Poetry from the Trenches of WWI
Tragically killed in action during the Battle of Arras in 1917, Edward Thomas was on the verge of a breakthrough.
The Haiku of Richard Wright
As he lay bedridden with dysentery, the author wrote an astonishing number of haiku. What inspired him?
When Paid Applauders Ruled the Paris Opera House
Professional applauders, collectively known as the “claque,” helped mold the tastes of an uncertain audience.
The Heretical Origins of the Sonnet
The lyrical poetic form’s origins can be traced back earlier than Petrarch.
Reginald Dwayne Betts
A 2012 essay from the American Poetry Review on poetry and the architecture of anger.
Ernest Hemingway and Gender Fluidity
Despite his reputation for hypermasculinity, the author was fascinated by different forms of gender expression.
Victorian Botanical Paintings
Amateur botanist Margaret Rebecca Dickinson painted the wildflowers she collected in the English countryside.
When the CIA Was Everywhere—Except on Screen
Hollywood was just fine avoiding all portrayals of the Central Intelligence Agency for years after the agency's founding in 1947.
Sonnets by 11 Contemporary Poets
The name of this fourteen-line poetic form comes from the Italian sonetto, meaning "a little sound or song."
There Once Was a Poem Called a Limerick
Whose history, they say, isn't quick. It's all such a muddle, it can leave you befuddled, whether you like the clean or the sick.