History begins with the invention of writing -- the rendering of the world in concrete form. Writing removes the guesswork, the slippage, that comes with oral traditions. When Homer sat down to record the legends he had heard throughout his life, he not only initiated literature, but also began the h

Classical & biblical poetry, Dramatic, Epic, Lyrical, Mythic, Sublime

In our time of gender awareness and de-alienation of fringe groups, Sappho's example looms large. Women deploy her as a weapon in the long-standing fight for gender equality. At the same time, homosexuals point to her poetry as proof of the positivity in same-sex relationships. These days, it seems,

Classical & biblical poetry, Ecstatic, Feminist, Lyrical, Pathos, Rebel

The middle years of John Milton's career were devoted to prose. Caught up in the Puritan movement and the English Civil War, he penned political pamphlets and idealistic treatises on religious freedom and the glory of the new Commonwealth. True, a peculiarly personal sensibility revealed itself in th

17th century poetry, Epic, Lyrical, Mythic, Overflowing, Religious, Sublime

Poe once wrote that all worldly things contain "the germ of their inevitable annihilation." Pretty cheerful stuff -- clearly this was a man obsessed with ruin and with death. His characters typically suffer from various forms of mental and physical deterioration; their minds seem to have a predilecti

Anxiety, Dark, Death, Gothic fiction, Grotesque, Intense, Lyrical, Sublime, Symbolist poetry, Violent