“When I was young and had no senseIn far-off MandalayI lost my heart to a Burmese girlAs lovely as the day.Her skin was gold, her hair was jet,her teeth were ivory;I said, "For twenty silver pieces,Maiden, sleep with me."She looked at me, so pure, so sad,The loveliest thing alive,And in her lisping, virgin voice,Stood out for twenty-five.”

English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic

George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic. He is known for writing with clear prose and for work shaped by social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and support for democratic socialism. His writing is marked by direct language and a strong political conscience. Across his novels, essays, and journalism, he returns to questions of power, public life, and freedom, and he is closely associated with criticism of totalitarian rule and with democratic socialist ideas.