By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Kaleidoscope’ is a short story by the American author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), included in his 1952 collection of interlinked tales, The Illustrated Man. ‘Kaleidoscope’ deals with the theme of death, and how human beings respond to their imminent deaths, by focusing on a crew of astronauts who are thrown out into space after their rocket explodes.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Esquimos Have No Word for War’ is a poem by the American poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019), a poet who has perhaps not received as much attention from critics as she deserves. It’s been estimated that she was the bestselling poet in the United States at the time of her death, so a few words of analysis about some of her best-known poems seem appropriate.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Boxer is an enormous cart-horse who possesses the strength of two average horses. The character is one of the most important in George Orwell’s 1945 allegory for Soviet Communism, Animal Farm. Indeed, after the two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, Boxer is arguably the most significant character in Orwell’s fable about Stalinist Russia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The Waste Land, first published in 1922, is arguably the most important poem of the whole twentieth century. It remains a timely poem, even though its origins were very specifically the post-war Europe of 1918-22.
Written by T. S. Eliot, who was then beginning to make a name for himself following the publication (and modest success) of his first two volumes of poetry, The Waste Land has given rise to more critical analysis and scholarly interpretation than just about any other poem. Critics and readers are still arguing over what it means.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
George Orwell’s 1945 novella Animal Farm is at once children’s fable and political allegory. This double-edged quality to Orwell’s short novel means that Animal Farm requires some words of analysis to be fully appreciated.