weekly posts on literature, languages, and learning
The Grammaticus blog is no stranger to the works of Sarah Orne Jewett. Her novella The Country of the Pointed Firs is one of my favourite books, and I wrote about it in the review accessible here. In this post we’ll read one of her winter-themed children’s poems: A Country Boy in Winter, first published …
Continue reading "“A Country Boy in Winter” by Sarah Orne Jewett"
Helen Hunt Jackson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on 15 October, 1830. A prolific writer, poet, and activist dedicated to the rights of Native Americans, she also happened to be a classmate of another—nowadays much more famous—Amherst poet: Emily Dickinson. The two women remained in contact throughout their lives, chiefly through correspondence. Helen Hunt Jackson …
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 19 January 1809, Edgar Allan Poe is widely recognised as one of the seminal voices of the American literature. Best known as the master of the macabre, his writings are very diverse, including numerous short stories, essays, and poems. Almost two centuries after his death, his Dark Romanticist writings continue …
Continue reading "“A Dream Within a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe"
We’ve encountered Walt Whitman’s poetry on this blog before: in a longish post where I offered some advice on how to interpret poems, I presented his poem To a Stranger. And now I would like to share with you another poem of his, on a similar theme of the need for love and companionship. Walt …
The Weekend Listener is an eclectic weekly list of noteworthy podcasts and radio recordings, old and new, curated for your listening pleasure. Posts in this series are published on Fridays – please search the website for the previous instalments. LANGUAGE The Allusionist | Toki Pona Toki Pona flag Learning a new language is always a …
With Thanksgiving Day (the U.S. one) coming up, in this week’s poetry post I’ll share with you a cheerful holiday-themed poem. Titled “A Thanksgiving Dinner”, it was written by Maude M. Grant (1876-1941), a children’s poet and fiction writer from Michigan. If you’re learning or teaching English, you can use this poem to introduce or …
Continue reading "“A Thanksgiving Dinner” by Maude M. Grant"
Alice Cary was a 19th century American poet. Born in 1820, she grew up in rural Ohio, on a family farm run by her father William. Although living far from any schools and lacking formal education, Alice was an avid reader with a thirst for knowledge. She and her sister Phoebe started writing poetry in …
In many countries around the world, 2nd November is marked as the Day of the Dead. It is a day on which people remember their loved ones who have passed away; they might visit their graves or attend special religious services. On that theme, for this week’s poetry post I have chosen a poem by …
Continue reading "“Haunted Houses” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"
The Weekend Listener is an eclectic weekly list of noteworthy podcasts and radio recordings, old and new, curated for your listening pleasure. Posts in this series are published on Fridays – please search the website for the previous instalments. LANGUAGE The World in Words: How the Basque language has survived The Basque Land, Library of …
In this post I would like to invite you to read and ponder on a poem by one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, Robert Frost. It is titled “October”, first published in England in 1913, in a largely autobiographical collection of poems called A Boy’s Will. O hushed October morning mild,Thy leaves …
grammaticus 