Poetry Classics: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, By Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas, born October 27, 1914, in South Wales, was the archetypal Romantic poet of the popular American imagination—he was flamboyantly theatrical, a heavy drinker, engaged in roaring disputes in public, and read his work aloud with tremendous depth of feeling and a singing Welsh lilt.
Classic Horror Tales: The Pale Man, By Julius Long
A man living in a small country hotel becomes obsessed with the only other permanent resident — a a strange pale man who inexplicably moves from room to room.
Classic Horror Tales: The Outsider, By H.P. Lovecraft
The Outsider — a strange, beautifully written tale about a man who finally escapes a dank castle where he has spent his entire life in isolation. It's one of Lovecraft's shortest stories, but also one of his most effective.
Poetry Classics: The Fly, By William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age.
Short Story Classics: One Of These Days By Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century and one of the best in the Spanish language, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Poetry Classics: Life, By George Herbert
George Herbert's poetry is among the finest religious verse in the English language. Centring on the Eucharist, it deals with the struggles of a man endeavouring to give himself up to God. Herbert was also an early exponent of concrete poetry with poems such as The Altar and Easter-Wings. William Cowper found great solace in these poems during his periods of depression. They were also read by Charles I whilst in prison.
Poetry Classics: I Heard A Fly Buzz—When I Died, By Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz” employs all of Dickinson’s formal patterns: trimeter and tetrameter iambic lines (four stresses in the first and third lines of each stanza, three in the second and fourth, a pattern Dickinson follows at her most formal); rhythmic insertion of the long dash to interrupt the meter; and an ABCB rhyme scheme. Interestingly, all the rhymes before the final stanza are half-rhymes (Room/Storm, firm/Room, be/Fly), while only the rhyme in the final stanza is a full rhyme (me/see). Dickinson uses this technique to build tension; a sense of true completion comes only with the speaker’s death.
Short Story Classics: The Skylight Room By O. Henry
The Skylight Room is a short story by author William Sydney Porter under pen name O. Henry. The story is about a young woman, Miss Leeson, and her stay at one of Mrs. Parker's parlours. During her stay, Miss Leeson experiences hard times and is later rescued by a star. The story was published in The Four Million, a collection of short stories by O. Henry that was first published in 1906.
Poetry Classics: If, By Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling [1865-1936] was born in Bombay on December 30th, son of John Lockwood Kipling, an artist and teacher of architectural sculpture and his wife Alice. His mother was one of the talented and beautiful Macdonald sisters, four of whom married remarkable men: Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Sir Edward Poynter, Alfred Baldwin and John Lockwood Kipling himself.
Short Story Classics: To Build A Fire, By Jack London
A classic Man versus Nature story set in the Yukon Territory in Northwestern Canada. "The dog did not know anything about thermometers" but it had the sense to know "that it was no time for travelling." A brilliant story to read in the depth of winter when a freezing spell is in the forecast or gripping your region.
Poetry Classics: Invictus By William Ernest Henley
'Invicitus' is sweeping; passionate; larger than life in a way that few modern poems can get away with. It is also an oft quoted poem, lines of it having almost passed into the language.
Short Story Classics: The Lady, or the Tiger? By Frank Stockton
"The Lady, or the Tiger?" is a much-anthologized short story written by Frank R. Stockton for publication in the magazine The Century in 1882. "The Lady, or the Tiger?" has entered the English language as an allegorical expression, a shorthand indication or signifier, for a problem that is unsolvable.
Short Story Classics: The Night Came Slowly, By Kate Chopin
Only a few hundred words yet this classic is as beautiful as it is poignant.
Short Story Classics: Thank You, M’am, By Langston Hughes
When a young boy named Roger tries to steal the purse of a woman named Luella, he is just looking for money to buy stylish new shoes. After she grabs him by the collar and drags him back to her home, he's sure that he is in deep trouble. Instead, Roger is soon left speechless by her kindness and generosity.
Poetry Classics: I Cannot Live With You, By Emily Dickinson
Things take on a somber note with this classic poem by Emily Dickinson.
Short Story Classics: Regret, By Kate Chopin
In Regret by Kate Chopin, we have the theme of loss, loneliness, detachment, commitment, love, independence, and responsibility. Taken from her A Night in Acadie collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator.
