Literature
The Lady of Shalott as Artist and Artwork
“The Lady of Shalott,” by Alfred, Lord Tenneyson, poetically portrays the tragic artist, set in the context of an Arthurian legend. Through the use of imagery and description, the poet “paints” the sequence of the events through the scene, and ultimately depicts the Lady of Shalott, an artist, rendering her own death as her final [...]
No Shame, No Fear
Set in England in the year 1662, “No Shame, No Fear” is a book which focuses on a segment in the life of Susanna Thorn. Susanna lives with her family, who are Quakers persecuted by the English government for their religious practices. After a raid in which her father’s loom gets taken in lieu of [...]
The Bad Mood: Book Review
Anger management can be tough at any age, but young children seem especially vulnerable to temper fits and feelings of outrage. The Bad Mood by German author Moritz Petz and wonderfully illustrated by Amelie Jackowski presents a fine take on the common problem of the bad mood. The premise of this picture book has a [...]
Your Local Library – A Delight for All the Senses
If your idea of the local library is that of rows upon rows of books, all arranged according to some archaic system, chances are you have not visited a modern library for quite some time. While those carefully arranged rows of books are still there, they have been joined by a plethora of other educational [...]
I’m Not the Baby: Book Review
I’m Not the Baby is a charming children’s picture book that is both written and illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Although a resident of Albuquerque, McElmurry has drawn her influence for this recently published story from the Victorian era and it’s this influence that sets this book apart from all the rest. Elegant, humorous and a [...]
Divine Compassion in the Iliad
Before discussing where in the Iliad the subject of divine compassion appears, it is important to understand exactly what compassion, and more specifically, divine compassion, is. Compassion is the desire of one person to relieve another person’s state of distress–a type of sympathy which moves someone to aid someone else. Divine compassion is that compassion [...]
Dante. His Life and Work
Dante – Our Fellow Pilgrim In his survey of Western Literature, The Western Canon, Harold Bloom has ranked two writers higher than all others: Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri, the medieval Italian poet. This rating has been commonplace for as long as the formal study of literature has existed; for hundreds of years Dante’s most important [...]
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book,” as the movie states. And it’s true! Douglas Adams’ vision of life after earth is one of uproariously hilarious escapade after escapade. Since its inception, the story has undergone many changes as it adapted itself to a variety of mediums: radio program, TV show [...]
Investigating the Death of Jack Kerouac
Prior to his death, the writer Jack Kerouac sustained a violent beating in the Cactus Bar, a local tavern located in a black neighborhood in St. Petersburg, Florida. This event is of some significance, as the accounts of Kerouac’s last year in Florida are often sketchy. In all of the biographies written about Jack Kerouac [...]
Dante Allighiere: Poet
Dante is generally considered as one of the greatest Italian poets of all time, as well as one of the greatest poets that Western civilization has ever produced. Dante was born in Florence, Italy, in May 1265, to Florentine Aleghiero Alighieri, a moneylender, and his wife, Bella. Dante was the heir of a poor but [...]