The line between madness and genius is a thin one, and Ernest Hemingway would often stuble over this line with a drink in one hand and a bag of emotional damage in the other. However, fighter that he was, Ernest would battle againt the nature of his upbringing to be the leading light of his generation, and usher in a completely unique style that influences many writers even today. 

From humble-ish middle class beginnings, Virginia Woolf left a legacy so bright she commands our respect As one of the greatest writers of the the 20th Century.

As the greatest poet of his age Lord Byron held the world in thrall with his art, but it was his personal life that truly made him the legend he is today... for better or worse (definitely worse!).