Literature

‘Mending Wall’ is a 1914 poem by the American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963). Although it’s one of his most popular, it is also one of his most widely misunderstood – and, like another of his widely anthologised poems, ‘The Road Not Taken’, its most famous lines are often misinterpreted. Before we address these issues of

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle examines a famous phrase derived from Shakespeare The old line about Hamlet, that it’s ‘too full of quotations’, wittily sums up the play’s influence on not just English literature but on the everyday language we use. Many of us know, and some may use,

‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?’ So begins one of the most famous soliloquies in Shakespeare’s Macbeth – indeed, perhaps in all of Shakespeare. Before we offer an analysis of this scene – and summarise the meaning of the soliloquy – here is a reminder of

First published in 1819, ‘Rip Van Winkle’ is one of the most famous pieces of writing by Washington Irving, whose contribution to American literature was considerable. ‘Rip Van Winkle’ has become a byword for the idea of falling asleep and waking up to find the familiar world around us has changed. But what is less

On this episode, Kristen talks with Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House and Her Body and Other Parties, about home renovating, Philadelphia, foot surgery, and that time when her dog ate a weed gummy. From the episode: Carmen Maria Machado: I actually had a productive day today. So I am working, though

‘To a Wreath of Snow’ shows Emily Brontë (1818-48), some ten years before the publication of her sole novel Wuthering Heights (1847). Written when she was still a teenager, ‘To a Wreath of Snow’ deserves some words of analysis to illuminate the language and imagery Brontë so deftly uses in what might be described as

May 28, 2020, 2:10pm It’s the kind of timing a publisher dreams of. Less than one week out from its U.S. launch, latest Irish literary phenom Naoise Dolan’s debut novel Exciting Times (Ecco, June 2) has been optioned for TV. Yes, following a hugely successful release in the UK and Ireland back in April, when it

What are the most beautiful poems in English verse? There are many mellifluous, melodic, and pleasingly arranged poems in English literature, so picking ten was always going to be a tough call. However, for one reason or another – because they are visually striking, or because they put to effective use beautiful sound-effects like alliteration

In Russia, in the summer of 1914, as war with Germany looms and the Czar’s army tightens its grip on the local Jewish community, Miri Abramov and her brilliant physicist brother, Vanya, are facing an impossible decision. Since their parents drowned fleeing to America, Miri and Vanya have been raised by their babushka, a famous

How to reduce the whole span of an average human life into just a few lines of verse? Shakespeare managed it, in this famous speech from As You Like It, which begins with the famous declaration that ‘All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players’. Jaques’ ‘philosophy’ on the

May 27, 2020, 12:06pm The announcement of a forthcoming Amazon series focusing on Lisbeth Salander, the protagonist of Steig Larsson’s Millennium series, challenges our assumptions about what a literary adaptation actually is. We know that the Amazon show is currently titled The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. So, will it align thematically with Larsson’s 2005 book

‘Dreamers’ is a poem by the British poet of the First World War, Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967). Written while Sassoon was convalescing at Craiglockhart Hospital, ‘Dreamers’ is a poem which contrasts the realities of war with the soldiers’ longing for home and domestic comfort and security. You can read ‘Dreamers’ here before proceeding to our analysis

This is episode ten of The Antibody Reading Series, a weekly reading and Q and A hosted by Brian Gresko. [embedded content] Tonights guests are Elizabeth Kadetsky, Lisa Olstein, and Sejal Shah. You can buy their books from The Antibody‘s local indie, Greenlight Bookstore or from Bookshop: Elizabeth Kadetsky, The Memory Eaters*Lisa Olstein, Pain Studies*Sejal Shah, This is

May 26, 2020, 12:02pm Lockdown Lit @ Lunch with Mary South and Erin SomersTuesday, May 26, 2pm EDTLockdown Lit @ Lunch, a new weekly salon that spotlights books published during the coronavirus  pandemic, hosts Mary South (You Will Never Be Forgotten) and Erin Somers (Stay Up with Hugo Best) for brief readings and a discussion

One of the most original and endlessly thought-provoking dystopian novels of the whole twentieth century, A Clockwork Orange (1962) is Anthony Burgess’ best-known novel. But what is the message behind this curious novel? Stanley Kubrick’s famous 1971 film adaptation of the novel departed from the novel in some respects, so it’s worth offering a brief

Freedom and liberty have proved to be popular topics for poets down the ages, whether it’s Romantic poets espousing the values of liberty in the wake of the French Revolution or more recent poets musing upon the various meanings of freedom in the world. Here are ten of our favourite poems to touch upon freedom

In the second half of May of 1940, my grandfather Gaston Messud, a 34-year-old French Naval officer reporting to the Deuxième Bureau in Paris from Salonica on the movements of the Italians, all too aware of their imminent entry into the war on the Axis side (this occurred on June 10), and anxious, too, about