‘The Road Not Taken’ is one of Robert Frost’s most famous poems. Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet whose work was at odds with many of his modernist contemporaries, such as William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, and T. S. Eliot. He disliked free verse – memorably characterising it as ‘playing […]
Author: interestingliterature
22 of the Best Synonyms for ‘However’
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) There are lots of strange ideas surrounding the word ‘however’. Some teachers tell their students they shouldn’t begin a new sentence with the word ‘but’, and should substitute the word ‘however’ instead. However (as it were), this misses the fact that ‘but’ and ‘however’ […]
The Curious Meaning of ‘Bigger Than the Whole Sky’ by Taylor Swift
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Bigger Than the Whole Sky’ is one of Taylor Swift’s most talked-about recent songs. Released as a bonus track on her 2022 solo album Midnights, the song has attracted speculation concerning its ‘true’ meaning. Is it a song about losing a loved one? A […]
The Best Arthur Miller Plays Everyone Should Read
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was one of the major American playwrights of the twentieth century. Along with Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill, he may be regarded as one of the most important and influential writers for the US stage during the 1940s and 1950s. Miller’s […]
‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’: Key Quotes Explained
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’ is one of the few short stories of the last half-century or so which can truly be called a modern myth. Indeed, Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018), the story’s author, called her 1973 tale a ‘psychomyth’, inspired […]