I'm currently reading this book, and I think it's wonderful. Any thoughts on this book? Just tell me in the comments. Let's have a conversation on this book!!

I've been thinking about how much the language we use in literary analysis affects the interpretation itself. Sometimes a simple change in phrasing can make an argument feel completely different, even when the underlying idea hasn't changed.

I've noticed this especially when revising essays on the same text multiple times. Putting the writing-checking side aside, the interesting part is how much rewriting can reveal about the assumptions hiding in an argument.

Do you think clearer academic writing leads to clearer literary interpretation, or can overly polished language sometimes take something away from the original thought?

Hi, I’ve been consistently experiencing a writing block when it comes to producing essays in my English literature studies and it’s significantly hindered my output and grades.

I’ve spent an extensive amount of time in trying to build strong understanding in my English literature texts, contextual information, understanding the plot and reviewing flashcards. But when it comes to producing essay paragraphs and analysis on quotes, it’s not so frequent and I find the process difficult.

It feels like I don’t know the text well enough despite spending time trying to understand it. I don’t know if it’s an issue of not understanding the text or not being able to transfer what I know in essay form and how to use evidence to support my arguments, it feels like all I’ve learned has evaporated and my writing confidence continues to reduce.

I sincerely just want to get better at being able to produce strong essays and levels of analysis but I don’t know what I’m doing wrong or what I need to improve or do more of to get to that point of being persuasive with arguments and being able to generate ideas that are coherent.

A dm would be helpful but even a comment is much appreciated

My students do a fluency practice each day, in which they read a short, short, short excerpt (120 words or under). I know it is restricting, but its the parameters that were set for me.

What are some of the most influential, moving, and impactful paragraphs from literature that you would want a high schooler to read?

Thank you so much for your consideration and help with putting great literature in front of students.

​

I have been struggling a lot since I started my MA in English. I don't understand formal or academic English very well, and many of the theories, books on theory, essays, and even some of the novels go completely over my head. I feel so dumb because I always dreamed of becoming a professor, but now I am beginning to doubt whether I will even be able to clear my MA. I cannot understand how the essays I read are connected to the theories I am supposed to study. I have also tried looking for YouTube videos that explain these theories in simple language, but I haven't been able to find anything that really helps. AI doesn't seem to help either, and I don't want to rely on it because I feel that using it too much might be making me more dumb instead of helping me learn.

What makes this even more difficult is that I don't feel the same interest in studying that I used to have during my undergraduate years. I find most of the non-fiction and theoretical material boring now, even though I found my syllabus interesting during my BA. I joined one of the best universities in India thinking that it would be a great opportunity for me, but instead, I feel like I was doing much better at my state college. It has only been a month since I started here, yet I already feel completely out of place. Everyone in my class seems to be doing the readings, asking questions, and answering them confidently, while I often sit there feeling lost and unable to understand what is going on. I keep comparing myself with them, and it makes me feel even more inadequate.

Because of all this, I have started wanting to go back to my hometown. I feel homesick and overwhelmed, and sometimes I just want to leave everything and go home. But then I think about how much money has already been spent to get me here. I have spent around ₹1.5 lakh, and I also cancelled the seats I had received at other universities, including EFLU, BHU, and DU. If I had listened to my father and applied to the university in my hometown, I wouldn't have spent so much money or put another ₹7,000-per-month burden on him. Now I feel guilty because I don't know how I would ever pay my father back if I decide to leave.

At the same time, I don't know how I would face everyone if I went back home after making such a big decision to come here.

I keep thinking about the money, my parents expectations, and my dreams ,my future, and all of it has left me feeling numb and completely stuck. I don't know whether I am simply struggling because I am still adjusting to a new and much more demanding academic environment or whether I have genuinely made the wrong decision by coming here. Right now, I honestly don't know what to do.

What should I do?

I loved every moment of reading Lucy's mind. The Brontë sisters are just timeless artists, especially Charlotte. How beautifully written every line is; it's like a well-crafted representation of a complex character such as Lucy. And Paul, such a noble human being, I'm in love.

The progression with which Lucy's judgment dissolves or builds up is so fascinatingly subtle. Her personification of feelings, of abstract themes, plays with the reader's mind concurrently.

If you've ever read it, what was your favorite scene/line? And what do you suggest as a next read? (I have read Jane Eyre; this is the first book that compares to it in its charm.)

I have a lot of favorite quotes from this book, but this is my most favorite one: "There is a perverse mood of the mind which is rather soothed than irritated by misconstruction, and in quarters where we can never be rightly known, we take pleasure, I think, in being consummately ignored."

(It was a hard read though, english is not my first language :>) .

Was wondering if anyone could suggest good essays/commentaries/reviews on the work W. Somerset Maugham, especially Of Human Bondage or The Razor’s Edge. I know the late Chris Hitchens had a famous piece but I’m looking for others. This is just for my own edification, I don’t have JSTOR access or anything like that.

📚 Why do I encourage my students to read literature in the original language?

A textbook can give us grammar, vocabulary, and correct sentence structures. But literature gives us something more — living language in context.

It is in books that we often come across expressions that native speakers use naturally, but that don’t always make it into standard textbooks.

For example, while reading Judy Moody, you can come across very natural expressions such as:

💬 to be in a bad mood
💬 to put someone in a bad mood
💬 to be in a great mood
💬 to be out of sorts
💬 to get on someone’s nerves

It’s not enough to simply write these phrases down. What really matters is seeing when they sound natural, what words they are used with, and how you can use them in your own speech.

That’s why I love working with literature in my lessons. We can read an engaging story, learn about the culture, and at the same time “hunt” for natural language expressions. 🔎📖

Sometimes, one useful phrase from a book can be more valuable than an entire list of individual words.

Do you use literature in your language lessons? What interesting expressions have you “picked up” from books?

#UkrainianLanguage #LearnUkrainian #UkrainianAsAForeignLanguage #LanguageLearning #Teaching #Literature #JudyMoody #UkrainianTeachers

I am a first year masters student studying english with a focus on literature. I am also a graduate teaching assistant. I am taking world literature, composition and nonfiction writing. I am considering taking american lit instead of nonfiction writing. However, I am not a traditional english student. Because of this, I am not used to literature classes. I want to ask, is changing the classes a bad idea? I don't mind a reality check. I am on a thesis teack so I want to prepare for a thesis the best I can.

Please send help

Hi everyone! I’m an MA English student, and I need to choose a topic for an assignment for my paper “Socio-cultural and Political Background of Literature from the Renaissance to the Restoration Age.”

I’m supposed to write an essay/research-paper-type assignment, but I’m really confused about what topic to choose or what I should read. We also have three other research papers to submit around the same time, so I’m looking for something interesting but manageable within a limited timeframe.

I was initially thinking about doing something on feminism/female characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream because I’m particularly interested in the Elizabethan period. However, since it’s a romantic comedy, I’m not sure whether a feminist/socio-cultural approach would work well for this particular paper or whether I’d be forcing the text into the topic.

I’d really appreciate suggestions for:

Specific essay/research topics related to the socio-cultural or political background of Renaissance–Restoration literature

Topics that are interesting but not excessively broad

Primary texts/plays/poems I could use

Any accessible criticism or secondary reading that would help

Ideally, something I can realistically complete as an MA assignment without spending months on it 😭

I’m particularly interested in Elizabethan literature, Shakespeare, gender/feminism, society, politics, and culture, but I’m open to other ideas from the Renaissance to Restoration period as well.

If you’ve done a similar assignment or studied this period, what topics would you recommend?

Hey co-Didion fans!

I’ve been reading Didion for the entire year and would like to ‘learn’ some of her writing techniques. Has anyone encountered courses, pdfs, or exercises that discuss her writing style and technique?

As this documentary about her (https://youtu.be/wqTavjh3bzE?is=X_vCUiueIUyqXoMs) stated:
“grammar was the only liturgy that made sense; it was the only way to impose order on the messiness of human emotion”

Please share your sources!

I just launched a platform that lets humanities PhDs design and host live online reading seminars. We opened our first few classes for enrollment, including one on John Milton's short poems:

Beyond Paradise Lost: Discovering Milton's Shorter Poetry

The instructor is a great expert on Milton, and an awesome teacher. If anyone's interested, but cannot afford the enrollment fee, feel free to DM me :-)

Does anyone have Habib Literary Criticism who's looking to sell, preferably a 2nd hand copy?

I grew up reading and enjoying a whole slew of books by British authors including CS Lewis, AA Milne, Roald Dahl, Beatrix Potter, JRR Tolkien, Richard Adams, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the like and believe this made me somewhat of an Anglophile even into adulthood. At the time, these seemed like the books that everyone read growing up.

When I talk to parents of kids (in the USA), I get the sense that these authors are heavily out of fashion because their stories are too slow moving and reading as an activity has declined substantially. Has core YA fiction become less British-centric over the last 40ish years, or do I just think so because of the literary micro-environment in which I grew up? (Or did the UK promote its literature as a means of advancing its national soft power?)

William Hazlitt, born on April 10, 1778, Maidstone, Kent, England; died on September 18, 1830, Soho, London. He is an English writer best known for his humanistic essays with his writing noted for the brilliant intellect. He was an English essayist, dramatist, and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher.

His professional life is on full display on the internet, however, I knew only a little about his personal life. SO I went down this rabbit hole of finding out about his marriages and married life. Here's what I came to know.

William Hazlitt was first married to Sarah Stoddart in 1808 when he was 30 years old. They were married for 14 years and had a son together, William Jr. They divorced in Scotland in 1822. Why Scotland? Because divorces in England were expensive and although a great essayist he may be, Hazlitt was poor. He wasn't wealthy enough to afford a divorce in England and so they both decided to get divorced in Scotland. However, that divorce was not legally recognised in England. So, his second marriage to Isabella Bridgewater in 1824 was a sort of grey area. She was a respectable wealthy widow who expected to enjoy the company of a prominent literary figure. They were officially separated in 1827.

Now onto the TEA.... Why exactly did the two ladies divorce William Hazlitt?

Hazlitt's first marriage was an open marriage and had already agreed to live apart by the end of 1819. Their union was never a love match. They regularly argued over money, politic beliefs. Hazlitt despised his brother-in-law's politics. Living in a rented room in Southampton Buildings in London, a lonely 42 year old Hazlitt saw 19 year old Sarah Walker, a servant in the inn who served him breakfast, for the first time and instantly fell in delirious obsession getting desperate to marry her. Since Sarah Stoddart also valued her independence and was tired of her husband's volatile behaviour, she agreed. The couple traveled to Edinburgh together in 1822 specifically to divorce.

Sarah was an expert flirt who knew how to manage the infatuations of the lonely, older male lodgers. For roughly 18 months, she would sit on Hazlitt's lap for hours, kiss him, and tell him how fond she was of him. This behavior thoroughly convinced Hazlitt that she was a pure, angelic being who was deeply in love with him but trapped by her social class. However, the twist is that all this time Sarah was actually in love with another lodger named John Tomkins. (God forbid a girl has options!) At the time, John lived in the Walker lodging house, he was roughly 25 years old and was finishing his legal apprenticeship to become a lawyer. He was described by contemporary accounts as a tall, "gentlemanly" young man. When Hazlitt returned as a free man and proposed, Sarah rejected him. Soon after, Hazlitt caught her walking down the street arm-in-arm with Tomkins. (Damn!!) Hazlitt flew into a manic, unhinged rage, confronting her family and screaming at Sarah, who coldly told him he had always misread her.

After the truth leaked out, an agonizingly jealous Hazlitt actually tracked down and spoke to Tomkins directly. It was during this conversation that Hazlitt realized Sarah had completely fabricated her "pure, untouchable" persona and had freely given her heart to Tomkins instead. In this fit of rage, he orchestrated a bizarre honeytrap experiment. He persuaded an acquaintance to act as a decoy. The decoy was instructed to move into the Walker family's lodging house, rent a room just as Hazlitt had, and aggressively attempt to seduce Sarah. His plan was successful and the decoy confirmed that Sarah played the exact same game with him. She would extensively flirt, stopping just short of full intercourse. For the essayist, this brought him a strange toxic sense of relief. (Talk about a sour loser...)

Unable to process the heartbreak, Hazlitt wrote Liber Amoris; or, The New Pygmalion (1823). The book published their (William Hazlitt and Sarah Walker) real, highly intimate conversations and his frantic letters. Decades after Hazlitt's death, researchers discovered that Sarah Walker lived a completely ordinary, quiet life. She became the common-law wife of John Tomkins, had children, and lived under the name Sarah Tomkins until her death in 1878 at the age of 78, largely untouched by the literary storm she had caused. Tomkins provided the stable, upper-middle-class life that Sarah had always wanted—far removed from the chaotic, impoverished world of romantic poets and essayists.

No onto the separation with his second wife. It was Hazlitt's obsessive lingering attachment with his previous love, Sarah Walker that heavily contributed to the breakdown of the marriage. When Hazlitt and Isabella Bridgewater embarked on their European tour, Hazlitt famously carried a copy of his book Liber Amoris with him. This book was his raw, deeply embarrassing, and highly public confession of his failed, mad obsession with Sarah Walker. Isabella had to endure traveling across Europe with a husband who was still publicly and privately deeply affected by his past heartbreak. The absolute breaking point occurred when Hazlitt's son from his first marriage, William Jr., joined the couple in Paris during their tour. William Jr. deeply resented Isabella and did everything he could to undermine her position. Hazlitt, who loved his son above anyone else, consistently sided with the boy rather than defending his new wife. Hazlitt possessed an incredibly volatile and "peculiar temper", which grew worse under the public backlash of Liber Amoris. As mentioned before, Isabella, a wealthy and respectable widow, who expected to enjoy the company of a prominent literary figure, instead, found herself tied to an abrasive man who was actively quarrelling with his closest friends (such as Leigh Hunt) and being heavily attacked by the press. By the time the European tour concluded in 1827, Isabella realized the toxic family dynamic and Hazlitt's emotional baggage were unbearable, prompting her to stay behind in Europe and abandon him permanently.

William Hazlitt suffered through a painful summer of declining health brought on by stomach cancer. He died mostly in poverty and beyond his means, continuing to write essays up until his final weeks to pay for his lodgings. According to his son, his final words were, "Well, I've had a happy life". During his final days, he was attended by close friends and family, including his first wife Sarah, his son William, and the writer Charles Lamb. He finally died on September 18, 1830 in Soho, London.

That concludes my TEA.

I’m reading again. I read Across several different genres.

I’ve forgotten basic English literature, grammar etc.

What are some of the best ways to learn all over again so I can understand

better

How would one go about studying english literature without a degree in it? I currently have a BS in Sociology and I am working on my MA in Special Education Applied Behavior Analysis. I would love to maybe one day go back for a MA in English however I don’t see that happening in the near future. That being said I am still very interested in the topic. How would one go about studying english literature without necessarily being in a program for it?

Can anyone recommend a book or play that’s fun to make fun of in our literature club? We’re looking for something we can roast and joke about together.Before i finish i want to share a poem for you.

Living for free, we live for free;
The air is free, the clouds are free;
Hills and valleys are free, streams are free;
We’ve gathered with kindred spirits,
And everything else, you know, is free.

Orhan Veli Kanık

Hey, everyone. I'm looking for contemporary literature books in English for a podcast episode (a college project, nothing big) and for that I'd like to be able to talk to the author as well. It can be from any English speaking country, any theme, it doesn't even have to be a novel.

Do you have any recommendations?

I teach literature and am planning a module on character motivation for university students. When I've tried to research how character motivation has been theorized within literary studies, I've come up surprisingly empty.

I'm finding plenty of practical advice for writers on how to create convincing character motivations, but very little academic work that explicitly theorizes character motivation.

Is anyone aware of sources that can help with teaching about character motivation?

I wanted to come on here and ask a question and see where other people have come from and maybe people that have already been through this and I’ve figured it out or maybe people that even haven’t but I just wanted to bring up a topic that is really close with me, but it’s kind of like the idea of a potential of a human being but seeing your own potential on yourself as a young adult but not thinking that it’s possible like there’s a part of your brain that doesn’t think that anyways my whole entire life I’ve wanted to become a writer or something with the English literature. I’ve always wanted to become something like that and but I’ve never strived or done anything to do something like that, but that also goes with everything else as well. I don’t work for anything. I just get bored whatever and I’d move onto the next thing like I haven’t found my thing yet, but English it’s always been in the back of my brain and I’ve always loved writing and when I get into the groove of writing, it’s like an adrenaline rush. It’s like runners high, I don’t know, but it’s a feeling that I’ve never felt before and that’s the only time I’ve ever felt that feeling so I need to pursue that more and see because I’m 18 right now and I don’t wanna lose any chances. I just need to try everything and move on from the next thing but I’ve had this idea with writing a book lately and it would be just about my life. I’ve gone through experiences that have made me the human I am today, and I’ve always wanted to do something to help people. I’m like what can I do to share my experience as well, but I’m literally asking myself. What do I do but just explaining writing a book so my OK write a book and I wanna write a story and I just wanna write a story about my life and the perspective of mine in my brain obviously different characters of like different love interests like child trauma all that kind of stuff but I have no idea to write. I’ve always gotten 60s on my essays I’ve had really great ideas in my teachers have always said that I have really great ideas and when I wanna try something I really do wanna try and then when I need to do something I’ll actually do it but when I’m given oh like for example this summer is doing a month do it on the type of person to do it the last night, I don’t know how to fix that but anyway it says another top is for another day but I really wanna get good at writing. I really wanna be the best fighter. I really just wanna do it so bad when I’m 18 years old and I don’t know where to start because honestly the thought of me going back to school to do it it’s like because I said as a chore, but me and my room doing it talking about my thought so that kind of stuff that seems very nice and very amazing and I want to explain to other people how I felt in a poetic way and a lovely way and a beautiful way cause that’s how I feel and that’s how I constantly feel. Everything is just so beautiful and I wanna explain that in words, but I don’t know how so someone give me their advice please.

So legit more of the story I’ve always had this love and the idea of the love for English literature and I’m deep down, literally in love with it, but I don’t know anything about it and I wanna know and I’m 18 years old and I just don’t know if I can get into it and become really good because I really wanna start a book and and I feel it’s the only way I can get past my life experiences,not the only way sorry about that but a really good way for my mind and I really wanna be really good at it and I need to channel this love I have for it.

I’m also writing this text to speech so if anything is wonky and you’re like what the f am I writing? I’m sorry and I’m genuinely just looking for help not grammar issues right now.🤗🤗🤗🤗

Hi everyone, So recently I watching movies of classical English time period and I got so so intrested in knowing those Era more, from the perspective of culture, people, and society. As I'm working I can't read books (though I really want to and I'm trying my best that I start reading English literature but I'm political science master's student so never got the change to study or know more about culture of different era)

I want few youtube channels recommendations for the same but I don't enjoy watching those animated vedios about history. (But like when someone sit and talk or like they add few clips and do voice over)

And want to cover on Era after another. Also as this sub is for English literature if you guys have any favorite youtube channels or instagram handles apart from just Era but for literature in general, I would love to hear those. (I recently discovered that watching about literature make my soul so calm also I'm an anxious person but when I watch that kind of stuff I simply feel peace).

Hi guys. Can anyone please recommend poets (with a substantial body of scholarship written on them) whose work combines a strong VISUAL sensibility with a feeling of quiet pre-apocalyptic dread?

I'm looking for poetry rooted in ordinary life, but haunted with atmospheric, political, ecological, or existential unease. not overtly sobby and tragic. i'm more interested in that persistent and melancholic sense of living on the edge of something, aka whatever we are currently living through. Strange, strange times. The oscillation between hope and despair, sure, but the unabating atmosphere of something coming to an end, looking for poets who depict that feeling [no modernists, though. Preferably post 90s].

Bonus points if you can recommend a specific collection.

Thank you so much!

​

THE FOOL

Fin was a pirate who sailed the open sea,

Through hard storms with grit in his teeth.

His story was proven through his deeds,

So daring it was hard to believe.

But one day, when he went out to venture,

He stopped in front of a coffee vendor,

When he found something miles better,

The girl who ended up being his treasure.

Overtime, he started to love her soft, warm gaze,

And he tried a shot at her heart, he aced it.

But as a child, she's always come to hate

The lowly killers known as pirates.

But his duties did pile,

His wife's suspicion grew wild,

She looked at the positives and smiled,

Then one day she went and bore their child.

She couldn't stop thinking of the life she would share

To the child who she wanted to give her utmost care.

He carried the child his love had to bear,

With his wife's loving and warm stare.

His wife called him over with a scare.

He tried to go as fast as a hare.

Thunder roared like a snare,

As he let out a silent prayer.

To love his wife unconditionally, he would swear,

For a God up above, that his child would be spared.

But before his arrival, his child exhaled his last breath of air.

His wife, in despair, gave him an accusing glare.

She had uncovered who he really was,

And faded quickly did her love.

All his secrets are revealed beneath the fuzz.

She accused him harshly, push turned to shove.

"I cherished all that you were, it's all lost in the buzz.

I didn't love you just because.

Told my friends, at this stage, I don't care what he does.

But even after all the things I sacrificed for us, you still threw me under the bus."

Overwhelmed, she ran into the woods.

He regretted that he couldn't show her as much as he could.

Even if he could, he thought, "Only if I could, I'd mend what's no longer good."

But his wife was in a landslide that she could not avoid, only look.

She ended up in the hospital the next day,

As Fin tried to find a way

To keep his emotions at bay,

For his wife was gone, only her body stayed.

Brought her flowers every day, he did.

Holding her hand, in the chair next to the bed, he'd sit.

He told all the deepest things he hid,

And found out her dormant state would only smile at the mention of their kid.

So from that, he started wearing his kid's baby bib.

A smile every day that their child did knit.

Though embarrassing, his feelings were never split,

Because, to spot the smile underneath the lid, he had to abandon the role where he did fit.

She was as beautiful as a dove,

Who gave undying love.

But she hated the man he has become,

To the point where she got numb.