Rudyard Kipling’s Little-Known Poem on New Year’s Resolutions
With New Year’s Day on the horizon, many people will write their resolutions. Rudyard Kipling's poem explores the trials and tribulations of resolutions.
A Feminist Reading of The Long Winter
In The Long Winter, often praised as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s greatest novel, the villain may be not the snow, but oppressive gender roles.
How Victorians’ Fear of Starvation Created Our Christmas Lore
One scholar sees more in the Christmas food of authors like Charles Dickens—English national identity and class.
The Great American Game of Picking the Great American Novel
Arguing about the great American novel was perfect fodder for periodicals in the late 1800s, and it is catnip for a listicle-obsessed internet.
10 Winter Poems To Cozy Up To
Settle in to the winter season with verse from Dylan Thomas, H.D., Pushkin, and more.
Super Mario, Homer’s Odyssey, and the Meaning of Marriage
Nintendo's Mario and Homer's Odysseus have more in common than you might think.
In Celebration of Lost Words
At some point in their lexical histories, lost words' original meanings died and have been revived into a mere semblance of their former selves.
The Grumpiness of Little Women
By focusing in on the characters’ emotions, a scholar discovers something more than good little women. She finds surprisingly angry ones.
Codifying What Counts as a Word in Scrabble
Alfred M. Butts first created a word game called Lexico (or Lexiko) for his family in 1931. His business partner renamed it Scrabble.
The Truth About Sherlock Holmes: He’s Actually Henry David Thoreau
A tongue in cheek comparison between the British fictional sleuth and the American Transcendentalist author, just because.