Poems of Milton: On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity

Written shortly after the poet’s 21st birthday in 1629, On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity is widely recognised as the first great work produced by John Milton. Although he had flirted with Ovidian sensuality and the kind of light verse that is produced by wine and conviviality, this poem acts as a manifesto for Milton’s career as a poet of almost heroic seriousness and virtue.

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Poems of Milton: At a Vacation Exercise

It is of course somewhat unfair to compare across the centuries but it is hard to imagine that many young people at the beginning of the twenty-first century, asked as part of their secondary or high school education to complete an extended poem in rhyming couplets, using iambic pentameter, would do as good a job as the young John Milton.

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What Is Totalitarianism?

Totalitarianism is a system of government in which the state takes over full control of all institutions of the law, politics and civil society. Everything is governed by the state and no opposition of any sort is permitted. There have been many examples of totalitarian regimes and attempted totalitarian regimes in the past but the two most well-known are the National Socialist or Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler and the Communist Soviet Union regime of Josef Stalin.

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Athenian Democracy

It is well-known that modern forms of democracy have developed from the original model from classical Athens, although the actual nature of Athenian democracy is less well-known. There are several important differences. First, the majority of the Athenian population was not enfranchised: women, of course, slaves and those otherwise classified as non-citizens were not permitted to vote.

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What Is Post-Colonialism?

Post-colonialism is a period of time occurring after colonization of a country by a foreign power has ended. Depending in part on the nature of the decolonization process, the immediate post-colonial period may be more or less traumatic for the people involved.

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Critics of Shakespeare: Voltaire

Voltaire was the pen name used by the prolific French writer and philosopher François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778). Voltaire was a leading figure in the French Enlightenment movement and wrote trenchantly and cogently on the abuses of the Catholic Church, monarchy and establishment and in favour of Enlightenment values such as freedom of thought and of religion, free trade and reformed international relations.

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Critics of Shakespeare: George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an Irish writer, principally a dramatist, many of whose works have proven to be enduring favourites on the stage and to have translated well to the screen. His most famous works include Pygmalion (filmed as ‘My Fair Lady’), Arms and the Man and Man and Superman. He was awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar.

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Critics of Shakespeare: Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was born in Austria into a family of considerable wealth, most of which was subsequently lost during the rise of the Nazis and the Anschluss. He spent large parts of his working life in Britain, much of it as a Professor at Cambridge University, and he took British citizenship.

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Poetry of Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis

Venus and Adonis is among the earliest of Shakespeare’s poems to have survived. It appears to have been written in 1593 and may have occupied Shakespeare because of a temporary closure of all theatres and playhouses owing to an outbreak of the plague or else as a means of earning additional income by dedicating it to a wealthy patron (in this case, Henry Wriothesley the third Earl of Southampton).

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What Is Anti-Americanism?

Anti-Americanism is a form of bias against the institutions, nature or customs of the USA and, sometimes, against its people as well. It ranges in intensity from a mild and occasional dislike up to the willingness to condone or even conduct acts of violence against American interests, military personnel or civilians.

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