A short introduction to the poem ‘Adlestrop’ by Edward Thomas – written by Dr Oliver Tearle The latest in our series of short analyses of short poems takes Edward Thomas’s ‘Adlestrop’ as its subject. Before we get to the analysis, then, here is the wonderful sixteen-line poem, which was once […]
The most significant events in the history of books on the 20th of October 1822: Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown’s Schooldays, is born. The character of school bully Flashman would prove so popular with generations of readers that George Macdonald Fraser would make him the antihero of a whole […]
The life of Dr Johnson, told through five pieces of biographical trivia 1. Samuel Johnson was known to drink up to 25 cups of tea in one sitting. Johnson (1709-84) took his eating and drinking seriously, as his prodigious tea habit testifies. According to his first – and still most […]