Most Americans know the story of Paul Revere, the Revolutionary War hero, but have you heard of Sybil Ludington? Revere’s famous midnight ride to warn of the British has been immortalized in books, movies, songs, and poetry. But he wasn’t… Read More
Every year on the third Monday in February, Americans celebrate Presidents’ Day – an annual holiday acknowledging the office of the presidency. While the holiday was originally established to honor President George Washington’s birthday, it has since evolved to recognize… Read More
Who doesn’t love to cozy up next to a warm fire or eat a delicious meal that was prepared over an open flame? Fire is something that has assisted earthlings in survival for many years. But when did fire begin,… Read More
The Victorian era of poetry took place during the reign of the United Kingdom’s Queen Victoria, running from 1837 to 1901 after the Napoleonic Wars and before the beginning of World War I. Victorian poets kept many of the Romantic… Read More
After neoclassicism dominated the literary arts with logic and reason, a new age focused on nature and emotions emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries: Romanticism. Unlike poetry written during the Enlightenment, which followed strict rules and emulated… Read More
Neoclassical poetry dominated the 18th century, emerging at the end of the Renaissance around 1650 and running until the year 1800. It developed during the Enlightenment, a period defined by order that was also referred to as the Age of… Read More
For millennia, writers have expressed themselves through poetry, an intimate literary art form that dates back to 2000 BC. The earliest recognized form of poetry is called “epic,” a type of long narration that usually explores an ancient character’s adventures…. Read More
Poetry often brings one prolific writer to mind: William Shakespeare. Arguably the most famous poet to ever put quill to parchment, Shakespeare rose to prominence during the English Renaissance, a period of major cultural change that developed in the late… Read More
January marks the beginning of the new year – but that wasn’t always the case. The Gregorian calendar we follow today was inspired by an ancient Roman calendar that, according to legend, was designed by Romulus, the first king of… Read More
All over the English-speaking world, people break out in song on New Year’s Eve. From Australia to Canada, from the United States to the United Kingdom, and from New Zealand to the song’s ancestral home in Scotland, Auld Lang Syne… Read More
When people think of first ladies, they often picture fancy dresses, state dinners, and polite smiles, but Sarah Polk was something very different. Living in a time when women were expected to stay quiet about politics, she became one of… Read More
John Keats lived just 25 years, published only a small body of work, and spent much of his short life convinced that his poems would not last. He wrote during an era of disease, strict social class boundaries, and ruthless… Read More