Who Said ‘Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori’?
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Let’s begin this week with a nice straightforward poetry question. Which poet gave us the quotation, ‘dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’?
The war poet Wilfred Owen has made these words resonate with new meaning in the last century or so, but we owe the line to a much older, very different poet.
A Summary and Analysis of Ray Bradbury’s ‘Zero Hour’
‘Zero Hour’ is a 1949 short story by the American author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), included in his 1953 collection The Illustrated Man . In the story, which is set in a future America, a young girl is befriended by an alien who needs her help to invade Earth and kill the adults.
You can read ‘Zero Hour’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Bradbury’s story below. The story takes around fifteen minutes to read.
‘To Strive, to Seek, to Find, and Not to Yield’: Tennyson’s Ulysses
The line ‘to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield’, with its quartet of infinitives, is one of Tennyson’s most memorable quotations. The line concludes one of his finest dramatic monologues (a literary mode Tennyson, along with his fellow Victorian poet Robert Browning, did much to invent and develop), ‘Ulysses’.
A Summary and Analysis of ‘The Story of the Late Mr Elvesham’ by H. G. Wells
‘The Story of the Late Mr Elvesham’ was first published in May 1896 in the Idler magazine. It’s one of the best stories of H. G. Wells (1866-1946), who left behind dozens of classic short tales which laid the foundations for modern science fiction.
A Summary and Analysis of E. E. Cummings’ ‘In Spite of Everything’
‘In Spite of Everything’ (or, as the poet himself has it, without capitals, ‘in spite of everything’) is a short lyric poem by the American modernist poet E. E. Cummings (or, as he would himself have it, e. e. cummings). Cummings (1894-1962) was an innovative and distinctive poet famed for his lack of capital letters in his poetry and his idiosyncratic approach to punctuation.
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Nineteen Eighty-four, novel by English author George Orwell published in 1949 as a warning against totalitarianism. The chilling dystopia made a deep impression on readers, and his ideas entered mai…
1984 Book Review: George Orwell's Stunning Novel. Book Title: 1984. Book Description: 1984, is a dystopian novel that tells the story of Winston Smith and warns of the dangers of a totalitarian government that rules through …
By George Orwell. '1984' by George Orwell follows Winston Smith as he seeks to fight back, through knowledge and free thought, against the totalitarian Party that rules Oceania and his entire life. About the Book. Protagonist: Winston Smith. …
Winston Smith's memories and his reading of the proscribed book, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism by Emmanuel Goldstein, reveal that after the Second World War, a Third World War broke out in the early 1950s in which nuclear weapons destroyed hundreds of cities in Europe, western Russia and North America (though not stated, it is implied this was a nuclear exchang…
Time: 1984 in an alternative reality. Place: London. Book Summary. Winston Smith skipped lunch in the cafeteria of the Ministry in which he worked and decided to spend his free hour at home. …
Nineteen Eighty-Four: plot summary. In the year 1984, Britain has been renamed Airstrip One and is a province of Oceania, a vast totalitarian superstate ruled by ‘the Party’, …
The novel 1984 by George Orwell is a dystopian classic following the main character, Winston Smith, who is a socially low-ranking individual as he navigates his frustrations with the ever …
The best study guide to 1984 on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.
Book 1, Chapter 1. Literary devices: Genre. Mood. Setting. Style. Tone. View all. In the future world of 1984, the world is divided up into three superstates—Oceania, Eurasia, and …
“1984” by George Orwell is a dystopian novel that delves into the horrors of a totalitarian society under constant surveillance. Set in the superstate of Oceania, it follows …