It’s true about simmering down as you get older. Those wild nights of imbibing in life’s pleasures until the wee hours of the morning are mostly over. Sometimes a wild one pops up on you and you spend days recovering. Aging has a way of negatively impacting our hobbies and interests. In this post, we are going to analyze how writers May Angelou and Shel Silverstein contend with aging.
Continue reading Accepting Aging with Poems by Maya Angelou and Shel SilversteinTag Archives: reading
Understanding L Frank Baum through historical context
For today’s post, we are going to look at some events and factors that lead to the writing of The Wizard of Oz. We are also exploring how a book chocked full of creativity also features some hurtful stereotypes. Understanding L Frank Baum can be tricky. However, the purpose of this post is to shed some light on what was happening in the world during the time of the publication of this book. After all, we cannot simply look at a book in isolation. Instead, we need to look at all the factors, including social, political, and historical, around an author to determine why they created a particular work.
Worldbuilding with L Frank Baum
I was recently reading L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz and I noticed something funny: Baum really developed a world where anything is possible right from the start of his book. And, he was able to do it in just a few short pages. In this post, we are going to examine worldbuilding with L Frank Baum.
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Eeriness and imagination in “The October Country” by Ray Bradbury
“That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain. . . .”
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“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte: Summary and Reviews
Greetings, today on the blog, I would like to discuss Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve toyed with doing this novel on the blog for a book study, and I definitely will. Second, I just bought a softcover Penguin Classics edition of the book for one dollar. Yet, I would like to conduct this post to give us some insight into its excellence.
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Emily Dickinson’s “One Need Not be a Chamber — to be Haunted”: Analysis
What does a haunting mean? Is it a specter in your home who will not leave you alone? Is it something more personal? Perhaps it is your thoughts and feelings haunting you. In Dickinson’s “One Need Not be a Chamber — to be Haunted” by prolific poet Emily Dickinson, the author has a full grasp of what it means to be haunted.
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Writer Henry James’ Social and Psychological Writing Style
We have discussed the gothic genre and death on this blog many, many times. It is definitely a pervasive element in horror and the gothic horror genre. Likewise, it is also a very interesting subject. Writer Henry James tackled this subject very well in his novel Turn of the Screw, which features some spooky imagery and atmosphere. In this post, we are going to examine James’ background and influences to better understand how he wrote a classic of the horror genre.
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The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green: Summary and Review
When thinking about the many iterations of Robin Hood, it’s hard to not think about the idealized version of the outlaw bandit. The author, Roger Lancelyn Green, wrote a perfect depiction of the folk hero in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.
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Close Reading Techniques for Symbolism
Have you ever been watching a movie or reading a book and thought, what is the author trying to tell me? For instance, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy ends on a downer (book and film), but there is actually a rich story and extended metaphor to watch out for in both forms of the story. This is actually a form of symbolism, in which one thing stands for another. Thus, it’s important to focus on close reading techniques for symbolism.
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How to create better pacing in narrative writing
When we think of pacing, perhaps the first idea that comes to mind is how slowly or quickly a story moves. In other words, we are thinking about at what speed a story is moving through scenes and plot points. In this post, we are going to answer two questions. First, what is narrative writing? And, second, how do you create better pacing in narratives?
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