393. (William Blake)

When it is reduced to a formula, Blake’s mythology in the masterpiece Jerusalem conveys one of the most plausible and … More

392. (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

The contrast between Hopkins and Shelley is so perfect in so many respects—atheist and Jesuit; a seeming see-saw of reputations; … More

Blake’s Milton might have been called, at least as a second title, “The Lark and Wild Thyme,” since these are the objects … More

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a Nun Breathless with adoration; the … More

Hadji Murat should be a tragedy—it is not. That is the crucial fact about it. Tolstoy refused to write tragedy, here … More

What did Tennyson add to English poetry? Or Wordsworth? Or Swinburne? It’s not a trivial question in the way a … More

The Turn of the Screw is the turn of the key into the heart of Henry James’ fiction; it is … More

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

Here is the first stanza of “Obsession,” from Aaron Poochigian’s wonderful new translation of Baudelaire: Vast woods, you scare me … More

Wittgenstein praised Kierkegaard, but remarked also that a little of Kierkegaard goes a long way. For Wittgenstein, perhaps. But for … More