culture. education. literary studies.
I havenโt blogged much about the history of the English language, but the arrival of summer is just begging for a quick introduction to something called Middle English. It's a form of English spoken in the Middle Ages, between the 11th and the 16th century. During that period, Old English underwent massive changes that eventually …
If you like dark and gloomy crime TV with a touch of supernatural and mythological, donโt miss the French series Black Spot on Netflix. When I first started watching Black Spot (orig. Zone blanche), I assumed it would be a typical crime story set in a small place in the middle of nowhere (just the …
Continue reading "Searching for Cernunnos in Villefranche: a review of ‘Black Spot’"
[This post has been written with ESL/EFL students in mind, CEFR level B1 and above.] Thus sang Billie Holiday in a lovely song first recorded in 1937. Besides her, many others have made use of the three forms of the 1st person singular pronoun like that, to emphasise the intensity of their feelings: not just …
Continue reading "Me, myself and I… Personal pronouns in English"
[This post has been written with ESL/EFL students in mind, CEFR level B2 and above.] Letโs be honest, reading poetry doesnโt come naturally to most of us. Same as with visual arts or classical music, sometimes it's difficult to understand complex symbolism or to follow a poetโs train of thought. And what to do with …
Continue reading "How to interpret a poem (with a little help from Walt Whitman)"
grammaticus 