirates of Penzance". Novelist Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) wrote poetry throughout his career, but he did not publish his first collection until 1898, so that he tends to be treated as a 20th-century poet. Now regarded as a major poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins's (1844–1889) "Poems" were
Pygmalion (opera) Pygmalion (opera) Pygmalion is a monodrama in one act by composer Georg Benda with a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. The opera's first performance was at the , the court theatre in Gotha, on September 20, 1779. "Pygmalion" was the fourth of the five theatrical collaborations of Benda and Gotter. Gotter based his text on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1762 play "Pygmalion". Benda's melodrama is unusual as it has three characters but only one spoken role. Two of the parts are silently acted on stage. Pygmalion, having renounced women, is in love with the statue he has made, his Galatea. Venus