Interesting Literature

‘Turn the Other Cheek’: Meaning, Analysis and Origin

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Turn the other cheek’ is a well-known phrase associated with Christianity. But what is the meaning of the expression, and where does it originate?

Let’s take a closer look at the origins of ‘turning the other cheek’, by turning to one very famous passage from the Gospel of Matthew, in the New Testament. For the phrase ‘turn the other cheek’ appears (albeit not in those exact words) in the Sermon on the Mount, which is regarded as a cornerstone of Jesus’ teaching.

A Summary and Analysis of Anne Sexton’s ‘Her Kind’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Her Kind’ is a poem by the American poet Anne Sexton (1928-74), written in 1959 and included in Sexton’s first collection of poems, To Bedlam and Part Way Back, the following year.

Sexton’s reputation has been somewhat eclipsed by that of Sylvia Plath. Both women had their first poetry collections published in the same year, 1960; both have been called ‘confessional poets’; both took their own lives, having explored their struggle with such thoughts in their mature poetry.

A Summary and Analysis of ‘To My Dear and Loving Husband’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was the first person in America, male or female, to have a volume of poems published. A fascinating figure, she herself wasn’t American and had been born in England, but she was among a group of early English settlers in Massachusetts in the 1630s.

A Summary and Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s ‘A Clock Stopped’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Clock stopped’ is not one of Emily Dickinson’s best-known poems, but it uses its central metaphor to explore one of the most salient themes of her poetry: death. Dickinson uses the image of the stopped clock to reflect on the ending of a life and what this means.

A Summary and Analysis of Ted Hughes’ ‘Pike’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Pike’ is one of the best-known poems by the English poet Ted Hughes (1930-98). Published in his second collection, Lupercal, in 1960, the poem describes the fish known as the pike, which is depicted as deadly and dangerous: a force of nature which obeys its own rules. Like many of Hughes’ poems, ‘Pike’ focuses on the brutality of the natural world.