Literature

How Poetry Can Help With the Grieving Process 3
- Culture, Featured, Literature
- April 23, 2024
An unfortunate myth has captured the minds of many modern people: Poetry is inaccessible and irrelevant. I hear complaints to this effect from my students, sometimes, or read them in the comments sections of my articles. And I understand the sentiment. If you’ve never been exposed to classic poems with the guidance of a good
READ MORE
America’s First Poet, Anne Bradstreet: A Progressive Conservative 0
- Literature, History
- April 10, 2024
Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) was a pioneer in two ways: She was a pioneering settler in 17th-century New England who helped establish a new community in the New World, and she was also a pioneering poet who in 1650 became America’s first published poet and one of the first professional female poets in English literature. Despite
READ MORE
Beware the Architects of Illusion 1
- Literature, Culture, Featured
- April 5, 2024
“In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” So goes the old saying. In Intellectual Takeout contributor Walker Larson’s fantasy novel Hologram, however, Aaron Castillian becomes a king of sorts precisely because he is blind, at least in a particular way. After his people’s enemy, the Voturans, devastate Aaron’s hometown and kill
READ MORE

The Best Writer You’ve Never Heard Of (And His Message for Modern Readers)2
- Literature, Culture, Featured
- April 4, 2024
Of the writers you’ve never heard of, George Gissing may be the best. His prose is beautiful, and his plotlines are exquisitely painful. But beyond the sheer artistry of his writing, he has much to teach the modern reader, both in his writing and through the tragedy of his life. Gissing’s academic career began with
READ MORE
Fire From the Gods: Oppenheimer as a Greek Tragic Hero 2
- Entertainment, History, Literature, Science
- March 27, 2024
Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.” These chilling words appear in the opening title sequence of Christopher Nolan’s newest film, Oppenheimer, about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Nolan’s film catalogues Oppenheimer’s education and early
READ MORE
Wendell Berry: What We Lose When Small-Town America Collapses (And How to Recover It)4
- Culture, Literature
- March 26, 2024
What does America risk losing with the loss of small, rural communities? Writer and farmer Wendell Berry has spent much of his writing career contemplating this question. One way he has approached it is through his novels and short stories, and his fictional town of Port William, Kentucky, typifies all that is best about small-town
READ MORE