By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ is probably Edward Lear’s most famous poem, and a fine example of Victorian nonsense verse. But can one really analyse nonsense literature, or subject it to critical scrutiny? After all, the very name implies that it’s not supposed to make ‘sense’. Yet whenever a poem attains iconic status, it’s worth discussing how it has earned that status.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Binsey Poplars’ is one of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s best-known lyric poems. It was written in 1879 shortly after he revisited the small hamlet of Godstow near Oxford, a few miles north of Binsey, to find that ‘the aspens the lined the river [Thames] are everyone felled’. Here’s this wonderful poem along with a few words of analysis.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
We like to think of Interesting Literature as a library, a vast virtual library full of literary treats and unexpected delights. But if it is, it is a library with a spacious bar and plenty of drinks on offer. Previously, we’ve considered some of the most curious synonyms for ‘drunk’ in the English language, so we thought it was about time we contemplated some of the best poems about drink in English literature.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘It sifts from leaden sieves’ is a wonderful Emily Dickinson poem; it is also a beautiful winter poem. In a few lines, Dickinson captures the movement of the snow and the way it settles upon the winter landscape, rendering the road, the railings of the fence, and the lampposts different and strange. Below is the poem, followed by a few words of analysis.
It sifts from leaden sieves,
It powders all the wood,
It fills with alabaster wool
The wrinkles of the road.
It makes an even face
Of mountain and of plain, —
Unbroken forehead from the east
Unto the east again.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Cut Grass’ is one of the shortest famous poems by Philip Larkin (1922-85). Completed in June 1971, the poem was published in Larkin’s last volume of poems, High Windows, in 1974. It’s a short lyric about newly cut grass, hovering between celebration and mourning. In this post, we discuss the poem and offer a brief analysis of its language and themes.