Guest Blog: John Donne’s ‘A Burnt Ship’

In this guest blog post, Christopher Hart provides a reading of a short and interesting poem by John Donne, ‘A Burnt Ship’. Out of a fired ship, which by no way But drowning could be rescued from the flame, Some men leap’d forth, and ever as they came Near the foes’ ships, did by their … Read more

Five Reasons Everyone Should Know Ernest Dowson

What’s the connection between wine, poetry, Gone with the Wind, and soccer? In a couple of previous posts, on George Meredith and Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, we’ve endeavoured to find five interesting things about two of Victorian literature’s neglected figures. Now it’s the turn of Ernest Dowson – decadent poet. Some of these are particularly surprising. 1. … Read more

Guest Blog: 10 Examples of Ekphrasis in Contemporary Literature

By Patrick Smith, Bainbridge State College, Georgia Writers have drawn on vivid descriptions of the visual arts to enhance their work since Homer famously used 130 lines to describe the chronicle emblazoned on Achilles’s shield in Book 18 of Homer’s Iliad more than 2,500 years ago. Ekphrasis—the representation in language of a work of art—acts … Read more