The stories of the US short-story writer O. Henry, real name William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), are characterised by their irony and by their surprise endings, which became something of a signature of a good O. Henry short story. The 1907 story ‘The Last Leaf’ is among his most famous: along […]
Death is a common theme in literature, and many of the finest writers of short fiction have explored the fear, event, and aftermath of death using the short-story form. Below, we select and introduce ten of the very best classic short stories which have death as their theme, ranging from […]
The tale of St George and the Dragon, or ‘St George of Merrie England’ as it’s also known in some versions, is a classic English fairy tale. And yet its origins aren’t English, and St George accomplished this feat not in England but in another land (usually either Libya or […]
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is one of the leading poets of the Augustan era in English literature, named in honour of the Roman emperor Augustus, because Augustan writers sought to return to the values embodied by classical poets from the time of Augustus’ reign. Such a period of English verse – […]
‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ is a classic example of the American short story. Its author, Ambrose Bierce, was himself a fascinating figure, who is also remembered for his witty The Devil’s Dictionary and for his mysterious disappearance in around 1914. Published by The San Francisco Examiner in 1890, […]