‘Coal’ is a 1968 poem by the African-American poet Audre Lorde (1934-92). Lorde was a self-described ‘Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.’ The ‘warrior’ is as important as the other words. Her poem ‘Coal’ is one of her most frequently anthologised, and sees Lorde harnessing the rage she feels when, for […]
Ernest Hemingway’s 1925 short story ‘Cat in the Rain’ touches upon a number of themes, but it touches upon them lightly, for the most part. As is often the case in his fiction, Hemingway lets a few spare details suggest the inner lives of his characters, with these mostly external […]
Poetry can be used to say all sorts of things which affect us deeply: the love we feel for that special someone, or the gratitude we hold for someone who has been there and supported us. And so poems for best friends – best friends forever or ‘BFF’ in particular […]
‘The Mocking-Bird’ is an 1891 short story by the American author Ambrose Bierce, who is also remembered for his witty The Devil’s Dictionary and for his mysterious disappearance in around 1914. ‘The Mocking-Bird’ is a Civil War tale about a soldier who shoots a man while on sentry duty at […]
What does the word tantalise have to do with the chemical element tantalum? And what is the connection of both of these to the figure of Tantalus from Greek mythology? To answer these questions, we first need to know who Tantalus was, and what the precise details of the myth […]