From medieval anchoresses to poets, singers, and writers throughout the ages, seclusion is often seen as a particularly female act. But a closer look reveals a more nuanced history, which speaks to society’s romantic fixation on the lone woman.
Many 20th century rock stars have harboured literary pretensions and written novels and poems. The mercurial quality of their efforts shows that at least some of them should just stick to music.
From Austen to Alain-Fournier to Proust, the countryside is as much a venue for literary speculation as it is rural world.
Early twentieth-century poet Edna St Vincent Millay’s laconic verse is an antidote to modern pop’s cult of heartbreak.
The summer solstice celebrations are not simply pagan fancies. They embody the centuries-old spirit of the season.
Women played a vital role in the early history of botany – let’s not reduce their contribution to kitsch romance.
The lost folk singer Mimi Fariña’s career shows the story of the ‘greatest decade’ of the 20th century in a new light.
18th century literary ephemera give us an insight into the true identity of Bridgerton’s elusive Lady Whistledown.
We should take inspiration from Georgia O’Keeffe’s high-minded approach to art and morality. Her life story is a lesson in the importance of deeply felt principles.
Tudor composer William Byrd concealed his true faith in music – and his yearning for a return to better times resonates with us today in the chimes of the chapel choir.
Throughout history communal spaces have provided refuge and reconnection. We need them more than ever.
George Herbert’s architectural approach to poetry is ideal reading when stuck indoors.
Seamus Heaney’s poems are a valuable, moving register of individual intimacy and national pain.
The Camden Town Group capture both the claustrophobia and possibilities of domestic life.
Milton would have been very active on Twitter. In 1644 – at the height of the English Civil War – he wrote Areopagitica: a polemic prose treatise
On Saturday, pubs re-opened in England. It was a day politicians had dubbed ‘super Saturday’, although much of the press hailed it ‘sardine Saturday’. A
What do Dolly Parton, U2, and Woodie Guthrie have in common? Respectively, each artist has had a song used on the American Presidential campaign trail:
Grand Neolithic shafts uncovered near Stonehenge remind us of the fleeting nature of even the most impressive human projects.
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