By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred.’ Or, to be precise and observe the line break: ‘Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred.’ This is one of several famous quotations which originated in the 1854 poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ written by … Read more
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘To sleep, perchance to dream’ is a famous line in probably the most famous section of Hamlet. Shakespeare’s play is chock-full of famous lines – as the old quip has it, it’s a great play but has too many quotations in it – but this particular moment in this … Read more
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, a popular poem to be read or recited at weddings, ends with the couplet: If this be error, and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle enjoys Alex Johnson’s new compendium of ‘on this day’ literary nuggets I began this blog eleven years ago to this day, back on 1 December 2012. Since then, I have broadened my range from curious facts about literary genres and specific authors to more … Read more
Cats and the internet have proved a match made in heaven: there are probably more quips about 90% of the internet being ‘pictures of cats’ than there actually are pictures of cats on the internet. But cats have not always enjoyed such adulation and worship. Indeed, throughout much of history, cats were symbols of witchcraft … Read more
