Tag: American Literature
Griswold recalls how a childhood encounter with a sentimental, “middlebrow” poem about a dog and a veteran (which makes her cry to this day) tapped into wells of…
James Hackett describes how his early encounters with some classics of American and British literature—including Moby-Dick—caused him to become more reflective about life. They also taught him the…
Mike Rizer used to avoid reading at any cost, even buying CliffsNotes when necessary. But in his sophomore year of college, Ernest Hemingway changed all that. Since then,…
English teacher Justin Parmenter describes how his encounters with essays by Thoreau and Emerson, and later with the poem “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” helped…
David Denby discusses works of literature that influenced his thinking as a child and as a teenager. Looking back, these books transformed the reader that he is today….
In my late 20s, I knew that I wanted to make a vocational shift, but I struggled to find the courage to do so. One day, I came…