Recommendations – Page 25 – Interesting Literature

The Best Lewis Carroll Poems

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Lewis Carroll (1832-98) is probably best-remembered for his two novels for children, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The latter of these two books contained the classic nonsense poem, ‘Jabberwocky’, and Carroll’s poetry can easily match that of his fellow Victorian nonsense-maker, Edward Lear for sheer fun and zaniness.

Below we’ve picked what we think are Lewis Carroll’s five best poems, complete with some information about them.

The Best Poems for Valentine’s Day

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The association between Valentine’s Day and love is long-standing, and many poets have written about love and romance. But how many have written about the day itself? Are there any classic Valentine’s Day poems? The following top ten list is our pick of some of the best poetic Valentines from over six centuries of English poetry.

Seven of the Best Modernist Short Stories Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

A number of modernist novels are praised as among the greatest novels of the twentieth century: James Joyce’s Ulysses, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, and Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness, to offer just three examples. But modernist fiction had its origins in the short story form, and many of its finest statements about art and the world are to be found in short stories.

Below we introduce seven of the most definitive and must-read modernist short stories. Would you add any authors or stories to this list of the best modernist short stories, or would you substitute any of our choices for a different story?

The Best George Herbert Poems Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

George Herbert (1593-1633) published none of his poetry during his lifetime, instead sending his poetic works to a friend shortly before his death, with the instruction that if his friend thought the poems worth publishing, he should do so. Thankfully, they were published, in The Temple in 1633, a few months after Herbert’s death.

The following poems are what we consider the ten greatest George Herbert poems (although other readers will doubtless have their own top ten list). The title of each poem leads through to the text of the poem.

10 Classic Children’s Poems Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

What are the best children’s poems in all of English literature? Every reader will have their own firm favourites that bring back fond memories of those carefree and innocent days, but we’ve tried to select ten of the very finest classic poems for children for this post. For classic nursery rhymes, check out our pick of the best children’s nursery rhymes in a separate post.