Literature

Who was Robert “Robbie” Burns? He has long been revered as the national poet of Scotland and the country’s favourite son. Each 25th January, his birthdate is celebrated with traditional Burns Night suppers and events which end with the singing of Old Lang Syne, which he wrote as a poem in 1788.

“April is the cruellest month...” Why wake us from our dreams? Eliot discusses a world that we know all too well.

Hoyt W. Fuller, critic, editor, and founder of the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), has pointed out that Langston Hughes possessed a "deceptive and profound simplicity." Fuller insists that understanding these qualities in Hughes is the key to understanding and appreciating his poetry.

A look at the ideas explored in Hemingway's classic novella.

The speaker in Phillis Wheatley’s "A Hymn to the Evening" offers her spiritually motivated song/prayer as a tribute to evening, the part of the day when nightly slumber is arriving in all its glory.

A poetic retelling of the story about Noah and the Ark, this narrative poem is one of Johnson’s seven sermons in verse appearing in his collection, God’s Trombones. At certain points in the story, the narrator offers his own interpretations, embellishing the tale and adding further interest.

Audre Lorde’s "Father Son and Holy Ghost" celebrates memories of a belovèd father, who has died and who served as a rôle model for moral behavior. The speaker’s devotion becomes palpable as she relives special features of her father and her reaction to them.

This epitaph engages a number of historical references as the speaker, as the fictional character, Adam Weirauch, reports on his life’s failures. Masters has often successfully engaged this strategy for creating his characters in his American classic, featuring the speaking dead.

Former U. S. poet laureate, Rita Dove, offers a simple yet powerful tribute to one of America’s heroes, Rosa Parks, who through her act of defiance by simply continuing to occupy a bus seat, became known as the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement."

Phillis Wheatley’s classically influenced poem, "On Imagination," explores the powerful force of human imagination. Wheatley demonstrates her remarkable talent for use of mythological allusion and the classical forms in which she was trained and in which she excelled.

Emily Dickinson's "He touched me, so I live to know" dramatizes an experience in mystical union with the Divine Reality. Likening her experience to being touched by a lover, she makes clear immediately that her Visitor was, in fact, the Creator of the Cosmos, not merely a human lover.

Emily Dickinson’s speaker in "Could live – did live" is speculating about the possible inner motivation that urged on the heart of an individual acquaintance who has now died. He did live, she insists, but what drove him?—This man, who seems to have maintained such an evenminded temperament.

'The Horses' is Edwin Muir's post-apocalyptic poem where human and horse meet up again to begin life anew. The seven-day war is over, machines defunct, there is work to be done and the horses, symbols of spirit, have come to ignite fresh hope. Free verse narrative, simple language, profound story.

S. Omar Barker’s Christmas poem, "A Cowboy’s Christmas Prayer," features a humble cowpoke, who is not accustomed to praying but is offering his heart-felt supplication at Christmas time. As he prays, he reveals the qualities and issues of his life that are most important to him.

Buck Ramsey's "Christmas Waltz" dramatizes a holiday celebration on the ranch. The participants all join in a joyful preparation for their celebration as they keep their faith central and focused.

Short lines in short stanzas reflect the fall of the son who went too far. Williams based his poem on a 16th century painting by Brueghel which depicts the mythological Icarus drowning in the sea whilst sailors, a shepherd, fisherman and farmer carry on life as normal. An example of ecphrasis.

The legendary hero, Pecos Bill, gargling with nitroglycerin and chewing on habanero peppers, saved Christmas one year. Accompanied by his horse, Widow Maker, Pecos Bill performs his extreme acts throughout cowboy folklore.

Badger Clark's "The Christmas Trail" has become a classic in cowboy poetry, dramatizing the cow poke's exploits through each season, while enjoying his journey home for Christmas.

"Christmas Week in Sagebrush" dramatizes the activities offered in the little town of Sagebrush as the cow pokes, their families, and friends do some shopping and spending.

Porphyria's Lover is a chilling dramatic monologue detailing the murder of a lover by a heartbroken and unstable partner. Browning's skilfully paced rhyming narrative brings sexual tension and takes the reader into the mind of the murderer who waits for the perfect moment before committing the act.

A "hard-bitten ol' cowpoke" experiences a mystical experience that changes his heart in the Christmas ballad. He will carry his new change of heart into his daily cow poking life as he honors "the Great Trail Boss in the Sky."

'They shut me up in Prose' is another of Emily Dickinson's 'protest' poems, where in three short stanzas she outlines why it is futile to put her in a closet, as if she were a little girl. Her lively brain, like a bird, will continue creating poetry. No prose, no subservience for this genius.

The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s "A Day! Help! Help! Another Day!" dramatizes the intensity with which an individual may view the simple act of the opening of a day. She concludes by revealing the superior power of the soul in overcoming all adversity.

Metaphorically, the entities of creation may be compared to bubbles, mysteriously coming into being, moving about for a time, and then leaving. The speaker in "Vanishing Bubbles" dramatizes the coming/going phenomenon which causes the human heart/mind grief. He then offers the remedy for the grief.

This article traces the inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s character and plot creation for his Gothic story of Dracula, taking the reader on a visit to Whitby and Cruden Bay, two of Stoker's favoured holiday locations, on the North-East coast of the UK.

Full analysis and summary of i carry your heart with me (i carry it in, a love sonnet from e.e.cummings. The theme is traditional, love and affection, but the syntax, grammar and form is typical cummings: unorthodox, playful and off the beaten track. Experimental layout carries spontaneous feelings

Edith Nesbit wrote some enjoyable books. The Psammead that she created is a strange character that grants the wishes of children, often with unexpected results.

Claude McKay’s reputation in the art of poetry is bolstered by his many classic poems that demonstrate his skill in creating universally thematic pieces that remain timeless.

William Butler Yeats’ widely anthologized "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" remains one of the poet’s most famous poems. Its emphasis on yearning to live a quiet, peaceful life renders it a pleasurable reading experience—the kind of poem that anyone taking a poetry break would appreciate.

In "I robbed the Woods," Emily Dickinson creates a speaker who confesses to a crime: she has robbed the "trusting" woods and "unsuspecting" trees, and she later wonders what those natural beings will say about her brazen act.

Li-Young Lee's The Gift is an atmospheric poem that focuses on the relationship a child has with his father by contrasting two similar scenarios from his life. The poet remembers the threat of a metal sliver in his finger, removed by his father; now he must pull out a splinter from his wife's thumb.

"Directive" is Robert Frost's "grail" poem, a single stanza that invites the reader on a journey into the work and life of the poet. Using metaphor, symbol and allusion, Frost suggests that an individual quest for transformative renewal through poetic inspiration, more than stays confusion.

Fans of Perry Mason have always been sure that he and Della Street had a romantic relationship. They're right!

Having special gifts comes with special kinds of problems. For Dan, it is running from his past and helping others like him when danger comes along.

Amos Sibley is a preacher who wants to divorce his wife; he is detailing her shortcomings and explaining his reason for hesitating on the divorce. Mrs. Sibley offers a cryptic response of her own.

'Kubla Khan' is Coleridge's opium-inspired poem, full of exotic imagery and romantic symbolism. The poem essentially explores human will and poetic imagination; what can be achieved in Nature and what can be imagined. Creative dream, remembered song, unusual rhyme scheme and structure.

Four children and a Psammead explore the past with the aid of a magic amulet, which is controlled by a strange entity. The story has an unexpected ending.

What does the word "antiphrasis" elicit in your mind? Is it "anti-" meaning against, and "phrasis" meaning phrases? You will learn more about this common and widely used technique by many poets whether they know what they are doing or not.

In this poem, Emily Dickinson’s speaker is contemplating her spiritual garden, wherein she plants and grows the metaphorical seeds for her poems. She introduced this garden in the poem, "There is another sky."

Edith Nesbit wrote some interesting and popular children's books. One of them includes a Phoenix that talks, a carpet that flies, and five adventurous siblings.

'Mock Orange' is Louise Glück's short, intense feminist poem focusing on the effects of the love act between the male and female. The mock orange plant mimics the real orange and becomes a metaphor for the falseness of sex, which the speaker hates because it is linked to the physical power of men.

Early American poet, Philip Freneau, has been designated as the "Father of American Poetry" and the "Poet of the Revolution." He was the first notable early American poet to have been born in the American homeland.

Rebecca Serle takes the reader through an array of emotions in this book, all the while keeping the ending hidden. You will truly have no idea where she is going with it, until she gets there.

American poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, never married nor produced offspring, but he lived a full life, filled with political activism, working to abolish the institution of slavery, editing political and literary publications, and creating some of the most widely read poetry in the American canon.

As in her riddle-poem, "I have a Bird in spring," Dickinson is employing the bird metaphor to muse on the possibility that her special awareness might abandon her. The bird becomes a useful poetic device for this poet, as she often bestows on her talent the characteristic of flight.

The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s "By such and such an offering" is exploring the nature of duplicity by those who feign elevated status through appropriating experience that they have not in fact endured.

"When I Die" is a spiritual poem written by the famous Persian spiritual scholar Jalal ad Din Rumi, simply known as Rumi. This article provides an analysis.

'Mont Blanc' is Shelley's philosophical poem in which he explores the idea that the human mind is part of the great flow of things, passive yet imaginatively aware of the awesome teaching power of nature. Using metaphor and vivid imagery, the atheist romantic brings platonic form as faithful guide.

This is a story of struggle and success. It will encourage you to "faith it 'til you make it." Yvonne Orji's style is uniquely interesting, with humor everywhere, even when she cites Bible references.