Editing Thomas Browne (section)

==Literary influence==
[[File:Title-page of 1658 edition of 'Urn-Burial' and 'The Garden of Cyrus'.jpg|thumb|right|Title page of 1658 edition of ''Urn-Burial'' together with ''The Garden of Cyrus'']]
Browne is widely considered one of the most original writers in the English language. The freshness and ingenuity of his mind invested everything he touched with interest; while on more important subjects his style, if frequently ornate and Latinate, often rises to the highest pitch of stately eloquence.  He has a [[paradox]]ical and ambiguous place in the [[history of ideas]], as equally, a devout Christian, a promoter of the new [[induction (philosophy)|inductive]] science, and an adherent of ancient [[esoteric]] learning. For these reasons, one literary critic succinctly assessed him as "an instance of scientific reason lit up by mysticism in the [[Church of England]]".{{sfn|Sencourt|1925|p=126}} However, the complexity of Browne's labyrinthine thought processes, his highly stylised language, his many allusions to Biblical, Classical and contemporary learning, along with esoteric authors, are each contributing factors to why he remains obscure, little-read, and, thus, misunderstood.{{citation required|date=August 2023}}

A master [[neologist]], Browne appears at number 69 in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''{{'}}s list of top-cited sources. He has 775 entries in the OED of first usage of a word, is quoted in a total of 4131 entries of first evidence of a word, and is quoted 1596 times as first evidence of a particular meaning of a word. Examples of his coinages, many of which are of a scientific or medical nature, include 'ambidextrous', 'antediluvian', 'analogous', 'approximate', 'ascetic', 'anomalous', 'carnivorous', 'coexistence', 'coma', 'compensate', 'computer', 'cryptography', 'cylindrical', 'disruption', 'ergotisms', 'electricity', 'exhaustion', 'ferocious', 'follicle', 'generator', 'gymnastic', 'hallucination', 'herbaceous', 'holocaust', 'insecurity', 'indigenous', 'jocularity', 'literary', 'locomotion', 'medical', 'migrant', 'mucous', 'prairie', 'prostate', 'polarity', 'precocious', 'pubescent', 'therapeutic', 'suicide', 'ulterior', 'ultimate' and 'veterinarian'.<ref name="Hil">{{cite web |last1=Hilton |first1=Denny |title=Sir Thomas Browne and the Oxford English Dictionary |url=http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/08/sir-thomas-browne/ |website=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=5 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131193716/http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/08/sir-thomas-browne/ |archive-date=31 January 2017 |date= 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The influence of his literary style spans four centuries. In the 19th century, Browne's reputation was revived by the [[romanticism|Romantics]]. [[Thomas De Quincey]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], and [[Charles Lamb (writer)|Charles Lamb]] (who considered himself the rediscoverer of Browne) were all admirers. Carlyle was also influenced by him.{{sfn|Barbour|2013}}{{page needed|date=February 2018}}

The composer [[William Alwyn]] wrote a [[symphony]] in 1973 based upon the rhythmical cadences of Browne's literary work ''[[Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lloyd-Jones |first1=David |asin=B000A17GGK |title=(Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra ) |date=2005 |publisher=Naxos}}</ref>

The [[Argentina|Argentinian]] writer [[Jorge Luis Borges]] alluded to Browne throughout his literary writings, from his first publication, ''Fervor de Buenos Aires'' (1923) until his last years. He described Browne as "the best prose writer in the English language".{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}