The match between Orlando and Charles the Wrestler considered as a metaphor for the confrontation between every individual human being and the world.על ידי Fireside Poems

What is America's attitude toward beauty? Is it something valuable for itself alone? Or does it require some other more moral vrtue? Or is it merely something to be shown off? Or something to be disapproved of? Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth asks us to consider this question.על ידי Fireside Poems

Shakespeare portrays the combat between Hector and Achilles differently that it's portrayed in Homer's Iliad. Shakespeare is cynical about Achilles, cynical about Hector, and cynical about the Trojan War. There is no heroism and no dignity.על ידי Fireside Poems

Is John Smith's account of his rescue by Pocahontas true? Does it mater?על ידי Fireside Poems

Hamlet relates to his friend Horatio how he sent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths.על ידי Fireside Poems

The Calvinist preacher Jonathan Edwards describes his own discovery of he seetness of God.על ידי Fireside Poems

The Merchant of Venice weighs justice and mercy in the balance, but does it also betray Shakespeare as antisemitic?על ידי Fireside Poems

Self-reliance doesn't mean selfishness as much as it means self-confidence.על ידי Fireside Poems

A woman asks her lover to kill his best friend.על ידי Fireside Poems

W.E.B. Du Bois reflects on the threat to the soul of thiniking of the world in terms of dollars.על ידי Fireside Poems

Society depends on human sympathy, including sympathy for those who are unhappy, who can also find companionship in literature and art.על ידי Fireside Poems

As her husband John Adams participates in the writing of the founding documents of the United States of America, Abigail Adams asks him to consider too the wrongs done to women and the rights they should have in the new United States.על ידי Fireside Poems

The flower Love-In-Idlesess, and particularly its juice dropped on a sleeper's eye, is the source of all erotic love and woe.על ידי Fireside Poems

Hester presented as the embodiment of the American antinomian spirit.על ידי Fireside Poems

Julius Caesar waivers over whether to visit the Senateon the Ides of March.על ידי Fireside Poems

The value of state clleges and universities to America.על ידי Fireside Poems

The disapproval of moralists cannot suppres the fun of others.על ידי Fireside Poems

Writing in 1819, over two hundred years ago, Washington Irving uses the image of a rickety wooden buildiing to represent the United States of America. Why?על ידי Fireside Poems

Shakespeare seems to bungle a play.על ידי Fireside Poems

The beginning of social work and social reform in America.על ידי Fireside Poems

Human dignity requires more than our purely physical needsעל ידי Fireside Poems

An aAmerican born teen wishes to change the name his Indian-born parents gave himעל ידי Fireside Poems

In Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra we find two worlds: Egypt and Rome. Egypt stands for life and Rome the denial of life. The tragedy is the triumph of Rome and the denial of life overe Egypt and the affirmation of life.על ידי Fireside Poems

Guided by the Inner Light of the Quakers, John Woolman in the mid-1700s begins is work as an abolitionist against slavery.על ידי Fireside Poems

Ann infnt girl is rescued from the fate her jealous father inends for her.על ידי Fireside Poems

A man faces bleak Christmas memories.על ידי Fireside Poems

A giant green knight intrudes on the yuletide festivity of King Arthur and his Round Table.על ידי Fireside Poems

On the American frontier the rifle must yield to the law even when carried by such a likeable guy as Natty Bumppo.על ידי Fireside Poems

The masculine toxicity of Shakespeare's Othelloo isn't Shkespeare's, but Othello's; similarly the racism in Othello isn't Sakespeare's, but Iago's.על ידי Fireside Poems

Frederick Douglass tells of the first book he read, The columbian Orator. What we can learn about what books should be taught in schools and what books should be in libraries. The importance of books and the importance of libraries and librarians.על ידי Fireside Poems

The artifice of art and the reality of loveעל ידי Fireside Poems

Should America be a land of religious liberty? or should it be the land of God's chosen people?על ידי Fireside Poems

What is the cost of growing up? All the world?על ידי Fireside Poems

A family in the 1950s visits the beach, with a storm in the offing.על ידי Fireside Poems

Do we choose our fates? Are our fates somehow determined? Are we just the victims or beneficiaries of the world's whims?על ידי Fireside Poems

Ben Franklin provides a model for becoming part of ghte 10%.על ידי Fireside Poems

Is the irrational, feeling mind dominant over our rational mind?על ידי Fireside Poems

European maturity and American immaturity as they relates to sexuality and feminismעל ידי Fireside Poems

A demagogue stirs up a violent revolt by appealing to the mob's resentments.על ידי Fireside Poems

A passage showing the universal relevance of Herman Melville's classicעל ידי Fireside Poems

In this life, we all are servants. But whom or what do we serve? And what kind of servant are we?על ידי Fireside Poems

In America, one can discover within new faculties that elsewhere aren't known to exist.על ידי Fireside Poems

The essential conflict in Shakespeare and in life: withdrawal from life/engagment with lifeעל ידי Fireside Poems

J. Hector St. John de Crevecouer plces side by side American idealsand American slavery in pre-Revolutionary America.על ידי Fireside Poems

Announcingtwo new podcasts: Dr. J's Shakespeare and Dr. J's American Passagesעל ידי Fireside Poems

Announcing the launch of two podcasts: "Dr. J's American Passages" and "Dr. J's Shakespeare"על ידי Fireside Poems

Priscilla Mullins and John Alden wed, symbolizing the continuity of life in a true pastoral image.על ידי Fireside Poems

The young Endymion sleeps Endymion’s sleep . . .על ידי Fireside Poems

The essence of each poet: Chaucer and Shakespearreעל ידי Fireside Poems

A young man learns of the death of his beloved when he comes upon a strange ceremony.על ידי Fireside Poems