Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) is one of the greatest poets to have graced the English language — and one of the strangest. Her genius is truly sui generis. During the four decades of her writing life, she lived in near-isolation from the larger world of letters. Though she corresponded with several…

or, Why You Should Read Moby-Dick Again Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick was published 167 years ago this week. With its experimentation and extravagance, the novel has puzzled and delighted readers for generations. Far from simply telling a maritime tale, Melville offers us panoramas of pinpoint description, cascades of symphonic sentences, and…

“To romanticize the world is to make us aware of the magic, mystery and wonder of the world.” — Novalis Two hundred years ago, the Romantic movement in England was in full swing. Indeed, 1818 was something of a bellwether year for the Romantic poets. The first generation of Romantics…

Re-reading William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” “Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme…” Two and a half millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus remarked that “time is a game played beautifully by children.” Heraclitus seems to suggest that children are unaware of the passing of…