Alfred Tennyson was a celebrated 19th century English poet whose life and work largely coincided with the reign of Queen Victoria. He was in many ways the embodiment of the Victorian literary tastes and widely recognised as Britainโs leading poet of the time, not the least through being honoured with the title of the Poet …
“October” by Robert Frost
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 โOctoberโ, first published in England in 1913, in a largely autobiographical collection of poems called A Boyโs Will. O hushed October morning mild,Thy leaves …
Discussing Wordsworth’s poem ‘The Tables Turned’
In an earlier post about interpreting poetry, I tried to convince my readers of the merits of reading poems and enjoying them as a form of art. There I also presented a six-step approach to interpreting poems that I will be referring to throughout this article, so you might want to have a look at …
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How to interpret a poem (with a little help from Walt Whitman)
[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 …
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