First let me say that the best source to answer the study questions was Wikipedia.  It has excellent articles on sonnets and so forth. One of the themes that seem to connect some of the poems was describing the beloved’s beauty by comparing her to other things. The two Shakespeare sonnets do exactly this. The first one, Sonnet 18, describes … Continue Reading →

I thoroughly enjoy Billy Collins’ poetry.  Part of that love is the diction or word choice.  The words are so straight-forward yet evocative.  For example, in “Introduction to Poetry,” the lines “I want them to waterski / across the surface of a poem / waving at the author’s name on the shore” is easy to read from the first try.  … Continue Reading →

So let’s say that you and some friends want to watch a movie.  We all know what a pain it can be trying to pick something that everyone is interested in.  Sometimes it is easiest to at least nail down the genre.  The genre is the category or type of movie—drama, comedy, documentary, western, sci-fi, etc.  What is great about … Continue Reading →