weekly posts on literature, languages, and learning
A while ago I posted a lengthy grammar article about the conditional sentences in English, and in this post we’ll read a poem by Rudyard Kipling that can be used to illustrate conditional clauses. It has some great vocabulary, too. (Not to mention lofty ideas!) Rudyard and John Kipling Titled “If—”, Kipling wrote this poem …
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"
Thomas Hardy was an English poet who lived and worked between two literary eras, connecting the legacy of British Romanticism with the early 20th century poetry. Best known as a novelist, thanks to classics such as Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, he is also rightly considered one of the finest …
Continue reading "“Winter in Durnover Field” by Thomas Hardy"
Last time we had a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson here on the blog, it was his lovely short piece “The Owl”. In this post I’d like to present “Ring Out, Wild Bells”: it’s a classic New Year’s Eve poem, filled with good wishes and hopeful pleas. First published in 1850, it addresses everything from …
Continue reading "A poem for the New Year: “Ring Out, Wild Bells” by Lord Alfred Tennyson"
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 …
In 2021 some of the major dictionary publishers chose words related to the pandemic, unsurprisingly, while others reflected on the broader social issues or tech developments. (If you don’t recall what those words were, click here to refresh your memory). With New Year’s just around the corner, let’s see which words marked the year 2022, …
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 Science Diction | Language Evolves: It’s Literally Fine Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.com Language constantly …
Dear readers, subscribers, and followers of the Grammaticus blog, I have the pleasure of sharing with you a small gift for the upcoming holidays: an ebook containing the unabridged version of the short story The Snow written by one of my favourite authors, Hugh Walpole. Hugh Walpole (1884-1941) Set in the fictional town of Polchester …
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 As It Happens | Swearing feels good - it’s also good for you Where the …
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) was a Canadian author nowadays best known for her novel Anne of Green Gables. Even those who haven’t read the book about the charming red-haired orphan girl must have watched the very successful 1985 TV series by the same title or the more recent Netflix adaptation Anne with an E. Lucy …
Continue reading "“The Forest Path” by Lucy Maud Montgomery"
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