371. (William Wordsworth)

What opens when “pattern,” rather than “form” is allowed to guide our reading of literature? It might be thought a…

370. (Samuel Johnson)

Lately, I’ve been thinking—as a teacher and reader of criticism—about how criticism depends on discerning and working out various puzzles.…

Identity, though it dances to many tunes, stands on two legs: commitment and recognition. In the recent work on Shakespeare…

“How ‘blow’? How ‘blow’? Speak to be understood”—demands The Princess to Boyet in the final act of Love’s Labour’s Lost.…

Leopardi’s “La Sera Del Di Festa” (“The Evening of the Holiday” (that translations not one to which I will refer,…

In a work of literature, rightness of feeling coincides with a feeling of rightness; authors apprehend just what and how…

In my last post on Stevie Smith, I suggested that the poet writes from a perspective of innocence, translating into…

It might be tempting to think Stevie Smith is putting on an act; with such a thought, we might be…

A Poem of Despondencies . We go whatever route to run un- obstructed. A city without seasons may bug…

The problem of criticism—and the study of criticism—is what to say about, how to reflect on and make sense of,…