Spring just isn’t spring until I can share Wordsworth’s delight in daffodils. Poetry is experience distilled to its essence. Once you’ve enjoyed an experience through poetry, you’ll find that both experience and poem are enriched. The daffodils are in full...
I took my own advice this afternoon and went for a walk outside. It was a beautiful, balmy afternoon, so I walked the path my boys made through the woods for me, then went down to sit by the creek...
I’m thinking about spring, and the need to seize the day, and do the thing that is appropriate for the moment. It’s time to emerge from our winter cocoons! Spring means being outdoors, breathing great gulps of crispy-fresh air, moving...
I love old books. Although I strongly advocate reading whole works for high school literature, I find that old readers can be very useful in introducing an author and creating a taste for his or her work. I was browsing...
John Clare CLARE, JOHN (1793–1864), an English poet, was born 13 July 1793, at Helpstone, a village halfway between Peterborough and Stamford. Early Life John Clare had a twin sister who died before him....
Poets can be inspired by many things, but honestly — bugs? I guess if you’re writing about the month of August, it’s almost inevitable that some variety of insect will appear. You’ll find bugs...
Outline of American Literature: Chapter 4 The Romantic Period, 1820-1860: Essayists and Poets By Kathryn VanSpanckeren TRANSCENDENTALISM Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Walt Whitman (1819-1892) THE BRAHMIN POETS Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)...
Cinderella OR A Little Glass Slipper This rags-to-riches folk tale of unjust oppression and triumphant reward features Cinderella, a young woman living in difficult circumstances. Through the intervention of a fairy godmother, she is...
William Cowper (1731–1800), an English poet, was born in the rectory (now rebuilt) of Great Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, on the 26th of November (O.S. 15th) 1731, his father the Rev. John Cowper being rector of...
