By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
What connects the well-known proverbs ‘fools rush in where angels fear to tread’, ‘a little learning is a dangerous thing’, and ‘to err is human, to forgive divine’? The answer is that not only do we have the same man to thank for all three, but he originated them all in the same poem, and he did so when he was only 21 years old.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Where does the word ‘android’ come from, and what does it mean? And what does the origin of the word ‘android’ have to do with apes? And how did the word come to be used for an operating system? Let’s take a closer look at the curious etymology of a word which arose almost by mistake.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Love them or hate them, our schooldays are formative and, as the old cliché has it, make us what we are today, for good or ill. Many of the greatest and most famous popular songs written about schooldays don’t pull any punches about the harsh realities of school life – and one or two of the tracks I’ve chosen here see the teachers wielding their fists themselves.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Who is Hyperion? This is actually a harder question to answer than it might first appear. The name is familiar enough from classical mythology. Say it out loud, right now: it has that ring of familiarity, doesn’t it? Say it again, go on.
Oh dear. If you said it the way I’d been saying it, then – according to classical purists – you (and I) just said it wrong.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Sheep in Fog’ is a poem by Sylvia Plath (1932-63), which was published in her posthumous second collection Ariel in 1965. For my money, it’s one of Plath’s finest poems, if not the finest. But it’s also a poem which conveys much by using very few words: unlike the transitional poems she wrote in 1961 – ‘The Moon and the Yew Tree’ springs to mind – ‘Sheep in Fog’ reflects a more pared-back, controlled, and focused style.
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