Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is one of “the best-known and best-loved poems in the English.” For each of its stanzas I provide [in brackets] a brief explanation of its meaning which may not be clear to a modern ear. Continue reading Summary of Thomas Gray’s: “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
Wilfred Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. His shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors of trench warfare Continue reading Wilfred Owen: “Dulce Et Decorum Est”
Yesterday I wrote about Dr. Kalanithi, a thirty-seven year old Stanford physician who died of cancer a few days ago. In the video he recited a poem I had forgotten about Continue reading Shelley’s “Ozymandias”
Philip Larkin‘s poem “Aubade” is one of the most profound poems on death that I’ve ever read, Continue reading Philip Larkin’s “Aubade” (A Poem About The Terror of Death)
“Night with Her Train of Stars and Her Great Gift of Sleep”
(This Edward Robert Hughes painting was inspired by William Ernest Henley’s poem “Margaritae Sorori.” The title of the poem is Latin for “Sister Margaret.” Henley’s daughter Margaret died when she was five years old.) Continue reading William Ernest Henley’s “Margaritae Sorori” – A Poem About Accepting Death