“I think I’d been looking for it all my life
a storm in my body to match the one in my head.”
― Rory Power, Wilder Girls
Tag Archives: Blogging
Exploring the Theme of Death in Poetry
Poems are all about beauty and presentation. What do they look like? What do they say? Poetry about a blooming flower joining the world with a figurative smile on its face is common. Yet, another commonality is the theme of death in poetry and what it means to humanity. In this post, we will analyze the metaphorical and personified versions of death and how it is conveyed through verse.
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Crafting Prose Like Ray Bradbury, Exploring His Unique Style
To write prose like Ray Bradbury, one must focus on the subject in intense detail. By doing so, they can describe it using imagery and senses to generate a clear image. Bradbury, a science-fiction author and prolific short-story writer, wrote many classics in multiple genres. These include stories from the science-fiction classic Fahrenheit 451 to the horror-driven bildungsroman in Something Wicked this Way Comes.
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The Duality of Art: Subjective vs. Objective Perspectives
Over a decade ago, I thought art was beyond critical reproach. A creation is just whatever an artist can dream up, so naysayers should stop being so critical, right? But these days I have been thinking: how can a critic analyze a work of art if it is neither subjective nor objective? After all, somebody will always come around and say, “Well, man, all art is subjective, so there’s that…” And, there’s actually a fair amount of discourse on the subject.
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“Fall, Leaves, Fall” by Emily Bronte: Analysis
Fall is certainly one of the best times of the year. Yet, it is strange how it differs from city to country, from sidewalk to path. The colors pop a little harder in some places, and a little less in others. With it, however, is that feeling that the winter is on its way, and that the season is forever shifting onward without you. Poets really have a way with saying one thing and meaning another. In this post, we are going to analyze “Fall, Leaves, Fall” by Emily Bronte.
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Ray Bradbury’s “The Lake”: Processing Trauma Through Writing
I was Up North with my family last week and we spent time down by the water (Burt Lake and Lake Michigan). Sitting in the sand one night, I watched my wife walk along the shore looking for Petoskey stones. She didn’t find any, but she did remind me of Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Lake” from his collection The October Country, which has so much to do with the water and the memories we make in life–traumatic or not. In this post, I would like to talk about Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Lake” and how it can help us with processing trauma through writing.
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The continuing horror of ‘More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’
Nightmare fuel is kind of my buzzword for Halloween, used in the best possible way of course. Previously, we analyzed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. In that post, we discussed Alvin Schwartz’s nightmarish tales and Stephen Gammell’s tremendously monstrous artwork. The sequel is without a doubt similar as the first book. Yet, sometimes the stories and images are even darker than the previous offering. In this post, we are going to look at More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Schwartz.
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Why Bigfoot Remains a Captivating Legend Today
Legends are a big part of oral storytelling. They help humans understand their past and create engaging stories where there are none. The folkloric Bigfoot is such a story because of its plausibility and what it symbolizes in the vast American wilderness. In this post, we are going to define a legend and see how Bigfoot fits within that definition.
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‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’: Disturbing Imagery and Delightful Tales
There are foundational books that shape the way we think about the world around us when we are kids. Some of those books are childish, such as Clifford or Amelia Bedelia. Meanwhile, some of those books are far more adult, like Goosebumps or the book we are analyzing today, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
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“The Dead Zone” by Stephen King: Alienation and Recovery
In talking about books written by Stephen King, I think there is some trepidation when it comes to listing one’s favorites. There are just so many great novels in his horror canon. Nonetheless, I am always quick to point out The Dead Zone (1979) by King as one of my favorites. I read it when I was in my early 20s. I remember staying up night after night reading it until I had completed it in a sad, bleary-eyed mess. It was a fantastic experience.
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