Oscar Wilde was a 19th-century Irish writer known for his intelligence, charm, and wit. He gifted posterity with epigrams like “I can resist everything except temptation,” and “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” Both of Wilde’s parents were writers. His father, Sir William Wilde, was a doctor and folklorist. One of his contributions to the field of folklore was the book Irish Popular Superstitions. Wilde’s mother, Jane Elgee Wilde, was an Irish nationalist and author of the book Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland.

What Inspired Oscar Wilde’s Supernatural Creatures?

Oscar Wilde’s knowledge of Irish folklore and his exposure to the works of Continental writers of fairy tales, such as the German Brothers Grimm, the Danish Hans Christian Andersen, and the French Charles Perrault, influenced his own writing. Supernatural characters abound in his work. First and foremost, in his fairy tales, but also in his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. This Gothic novel became a classic in English literature.

In his own words, Oscar Wilde wrote that his fairy tales were “meant partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy.” They were collected into two volumes, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, published in 1888, and A House of Pomegranates, published in 1891.

Oscar Wilde created “art for art’s sake.” Nevertheless, the supernatural characters who appear in the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde, as well as his poem and novel, impart moral lessons to the reader. For though Oscar Wilde was a leading writer of the Decadent Movement and the Aesthetic Movement, he was also very much concerned with the cruelty, callousness, and injustice of Victorian society. Here are some of the supernatural creatures from Wilde’s oeuvre that you should know.

1. The Happy Prince

The Happy Prince from The Happy Prince and Other Tales is a statue that retains all the memories and emotions gained during his life as a flesh-and-blood royal. His consciousness has survived death. It is now trapped in a gilded statue with bright sapphire eyes.

During his earthly life, he was indeed happy. The irony, however, is that when the reader encounters the Happy Prince, he is desperately sad. When he was alive and possessed a beating human heart, the Prince lived in a palace untouched by sorrow. He was unaware of the great suffering in the world. Now that he’s a statue stationed high above the city, he can see the suffering of his subjects and the ugliness of the city. Tears flow from the sapphire eyes of the gilded gold statue for he thinks “though my heart is made of lead yet I cannot choose but weep.”

A little Swallow can somehow read the Happy Prince’s thoughts. He befriends the Prince, becoming his arms and legs, or rather his wings, in the fairy tale.

2. The Nightingale and the Rose

The Nightingale from The Happy Prince and Other Tales is no ordinary bird. It understands the thoughts of men. The little bird feels empathy towards a lovelorn Student. The Student hopes to win the heart of a vain young woman by giving her a red rose at the Prince’s ball. Yet there are no red roses to be found. But the Nightingale believes in true love and is determined to help the Student, who searches in vain for a red rose.

Finally, the Nightingale learns from a tree that the only way for it to obtain a red rose is to “to build it out of music by moonlight and stain it with your own heart’s blood. You must sing to me with your breast against a thorn. All night long you must sing to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your life-blood must flow into my veins, and become mine.” But will the Nightingale make the ultimate sacrifice? Read the tale to find out!

3. The Selfish Giant

True to its title, “The Selfish Giant” is a fairy tale about a self-serving giant. Poor children who were uninvited would play in his garden. Determined to maintain the sanctity of private property, the Selfish Giant built a high wall around the garden and put up a sign. He frightened the children who had no other safe place to play.

Unbeknownst to the Selfish Giant, it was those very children who invited Spring into his garden. In the absence of the poor children, Snow, Frost, Hail, and the North Wind reigned in the garden. Will the Selfish Giant realize the error of his ways before it is too late?

4. The Young King

The beautiful Young King from A House of Pomegranates undergoes a spiritual transformation. He changes from a royal preoccupied by luxuriant raiment to a Young King moved by the suffering of the poor and downtrodden. Dreams that were visions of actual events are how this transformation comes about. Once this transformation is wrought, armed men are unable to harm the unarmed Young King. Additionally, the dead shepherd’s staff and the dead circlet that crowns his head blossom with living flowers.

5. The Mermaid

In The Fisherman and His Soul from A House of Pomegranates, a fisherman catches a beautiful mermaid in his nets. After pleading to be released, the mermaid is freed when she agrees to the Fisherman’s demand. She promises the Fisherman to return to him each time he calls for her. When she returns, she must sing, for the songs of a mermaid enchant fish, making it easier for the Fisherman to catch them. Each day, the Fisherman summons the mermaid who dutifully comes and sings for him.

Over time, the Fisherman falls in love with the mermaid. He is determined to marry her. Alas, humans and mermaids cannot be together because humans have souls and mermaids don’t. “If only thou would’st send away thy soul, then I could love thee,” the mermaid tells the forlorn Fisherman. Thus begins the Fisherman’s terrifying journey to rid himself of his soul. On that journey, he comes face to face with his soul, witches, and the Devil himself.

6. The Star-Child

A beautiful baby boy falls to the Earth in the form of a shooting star in a tale from A House of Pomegranates. He is a Star-Child. Though raised in the family of a humble Woodcutter, the Star-Child is actually the son of a shapeshifting King and Queen.

7. The Canterville Ghost

The ghost of Canterville Chase in England takes pride in his ability to terrorize all residents of the estate, and he has been doing so for the past three hundred years. All this changes when the house is sold to an American family. When he was told about the ghost by Lord Canterville, the new homeowner, Hiram B. Otis replied, “But there is no such thing, sir, as a ghost, and I guess the laws of Nature are not going to be suspended for the British aristocracy.”

Not long after, the ghost makes multiple appearances before Mr. Otis’ family. Much to the dismay of the Canterville Ghost, the Americans refuse to be frightened. Quite the opposite. The family performs one practical joke after another on the ghost! Since the Canterville Ghost cannot scare them, he must search his soul to determine the purpose of his existence.

8. The Ballad of Reading Gaol

In 1895, Oscar Wilde was tried and convicted of “gross indecency.” His two-year imprisonment at Reading Gaol compelled him to write the poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” It was based on true events, including the hanging of murderer Charles Thomas Woolridge; however, supernatural characters nevertheless appear in the ballad. As though the horrors of prison were not bad enough, “evil sprites” also terrorize the inmates.

“And each evil sprite that walks by night

Before us seemed to play…

‘Oho!’ they cried, ‘the world is wide,
But fettered limbs go lame!
And once, or twice, to throw the dice
Is a gentlemanly game,
But he does not win who plays with Sin
In the Secret House of Shame.‘”

9. Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” as the Pinnacle of the Supernatural

In Oscar Wilde’s only novel, artist Basil Hallward paints a portrait of the beautiful young Dorian Gray. On seeing his portrait, Dorian wishes, “How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young… If it were the other way. If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture who was to grow old! For that– for that– I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give. I would give my soul for that!” His wish is granted. From that moment on, Dorian Gray does not age. His portrait, however, continues to grow old and to grow ugly from the selfish and immoral life he leads.

Samuel Johnson, possibly the most quoted man of the 18th century, was not a detached intellectual debating abstract philosophy in academic halls. He fought his battles with witty words in the crowded taverns and foggy streets of London. Samuel Johnson, a struggling writer who knew the depths of poverty and a literary titan whose conversation was an art form, was a fierce critic of human pretense. These iconic quotes reveal a mind unmatched in its razor-sharp wit and profound understanding of human nature.

The Many Sayings of Samuel Johnson

Most people have heard of the many sayings of Samuel Johnson, and probably use them on occasion without knowing their origin. He is one of the most quoted historical figures of all time. Choosing just a few of his most iconic sayings is an enormous challenge; it would be easy to list 100 quotes. This is largely thanks to James Boswell, who recorded many of his friend’s sayings in his biography, “The Life of Samuel Johnson.”

Johnson did not compose his witticism for a public audience. Most were spoken to Boswell in conversation or written to him in letters. It was Boswell who made these sayings public in a work based on “the vast treasure of conversations at different times,” many of which Boswell noted down in his journal. But Boswell was not the only one to consider Johnson’s life and words worth recording. Anecdotes and quotes were also published by John Hawkins, Anna Seward, Elizabeth Montagu, Hannah More, and even Horace Walpole.

Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 and lived through the reigns of four British monarchs – Queen Anne (1702-1714), King George I (1714-1727), King George II (1727-1760), and King George III (1760-1820) – before his death in 1784. Highly talented, he did many things with his life. Johnson was a lexicographer, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, and a biographer. He was also a moralist, a literary critic, a sermonist, and an editor. Renowned for his exceptional ability with words, he soon became better known as Doctor Johnson.

1. “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”  

This is probably Samuel Johnson’s most famous and reused quote, at least in Britain. The meaning is simple. Johnson was claiming that London is such a busy, modern, and exciting place that it would be impossible to get bored there. There is no possible end to London’s delights, and it would be unthinkable to tire of what the city has to offer.

When it comes to a love of London, Samuel Johnson was certainly in good company. Walter Besant (1836-1901) said of London, “I’ve been walking about the city for the last thirty years, and I find something fresh in it every day.” Even a  few centuries earlier, the Scotsman William Dunbar (1459-1530) declared, “London, thou art the flour of all cities!”

The words were originally spoken by Johnson when in conversation with James Boswell on the 20th of December, 1777. Johnson, who hated spending time alone, was always out and about, experiencing the many perks of city life. Boswell, whose father owned estates in the Scottish Highlands, knew the benefits of both rural and urban lifestyles.

The pair were discussing whether Boswell’s growing affection for London would wear thin if he chose to live there permanently. When Samuel Johnson delivered his response, little did he know that his words would be repeated countless times throughout the centuries to come.

2. “Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men; but anyone who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.” 

By Samuel Johnson’s era, brandy had become renowned in England as a strong and popular spirit. Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine and is generally between 35-60 percent alcohol. During the 18th century, brandy was typically consumed by upper-class gentlemen as an after-dinner digestif. But why did Johnson consider its consumption heroic?

Well, during the 18th and even the 19th centuries, brandy was often used as a medical treatment due to its alleged stimulating qualities. It was also used by many travelers and explorers who suggested that moderate doses of brandy helped one to cope with fever, depression, and stress. Samuel Johnson could have been suggesting that heroes regularly come across these troubles and that a swig of brandy was all that was needed to successfully combat them.

3. “Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.” 

This quote suggests that falling in love can cause a dramatic change in anyone’s personality. It can cause even the wisest man or woman to become a fool. Love has the power to unravel both sanity and rationality. In short, love turns fools into wise men and wise men into fools.

Samuel Johnson was a man who knew a lot about true love. He had one notable romantic relationship with Elizabeth, whom Johnson affectionately called Tetty. Elizabeth Jervis was originally married to Henry Porter, a good friend of Samuel Johnson. By her first husband, Elizabeth had three children: Lucy, Jervis Henry, and Joseph. On meeting Johnson, Elizabeth declared to her daughter, “That is the most sensible man I have ever met.” The two fell in love shortly after she was widowed. They married in 1735, when she was 46, and he was just 25.

Their union was not accepted by all. Elizabeth Johnson’s family found the age difference between their mother and their new father-in-law difficult to tolerate. The marriage so disgusted Jervis Henry that he cut all ties with his mother. However, Lucy and Joseph later came to accept him into their circle. The couple was extremely happy together, and Samuel Johnson referred to their marriage as being “a love match on both sides.” However, it was relatively short-lived as Tetty died at age 63 following bouts of ill health, possibly caused by excessive use of opiates and alcohol. Johnson mourned her for the rest of his life.

4. “Resolve not to be poor; whatever you have, spend less.”

This common and sensible piece of advice is rarely remembered as belonging to Samuel Johnson, but he understood the importance of living within one’s means. Johnson also said that “poverty is a great enemy to human happiness, it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.”

Johnson gave this advice to Boswell in a letter in December 1782. Boswell had recently inherited his father’s wealth and Highland estates. He was spending the majority of his time in Scotland, far away from London and therefore also from Johnson. Their separation did not lessen the strength of their friendship; they kept in touch through a series of letters, many of which Boswell used as material for his biography.

In the letter, Johnson congratulated Boswell on his inheritance, “Your economy, I suppose, begins now to be settled,” he began, “your expenses are adjusted to your revenue, and all your people in their proper places.” He then asked about Boswell’s new circumstances, asking personal questions about the number of houses he now owned, the amount of money he held in his accounts, how many cows he possessed, his landholdings, and the nature of his agreements with his tenants. He then offered this piece of unsolicited advice.

5. “Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.” 

Rather than coming from Boswell, Johnson wrote this in an article for the periodical The Rambler in August 1751. This issue, number 150, was dedicated to exploring the concept of curiosity. Samuel Johnson’s response was that true genius is not about how much you know, but how much you want to know.

Johnson himself possessed a highly curious mind. For example, when a poltergeist story spread around London in 1762, rather than dismissing it, he joined the occult detective team, later debunking it as a hoax. He also set up a makeshift chemistry laboratory in the backyard of his friend Hester Thrale’s estate. Johnson spent hours absorbed in blending chemicals, distilling substances, and testing the properties of materials, often to the terror of his friends, who were worried he was going to blow up the house.

He did not advocate for petty curiosity and gossip, but still considered it one of the defining characteristics of a vigorous intellect and said, “Curiosity is the thirst of the soul; it inflames and torments us, and makes us taste everything with joy, however otherwise insipid, by which it may be quenched.”

6. “Hell is paved with good intentions.” 

This idea did not start with Johnson, and has evolved over the centuries. According to Boswell, on April 14, 1775, Johnson was talking to an acquaintance about how people often fail to live up to their religious and moral resolutions. Johnson looked at him and said, “Sir, hell is paved with good intentions.”

Earlier figures like Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century had said “Hell is full of good intentions and wishes.” Johnson added the vivid image of “paving.” Over the next century, the public altered it slightly into “the road to hell,” which stuck permanently in the cultural lexicon.

Johnson used the words to refer directly to laziness, hypocrisy, and empty promises. He was pointing out that merely intending to be a good person, or intending to start something, means nothing if you don’t do it. We use “good intentions” as an emotional shield to make ourselves feel virtuous without acting virtuously.

7. “A cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out as good for nothing.” 

This is not one of Johnson’s quotes with a deeper meaning. He simply hated cucumbers and was not afraid to say so.

Raw cucumber is 95 percent water, four percent carbohydrates, and one percent protein; not exactly delicious-sounding. It also contains a biochemical compound, cucurbitacin, which gives it a bitter taste that some people don’t like. Cucumbers have been around since ancient times. Early mentions can be found in the Book of Exodus. Thousands of years later, in the late 8th and early 9th centuries, the Holy Roman emperor Charlemagne instructed that cucumbers should be grown in his private gardens.

Cucumbers were introduced to Britain sometime in the 14th century, but it didn’t take long for Englishmen to turn against them. Prejudice developed in England against uncooked vegetables. Articles by medical professionals stated that vegetables such as cucumbers could bring on fevers. It was advised that they should not be eaten by children, the elderly, or vulnerable people in general. Others said that cucumbers were fit “only for consumption by cows.”

Gloria Steinem is one of the most vocal feminists, supporting multiple causes that fight the oppression of different groups of people. During the second half of the 20th century, it was dangerous for women to speak their minds in the manner Gloria did. She openly challenged then-taboo subjects, such as abortion rights, pay equality, and domestic violence. She also had a great deal of influence in the battle for closing the gender gap. Read on to discover more about Gloria Steinem’s life and activism.

Gloria Steinem’s Early Life, Childhood, and Education

Born in Toledo, Ohio, on March 25, 1934, Gloria Steinem had an eventful and somewhat turbulent childhood that influenced her later life and career. Her father was an antique dealer who moved his family often, traveling in their house trailer. Her mother was a journalist who suffered from some mental health challenges, especially depression, which left a significant mark on Gloria’s fight for equality and feminism.

Due to the different aspirations and wants in life—and probably her mother’s undiagnosed mental illness—Gloria’s parents divorced when she was ten years old, and she moved with her mother to Toledo, Ohio. Her mother’s condition and the fact that she was a single parent caring for a young child made Gloria witness firsthand how difficult it was for a woman to find her way in society. In the 1950s, women were expected to fit a certain role, and society was not kind to single mothers. Her early life and the state’s failure to protect her mother planted a feminist seed.

Even though her life was not without challenges, Gloria Steinem excelled in school, and her good grades gained her admission to the prestigious Smith College in Massachusetts on a scholarship. There, Gloria studied political science and journalism and became involved in various activist causes. As one of the college’s best students, she graduated magna cum laude in 1956. She later received a fellowship that allowed her to continue her studies in India for two years.

While in India, Gloria Steinem became acquainted with Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy and activism, including his support for nonviolent resistance. Witnessing the situation in India and the struggles people faced helped Gloria develop her own activism and personality. In particular, while living in India, Gloria began connecting feminism with human rights.

Undercover Playboy Bunny

When she returned from India, Gloria Steinem moved to New York City to work as a freelance writer, contributing to publications like Esquire, The New York Times, Glamour, and Show Magazine. She started to find her writer’s voice and style, developing a distinctive writing style. She became famous for being able to blend insightful social commentary with captivating storytelling that kept the reader engaged.

In 1963, Gloria Steinem gained recognition for her breakthrough article “I Was a Playboy Bunny,” a two-piece exposé for SHOW magazine published in May. The article resulted from Steinem’s intention to investigate the Playboy Club owned by Hugh Hefner and the working conditions of Playboy Bunnies. To write her exposé, Gloria herself worked undercover as a Bunny.

The so-called Playboy Bunnies were waitresses working in particular conditions, wearing revealing and suggestive clothing, and often serving men who were objectifying them. On top of that, these employees were overworked and underpaid, relying on tips for the evening to make a decent stipend. Gloria’s investigative journalism shed light on these issues and the derogatory working conditions of the Playboy Bunnies, making her the voice of the feminist movement and one of the most known female investigative journalists.

The exposé became one of the pivotal moments in Steinem’s career and the feminist movement. It brought to the attention the objectification of women and acted as a catalyst to start crucial conversations regarding gender equality. After her breakthrough article, Gloria Steinem began to focus more and more on activism and social issues. In the following years, she wrote about topics like female reproductive rights, sexism, the Civil Rights Movement, and political campaigns.

National Women’s Political Caucus

The National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) was founded in July 1971 to boost women’s participation in politics. It was established in Washington DC, and one of its main goals was to bring gender equality on every governmental level. Besides Gloria Steinem, some of the most prominent feminist voices of that time, such as Shirley Chisholm, Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, and Fannie Lou Hamer, were among NWPC’s founders. These women broke glass ceilings in many different fields, and together, they made history by combining their forces to make women’s voices heard in politics, social movements, and the fight for equality.

As a journalist with a national platform that gained attention through investigative journalism and topics extremely relevant to women’s fight for equality, Gloria Steinem played a crucial role in women’s fight to increase their political participation. She was aware of the necessity for women to have titles of power, to be able to make decisions and laws that would protect their interests and level the field with men. Through her activism and platform, Gloria wanted to call women to run for governmental and political offices and to encourage them to challenge the status quo in a male-dominated society.

Gloria Stenem’s involvement with the NWPC was evident in her prolific and engaged writing and her participation in rallies, conferences, and other events with political and activist connotations and backgrounds. In 1971, she co-founded one of the most influential feminist publications, Ms. magazine, where she shared stories of women in politics and called out sexism, chauvinism, racism, and bigoted behavior. The NWPC persists to this day and is responsible for paving the way for many women in politics, no matter their party affiliation.

Gloria Steinem’s Feminism and Activism

Gloria Steinem fought for different activist causes and immensely influenced activism in the United States in general. In particular, she was extremely vocal and passionate regarding reproductive rights and abortion access. Today, she is still one of the loudest voices in the fight for bodily autonomy and the right to choose whether to carry on or terminate the pregnancy. Gloria Steinem was also one of the first public personalities to talk openly about her abortion experience at 22 years old and how it impacted her life.

Another critical feminist issue Steinem openly supported was the fight for equal pay and workplace rights. Her involvement and stance on the matter are evident through her campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a measure aiming to secure equality for women by ending legal differences between men and women in various areas, from employment to property.

The history of the ERA goes way back before the time of Gloria Steinem. Indeed, the first proposal was written in 1923, but to this day, it still has not been ratified. To achieve ratification and become an official part of the US Constitution, the amendment needed the approval of 38 states. However, not enough states ratified the Equal Rights Amendment; it never became official law, and it remains one of the main issues in the fight for equality that is still open. Today, several feminist and LGBTQA+ activists are still pushing for the ERA ratification, more than one century since its first draft.

Besides fighting for women’s rights, Gloria Steinem is a prominent activist for LGBTQA+ rights. Before it became legal, Stenam openly supported same-sex marriage and advocated for rights for all, no matter the sex, sexuality, or race.

Gloria Steinem’s Legacy

Gloria Steinem’s legacy is vast and multidimensional. She managed to completely change and showcase what feminist journalism can look like and how it allows crucial topics to be brought to light, evoking the interest of a broad public.

Besides fighting for gender and racial equality, Steinem supports abortion rights and is active against domestic violence. In some more traditional and already well-established print media, these issues were not that much present and talked about before activists and journalists such as Gloria Steinem. With Ms. magazine, she changed the public discourse and gave her readers the “legitimacy” to speak about these polarizing topics.

Today, it is sometimes easy to forget that certain freedoms were unavailable to women just 50 years ago. For example, in the United States, women could not get a credit card without a man co-signing it. This practice was based on the misogynistic stereotype that women are not financially responsible or reliable. The requirement for a male cosigner ended in 1974 with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), when Steinem and other like-minded activists fought for gender equality.

Another obstacle that women faced during this time was getting access to birth control when unmarried, a restriction that officially ended in 1972 with Eisenstadt v. Baird. Education was also restricted. The oldest universities in the US often admitted only male students. Some Ivy League Colleges, like Harvard, started admitting female students only in the second half of the 1970s.

Gloria Steinem is, to this day, one of the most famous and respected feminist voices in the world. She is a fighter for equal rights for all and a climate change activist. Together with second-wave feminist activists, Steinem undoubtedly made a huge impact on the course of women’s history.

In “A Room of One’s Own,” Virginia Woolf famously posited “that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.” Many women writers throughout history have adopted male pseudonyms to preserve their privacy, maintain a distance between their fictional and non-fictional writings, or evade some of the prejudicial criticisms reserved for women authors.

1. George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil)

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil was born on July 1, 1804. She published 70 novels and over 50 volumes of other writings under the pseudonym George Sand before her death in 1876. Her prolific output was matched by her popularity. She was more celebrated in Britain than famous male French writers, such as Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac.

In 1831, when she was still an unknown writer, she chose the pseudonym George Sand to improve her chances of success, over the French version Georges. In the 19th century, when French women were required to apply for a permit to wear male clothing, Sand chose to wear male clothing without such a permit. Moreover, she habitually smoked tobacco in public, something not even a permit could excuse in 19th-century France. Victor Hugo famously remarked on her uniquely dual nature, writing in her funeral panegyric that she had “the heart of a man and the mind of an angel.”

A noted member of the Romantic movement in literature, Sand’s writing often rails against the confines that matrimony places on women. She championed women’s causes throughout her life. Though married to François Casimir Dudevant, she had relationships with many men of note (including writers Jules Sandeau and Prosper Mérimée, politician Louis Blanc, and, perhaps most famously, composer Frédéric Chopin) as well as at least one lesbian love affair with the actress Marie Dorval.

2. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Mary Ann Evans was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, at South Farm on the Arbury Hall estate (which her father managed) on November 22, 1819. She became a novelist after publishing her essay-turned-manifesto “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists,” in which she criticized the triviality of contemporary women’s fiction. Under the pseudonym “George Eliot,” she wrote her novels in the realist tradition emerging in Europe, eschewing the lighter, romantic subject matter of many other women writers at the time.

From an early age, she demonstrated a keen intelligence. Her father, believing that she was no great beauty and therefore would not make an advantageous marriage, allowed her an education, not typically afforded women at the time. She boarded at various schools between the ages of five and sixteen. She was also permitted to read from the library of Arbury Hall, which she did voraciously.

At the age of sixteen, her mother died. Five years later, she and her father moved to Coventry. Here, she was exposed to radical, free-thinking societies and published an English translation of Strauss’s “Das Leben Jesu kritisch bearbeitet (The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined),” in which Strauss argued that the miracles recorded in the New Testament should be considered as mythical rather than factual.

Following her father’s death in 1849, she moved to London. She became the assistant editor (editor in all but name) of the left-wing Westminster Review. In 1851, she met the philosopher and critic George Henry Lewes. He was unable to obtain a divorce, but she and Lewes lived together from 1854 and considered themselves married to each other.

3. 4. & 5. The Brontë Sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë)

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are world-famous novelists in their own right today. But during their lives, they published under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.

Growing up in an isolated parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire, the Brontë sisters received relatively little formal education aside from short stints at the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge for Charlotte and Emily, Miss Wooler’s School at Roe Head for all three, and the Pensionnat Héger for Charlotte and Emily. Their father, however, educated them in subjects such as history and languages, allowing them to read from his library.

After discovering some of Emily’s poems in 1845, Charlotte convinced her sisters to produce a joint collection of their poetry. In 1846, their collection was published under their male pseudonyms, selling only three copies.

Despite this, Emily was busy writing “Wuthering Heights,” Charlotte was working on “The Professor,” and Anne was channeling her struggles as a governess into “Agnes Grey.” After only Emily and Anne’s novels were accepted for publication, Charlotte began work on “Jane Eyre,” and all three novels were published in 1847 under their pseudonyms.

The name Brontë was also something of an invention on the part of Patrick, their father. Derived from the Irish clan Ó Pronntaigh, the surname was typically anglicized as Prunty or Brunty. Patrick, an Irishman then studying at Cambridge University, may have wished to distance himself from his Irish surname. He may have done so in honor of Admiral Horatio Nelson, Duke of Bronte, though he may also have wished to avoid association with his brother, William, who was a wanted man following his association with the United Irishmen movement.

6. James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Bradley Sheldon)

Born Alice Hastings Bradley, Sheldon came from a family of intellectuals. Following the breakdown of her first marriage, she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps as a supply officer. She then joined the United States Air Force, earning the rank of major. In 1945, while on assignment in Paris, she married Huntington D. Sheldon. One year later, she was discharged from the military. Her first story, “The Lucky Ones,” was published in The New Yorker under the name Alice Bradley.

After a brief stint in the CIA, she returned to academia, earning her PhD from George Washington University. During this period, she began to publish science fiction short stories under the name James Tiptree Jr. Critic Robert Silverberg said he discerned “something ineluctably masculine about Tiptree’s writing,” and compared her to Ernest Hemingway. When her identity was revealed in 1977, it shocked the science fiction community

7. Andre Norton (Alice Mary Norton)

Alice Mary Norton was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 17, 1912. In the wake of the Depression, she dropped out of Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University in 1932. She began working for the Cleveland Library System, where she remained for the next 18 years.

In 1934, she published her first novel, “The Prince Commands, being sundry adventures of Michael Karl, sometime crown prince & pretender to the throne of Morvania,” and legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton. It was only in 1958, however, after publishing 21 novels, that she was able to become a full-time writer. She published 130 novels and numerous short stories over the course of her career.

8. Vernon Lee (Violet Paget)

Vernon Lee was the nom de plume of the writer Violet Paget, though she also went by her adopted name in her personal life. Best remembered for her works of supernatural fiction and aesthetic theory. She was also a feminist, pacifist, musician, and an early disciple of Walter Pater. Like George Sand, she also dressed in typically male clothing—à la garçonne. Though she resisted the term lesbian, she had long-term relationships with women, including fellow writers Mary Robinson, Clementina “Kit” Anstruther-Thomson, and Amy Levy.

Lee wrote primarily for an English-speaking readership, but she was born in France and spent most of her life in continental Europe. Though she traveled widely, she favored Italy and spent her longest stretch just outside Florence. She drew on her travels to pen myriad essays on her experiences in Italy, France, Switzerland, and Germany. Unlike most travel writers, however, she sought to delineate her own subjective experience of a place and the psychological impacts it had on her personally.

In collaboration with Kit Anstruther-Thomson, she pioneered her own version of “psychological aesthetics.” She connected aesthetics to such “bodily reactions” as “eye movements, pulse and heartbeat, [and] muscle tension. Her pacifism and open disapproval of the First World War meant that her work was sidelined. She fell into obscurity before feminist scholars revived her work in the 1990s.

Select Bibliography

Colby, V. (2003). Vernon Lee: A Literary Biography (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press)

Ingham, P. (2008). The Brontës (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

The oeuvre of Henry James spans some 20 novels, dozens more novellas and short stories, plays, travel writing, and criticism. It’s not just the breadth of this body of work that daunts readers. James is a novelist’s novelist, who innovated a style entirely his own: sprawling sentences in which each word is meticulously chosen to add to the enigmatic maze of phrases he has pieced together. Where to start? No better place than his early style, with its famous ‘international theme,’ moving through to his psychologically complex, highly interiorized later work.

The Portrait of a Lady

In 1881, Henry James was already the author of six novels. A cosmopolitan who had spent as much of his youth traveling in Europe as in his native New England, James had filled his books so far with the ‘international theme’: contrasting American innocence with European experience, New World enterprise with Old World culture. No surprise that these early novels included titles such as The American (1877) and The Europeans (1878).

The Portrait of a Lady expanded on these ideas by integrating another element that would become a James hallmark: a brilliant, beautiful, often rich female protagonist who must decide how to make her way in a world that still prizes marriage above all. James’s first great success, and still one of his most read works, the novella Daisy Miller (1878), had taken up this theme alongside the international one by depicting its American heroine’s changing fortunes in Europe.

Isabel Archer, in Portrait of a Lady, is another of these beguiling heroines. What sets this novel apart (making it, for many readers, James’s first masterpiece) is the space it devotes to exploring its protagonist’s inner workings.

We follow every step of Isabel’s mental processes as she asks herself whether to marry Gilbert Osmond in spite of her doubts, then as she tries to make sense of her betrayal at Gilbert’s hands and those of his accomplice, Madame Merle. This painstaking recreation of the human mind in fiction would become James’s greatest accomplishment.

The Aspern Papers

You’d be forgiven for thinking that an author bent on mimicking the intricacies of consciousness in prose wasn’t exactly a writer of page-turners. Yet The Aspern Papers, a novella published in 1888, is exactly that.

Our unnamed narrator travels to Venice in hopes of getting a glimpse at some letters, or ‘papers,’ by the late, celebrated poet Jeffrey Aspern (an invention of James’s, though he drew on the increasing interest among scholars by the late 19th century to gather information about deceased writers). The narrator finds himself embroiled in a game of mutual dissembling with the old woman who guards the papers and her niece.

The novella is a gripping piece of metafiction that anticipates certain postmodern texts that also revolve around literary detective work, such as A.S. Byatt’s Possession (1990) and the dark academia genre. As the tension mounts throughout The Aspern Papers, the reader is left questioning what really motivates each character: are they intent on preserving Aspern’s memory, or satisfying their own desires?

The Turn of the Screw

Probably James’s best-known piece of short fiction, if not his best-known work altogether, The Turn of the Screw has been adapted multiple times since its publication in 1898: it has been turned into films (such as The Innocents, 1961), reworked as television series (such as The Haunting of Bly Manor, 2020), referenced in other fiction, and formed the basis of a Benjamin Britten opera.

Why does The Turn of the Screw continue to capture audiences? In part, because it is a classic horror story, complete with haunted house, creepy children, and an unnamed, mounting threat. Its title refers to the gradual, torturous tightening of tension as the governess at the center of the story tries to determine whether the children she is in charge of really are possessed by the ghosts of Bly Manor’s former servants.

So far, so Gothic. But what makes The Turn of the Screw even more captivating, and especially worth reading in its original form, is James’s use of unreliable narration. Unlike earlier Gothic texts, which depict supernatural elements, James’s novella suggests the ghosts may be only in the mind. The question is, whose mind? Using his trademark ambiguity, James makes it possible to believe that the children have made up the apparitions, or that the governess has fabricated the entire story herself.

The Ambassadors

This 1903 novel was James’s favorite of his own works. Here, the ‘international theme’ of his earlier phase meets the intricate prose of his creative apex. This novel, and the novels before and after it (The Wings of the Dove (1902) and The Golden Bowl (1904)) are generally considered his finest work.

The protagonist, Lewis Lambert Strether, is sent to Europe by his fiancée to bring her son from a previous marriage back to America: back to civilized morals and sensible work. This set-up would later serve Patricia Highsmith well for the opening of The Talented Mr Ripley in 1955.

But Chad Newsome, the son, is not living a dissolute lifestyle in Europe at all. He is charming, cultured, and confident. He introduces Strether to Paris, and the ambassador soon finds himself deviating from his mission. It is another story built around enigmas: is Newsome really living a better, more moral life? Is Strether right to feel liberated the longer he spends away from America, the more he immerses himself in European culture?

Once again, James’s complex prose heightens the sensation of entrapment in a maze as the reader tries to puzzle through all this, with the entire experience told in partial, third-person narration: that is, we seem to have an omniscient narrator, but everything is filtered through Strether’s perspective.

The Golden Bowl

In contrast to The Ambassadors and its focus on the protagonist’s point of view, the complexity of The Golden Bowl comes from its masterful evocation of multiple points of view, but without resorting to the epistolary or multiple-narrator constructions of earlier authors.

The plot of The Golden Bowl is relatively simple. Prince Amerigo marries Maggie Verver, daughter of an American widower, Adam, in London. While there, they meet a fellow American, Charlotte Stant, who, before long, marries Adam. Unbeknownst to both Adam and Maggie Verver, their spouses had formerly had an affair, and are now thrown together by the new marriages.

The golden bowl of the title is symbolic: on one of their secret outings, Amerigo and Charlotte decide not to buy it as a wedding present for Maggie because it has a tiny crack. Maggie later buys it, causing the shopkeeper to reveal their affair. Each character has a reason not to shatter this golden bowl or destroy the two marriages by revealing their secrets.

It is an emotionally claustrophobic novel, and James’s narration emphasizes this by moving seamlessly among the four protagonists’ thought processes. This, paired with James’s forbidding sentence construction, makes for an astonishing read in which most of the action appears to happen inside the characters’ minds. In this, The Golden Bowl anticipates modernist stream-of-consciousness techniques, used by authors like Virginia Woolf and James Joyce to mimic the complex, often confusing patterns of thought itself.

The Beast in the Jungle

The Golden Bowl had shown James moving away from external action and deeper into the recesses of his characters’ minds. All that happens in The Beast in the Jungle, a novella published in 1903, is that John Marcher meets May Bartram, a woman he used to know 10 years ago, who reminds him of his old, looming fear that some catastrophe was lying in wait for him like a “beast in the jungle.”

Believing he would subject anyone he married to the same fate, he keeps Bartram close but not too close, dragging both of them down into a half-life of fear and hiding. Eventually, he realizes his catastrophic fate has been, all along, to waste the best years of his life worrying about some unknown future event.

It is a relatively simple idea, full of existential possibilities: how should we best live our lives? What is our responsibility towards others? Is it better to cautiously avoid failure or to throw ourselves hopefully towards the unknown?

With its unfussy plot—very few characters, only one setting, in contrast to many of James’s other works which move freely between European countries and America—The Beast in the Jungle has the makings of a classic tragedy, albeit updated to the turn of the 20th century, turning upon the distinctly modern fatal flaw of ennui.

Of course, in James’s hands, it is anything but a simple story. James’s masterful techniques of circumlocution and evasion were well used here, bringing to life a protagonist whom many have suspected to be close to James himself.

Indeed, the sexual ambiguity of Marcher and Bartram’s relationship has led critics to read The Beast in the Jungle as a possible reflection on the conditions of being closeted. Perhaps the ‘beast’ Marcher fears, and the reason he cannot quite allow Bartram into his life, are linked by latent homosexuality.

This was, as the infamous late-19th-century phrase had it, “the love that dare not speak its name,” and James’s prose was the perfect evocation of the closet, with all its symbolic half-statements and partial revelations.

However, we read the story, James’s style is at its peak by the end, reaching an intensity which clearly shows his influence on the modernists some two decades later:

“He saw the Jungle of his life and saw the lurking Beast; then, while he looked, perceived it, as by a stir of the air, rise, huge and hideous, for the leap that was to settle him. His eyes darkened – it was close; and, instinctively turning, in his hallucination, to avoid it, he flung himself, on his face, on the tomb.” (James, 1997)

Source

James, Henry (1997). The Beast in the Jungle. Project Gutenberg edition.

While the Odyssey’s 8th-century B.C. authorship credited to an obscure, allegedly blind poet called Homer remains under debate, it inarguably lives on as one of the cornerstone “great books” of Western literature. Despite the tome’s voluminous 24 books (i.e., chapters) and some 12,000 lines, all written in classical dactylic hexameter verse, the plot is open-and-shut if boiled down to Hollywood “high concept” terms: a valiant soldier’s Herculean quest to return to his wife and homeland after years away at war.

The Iliad, Part II

That soldier, of course, is Odysseus (“Ulysses” or “Ulixēs” in Latin), one of the legendary leaders among the Greek armies that invaded and eventually conquered the coastal fortress city of Troy. While most historians believe there was an actual war between the Greeks and Trojans (the latter located in today’s westernmost Turkey), the entire saga was first mythologized into the Iliad and then the Odyssey “sequel” by Homer. Both were initially passed down through the generations through the oral storytelling tradition.

In the Iliad (from “Ilium,” the Greek name of Troy), Homer lays the blame on Troy’s Prince Paris for starting the hostilities, set off when he spirits away the fair Helen, wife of Sparta’s King Menelaus. None too happy, Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon enlist the mightiest Greek warriors to sail to Troy and lay siege. The war lasts ten long years, and the Greeks eventually triumph, despite losing their seemingly invincible Achilles, but only due to a little trick that famously involves a colossal wooden horse, a cache of hidden soldiers, and a naïve Trojan citizenry that should have feared the Greeks “even when they offer gifts.”

Gods, Monsters, and Men

While Homer’s follow-up also condenses a ten-year span, it covers much more territory (practically the entire Mediterranean in fact) while at that same time trimming its main mortal characters down to three: the “long-suffering” Odysseus, king of Ithaka (aka Ithaca); Penelope, his legendarily loyal wife back home; and Telemachos, his grown son. That Homer curiously shuffles the overall narrative to and fro and inserts what today can be labeled story “flashbacks” retelling Odysseus’ iconic death-defying adventures (the Cyclops, the Sirens, the Lotus-eaters, et al.) arguably points to the epic poem as passing down through history as the tapestry-like creation woven from several narrators, not just one.

Speaking of sewing, this indeed is Penelope’s distaff diversion, as well as sleight-of-hand, in her daily battles against a jackal pack of “haughty suitors” who have rudely taken up residence at the palace. With her husband long gone and feared dead, these brazen interlopers continually badger the queen for her hand in marriage, meaning that one of them will be the new king, of course. The wily Penelope pledges that she will make her choice once she finishes a shroud she is weaving for her father-in-law. What’s a chaste, faithful, “trad” wife to do? By day she labors at weaving the garment, but each night she undoes the work so that she’ll never finish.

Completing Homer’s character triumvirate is Telemachos, whom Odysseus was reluctantly forced to leave as an infant to go off to battle. While his father is no doubt the hero of the Odyssey (after all, it’s named after him), Homer’s first four books tell of the son’s own voyages to seek proof that his father is still alive and where he might be. He sets off on that quest at the urgings of the shape-shifting goddess Pallas Athene (aka Minerva), who is Odysseus’ divine benefactor and booster throughout this tale. She takes his side in opposition to Poseidon, roiling and riled-up god of the sea, who has it in for Odysseus ever since he blinded Poseidon’s monstrous man-eating son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, on the island believed by some to be Sicily.

In a textbook example of a story opening in medias res (“in the middle of things”), the Odyssey’s narrative commences not when Odysseus sails from Troy with his men up the coast to Ismarus, chronologically, but only alludes to that violent clash later on. Given that writer/director Nolan is almost ritually drawn to out-of-sequence plots, even disjointed ones (see Oppenheimer, Inception, Memento, et al.), this observer can pretty well prophesize that his Odyssey will retain and perhaps even complicate Homer’s fractured, fateful timeline over its three-hour length.

Star Treks and Screen Voyages

Odysseus’ superhuman quest is indeed a timeless one and the through-line of scores of legends and lore transcending East and West. Consider the word “nostalgia,” meaning a “longing for home,” an emotion that has surely prompted eons of wistful daydreams or retro physical journeys. Now there are those hardened sages who warn that “you can’t go home again,” but that certainly didn’t stop young Dorothy Gale in Hollywood’s wonderful 1939 The Wizard of Oz, who only had to chant “there’s no place like home” and click her heels to magically return to her family’s Kansas farm.

It’s unsurprising then that the Odyssey has inspired dozens of dramatic journeys, directly and indirectly, old and new, testifying to its deep, buoyant resonance. Nolan has hardly been the first to tackle it on the big screen. There are short, silent, European versions going back at least to 1911. These early “sword and sandal” costume pictures strode into the sound era, with one high point coming with matinee idol Kirk Douglas’ brawny, bearded turn as Ulysses in a lush 1954 Technicolor version produced by Italian film titans Carlo Ponti and Dino De Laurentiis. On U.S and European TV as well, Homer has had long “legs,” charging into several episodic iterations, including a star-studded, visually ravishing 1997 miniseries that featured Armand Assante in the lead role and Greek diva Irene Papas as Odysseus’ mother.

It’s lesser known that Odysseus’ wanderings have served as the source for fictional riffs far and wide, often ironically. In 1922, trailblazing Irish “stream of consciousness” author James Joyce published the scandalous Ulysses, shrinking the adventures down to 24 hours in the everyday, anti-heroic lives of a Dublin man, his wife, and a young stranger. In a contemporary comedic vein, the filmmaking brothers Coen (Joel and Ethan) cleverly mined Homer for 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou?, in which escaped convict George Clooney must survive sultry sirens, a big bad bandit, and even the Ku Klux Klan in his paternal quest to return home and keep his ex-wife from marrying her “bona fide” Southern suitor. More serious, yet seriously flawed, is director Anthony Minghella’s frigid 2003 Cold Mountain, in which a Civil War deserter (Jude Law) turns Odysseus’ trek home into a marathon with all the speed of molasses flowing uphill.

Devoted cinephiles will also know that in French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard’s brilliantly modernist Contempt (1963), he cast the eminent German director Fritz Lang as “Fritz Lang,” arduously filming his version of the Odyssey at Rome’s storied Cinecittà studios. Even deeper down the meta movie rabbit hole, Lang’s feckless screenwriter (Michel Piccoli) begins to suspect his bewitching blonde wife (Brigitte Bardot) is no Penelope when it comes to keeping her marriage vows.

IMAX, Not iMac

Nolan is no stranger to cinematic risk, and has long been undaunted by the Hollywood box-office seers who’ve predicted his doom, most recently with Oppenheimer, which not only won seven Oscars (including best picture and director) but took home a billion dollars in global ticket sales. More than a few mordant observers thought he ginned up his Cold War atomic-bomb biopic with gratuitously incendiary sex scenes formulated only to feed the hydra-headed commercial hoi-polloi. Since Homer’s Odysseus (Matt Damon) has few conjugal moments with his stalwart wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) on Ithaca, perhaps Nolan will spice up his picture with a torrid romance between his shipwrecked, pre-GPS sojourner and the lonely nymph Kalypso (Charlize Theron), who for seven years keeps him as her playmate on her fantasy island of Ogygia?

Nolan’s Olympian task will be to keep 21st-century, spectacle-seeking, text-challenged audiences captivated by a costume action drama short on spaceships, lightsabers, evil aliens, and fantastic planets. His solution no doubt will be to use the gargantuan IMAX screen like a vast immersive canvas fit for the gods as well as mortals, and where he’ll want viewers to marvel at only a fraction of the Promethean two million feet of 70mm film he shot in all, culled from locations in six countries including Greece, Italy and Morocco.

Say what you will about Nolan’s commercialized leanings that bare his artistic Achilles’ heel, but there is no question that his fidelity to the tools of old-fashioned analog filmmaking in the manner of British director David Lean (or Hollywood’s Cecil B. De Mille) puts him closer in artistic temperament to 20th century big-screen classicism than to today’s “edgy” postmodern simulated storytelling that is often as hollow and empty as, well, that legendary Trojan horse.

Honey, I’m Home!

By Zeus, Homer’s old-school Odyssey in no way lacks the big, cataclysmic, Armageddon-like climax that younger audiences have come to expect, even demand, from their blockbuster superhero fantasy flicks. Indeed, as written, Homer’s gory coup-de-grace finale that takes place with Odysseus’ ultimate return to Ithaka might test the macho directing mettle of the joined forces of Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino. Can audiences expect, gulp, the split-second zinger when the bloodthirsty Odysseus sends an arrow through the neck of his haughtiest rival, Antinous (Robert Pattinson), while he’s blithely downing a goblet of wine?

For all its blood, guts, and maritime thrills and spills, the Odyssey is and should be a paean to marital love and devotion, sentiments here outlasting the ravages of time, separation, war, and death itself. Whether such old-fashioned themes will score a bull’s eye with jaded audiences in an age trampled by divorce, high infidelity, and dysfunctional families is a question, for now, only the movie gods can answer.

Despite its epic length and the leagues of fleeting, faceless characters that cross paths with Odysseus and his son, ingrained in Homer’s archetypal opus is a fistful of vivid passages that have long hit home with readers from Athens to Atlanta. For this one and countless others, it’s the poignantly passing moment when the hero reaches Ithaka, 20 years on, to find his decrepit dog Argos waiting. While no one recognizes his aged and disguised master, old Fido does. And, with that, his own lifelong quest comes full circle too.

The Old English epic poem Beowulf is a classic story of darkness and light. Sinister, inhuman forces are portrayed as locked in battle with the forces of humanity and virtue. Yet, the monsters are more than just fantastical foes. They represent vices that are all too human, and they provide us with a deep insight into how the early-medieval mind viewed good and evil.

Who or What Is Grendel?

The primary antagonist of Beowulf is the creature known as Grendel. It is not clear what, or maybe who, Grendel actually is. We are first introduced to Grendel early on in the poem, around line 100, when the poet describes how the early joys of Heorot, the great hall of the Danish king, were destroyed by this monster. Grendel is described in Old English as a “grimma gaest,” which has been translated variously as “cruel spirit” (Alexander) and “grim demon” (Heaney, Williamson).

Perhaps the most significant fact about Grendel that is told to us by the poet is his ancestry. Grendel is described as a descendant of Cain, the man who slew his brother Abel in the Book of Genesis. From Cain was bred a whole series of monsters, whom God had cast out of the society of humans, according to the poet. Grendel thus has something of the human within him. As a descendant of a man who killed his own brother, we might view Grendel as an embodiment of all the worst instincts and destructive tendencies within humans. It is Grendel’s human-like quality that makes him such a terrifying being, and allows the poet to compare him closely to the poem’s hero, Beowulf.

Yet Grendel’s humanity should not be overstressed. He is a creature that devours other humans, and whose strength and ferocity are matched amongst humans by Beowulf alone. Grendel is also described as being invulnerable to swords, and so Beowulf has to tear off his arm in order to kill him. His eyes are said to contain a hellish light.

There are other things that we can say about Grendel that might point to who, or what, he is. Grendel appears to have the rough physiognomy of a human being. He is referenced as possessing hands, arms, and shoulders. He has a mother, who is also a monster of some kind. Yet, what stands out principally about the poet’s description of Grendel is the lack of physical descriptors that are used. Grendel’s hatred and malice are what define him, and the poet seems to deliberately leave his physical nature to the imagination of the audience.

Grendel’s Borderlands

Another important aspect of deciphering Grendel is where he comes from. Grendel exists on the fringes of the world of humans in Beowulf. He is described as lurking in the fens, which was likely inspired by the area of wetland swamp in eastern England, which, during the Anglo-Saxon Period, was a very prominent feature of the English landscape and mostly uninhabitable. Grendel is also described as living in the “march” or “borders,” on the edge of this world. When he captures Hrothgar’s men, he is described as dragging them off to his lair, adding further horror to the place he inhabits.

Grendel’s realm is explicitly contrasted with King Hrothgar’s great hall of Heorot, which acts as the central hearth of the poem and the center of civilization, comradeship, and joy. The hall’s “radiance lighted the lands of the world.” It is the place in which the rules and customs that uphold this society, such as the generosity of the king and queen and the loyalty of their followers, are demonstrated in the poem. Grendel’s hatred of Heorot is how we are introduced to him, and it is in some ways his defining motive in the poem.

Heorot is at the center of the poem’s world, and Grendel comes from the edges of this world. He lurks on the borders away from the great hall, in a dark and mysterious landscape. His moving from these borderlands and breaking into Heorot is the central trauma around which the first part of the poem revolves. When Beowulf slays Grendel inside Heorot, the monster retreats back to his lair to die, emphasizing the separation between the world of the hall and the world that Grendel represents.

Grendel is a representation of the dangers of the world beyond. Whether Grendel evokes a fear of invasion from foreign foes, or a supernatural fear of the monsters that were thought to roam the edges of the world in early-medieval Europe, or both, is unclear.

Some scholars have posited that Beowulf was first written down in the Viking Age, and that his depredations against Hrothgar’s hall were inspired by the brutality of Viking invasions and raids. It is also worth noting the elemental connotations of Grendel’s incursions upon Heorot. It is stated that “with the coming of the night came Grendel also,” as though the monster carried with him the fears of darkness itself. He is elsewhere described as “the walker in the night.”

The Character of Grendel

Whilst we cannot know very much about Grendel’s appearance and origins, the poet provides plenty of detail about Grendel’s character and, to some extent, his motivations. Grendel is often described in contrast to other things. He is defined to a large extent by what he hates and what he seeks to destroy.

Some scholars have seen in Grendel a perversion of the values that were central to the early-medieval North Sea world. Bravery is a primary value, yet Grendel demonstrates a reckless savagery and brutality that twists courage into a gross excess. In a world where community and kinship are central tenets of civilization, Grendel is a loner, infuriated by the gathering of people within Heorot and maddened by the sounds of communal society.

Grendel is described as being motivated by his rage against Hrothgar’s merry hall, and the poet describes the monster as entering into a feud with the king of the Danes. Blood feuds are described frequently throughout the poem, as is mentioned below, and the poet describes Grendel’s antagonism toward Heorot in similar tones.

The merriment and life brought by the hall so enrages Grendel that he wages war against King Hrothgar and his men for twelve years before Beowulf arrives. Grendel is thus an enemy who holds bitter grudges and who refuses to relinquish his hate. In a society where blood feuds were so prominent, such unrelenting bitterness and hate were arguably one of the worst traits imaginable, as it left no possibility to heal divisions and create peace.

Grendel’s Mother

Grendel’s mother is a monster whose motivations are much easier to understand, both for us and for the early-medieval world. Grendel’s mother is described by the poet as an “avenger,” who is “ailing for her loss.” In the tradition of the blood feud, she seeks a violent revenge, a “wrath-bearing visit of vengeance,” against those who destroyed her son.

Her attack seems more calculated than the attacks of Grendel. Where Grendel would wreak devastation in his attacks on Heorot, Grendel’s mother entered the hall at night, captured a single warrior, and then retreated back to her home. Her actions seem calculated and even rational according to the logic of the blood feud, whereby a life is taken in return for a life lost.

The very existence of Grendel’s mother serves to humanize Grendel in some way, as we understand that Grendel’s death has caused pain for others as well as rejoicing. Grendel’s mother is similarly outcast, as she resides in a cave underneath a lake, a residence that the poet describes as a banishment representing the punishment for the crime of her ancestor Cain.

Beowulf’s confrontation with Grendel’s mother is particularly noteworthy because it sees the eponymous hero venture into the realm of the monsters. Where Grendel was fought in the heart of the mead hall, Beowulf has to literally submerge himself in a dark and mysterious world in order to battle Grendel’s mother. This again suggests the greater vulnerability of this monster, because where her son was the hunter and Beowulf the defender, here Beowulf has become the predator, invading the monster’s lair.

The Dragon

Where Grendel was motivated by hate and a lust for blood, and his mother by vengeance, the dragon represents another all-too-human vice: greed. Nowhere is Beowulf’s influence on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien more evident than in the story of the dragon beneath the barrow. In Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the dragon Smaug is obsessively possessive of the treasure hoard that he lies upon under the Lonely Mountain, and the realization that a single cup has been stolen riles him to fiery fury. In Beowulf, it is the taking of a single goblet from the dragon’s treasure hoard that provokes it to burn the lands ruled over by Beowulf.

When the dragon is slain, its treasure hoard is bestowed by Beowulf upon his people. The poet here marks a sharp contrast between the monster’s hoarding and the generosity of Beowulf, which was a trait that was expected of a good ruler in early-medieval Northern Europe.

Unlike Grendel or his mother, Beowulf’s dragon is almost devoid of anything recognizably human in its motivations. The poet does not seek to enter the dragon’s frame of mind in the way he tries to do with the poem’s earlier monsters. The dragon is described as bound to the treasure-hoard: “he is doomed to seek out hoards in the ground,” though its motivation for doing so seems to be a bestial greed.

Yet the dragon is not totally mindless. It delights in war and fire and feud. Like Smaug in The Hobbit, the dragon has slept on its hoard for many years, and when roused by the theft of its treasure, it seems to relish an opportunity to unleash devastation. The Beowulf poet describes the dragon’s delight at the prospect of taking vengeance against the local people, and the eagerness with which it awaits nightfall before it sets flight and burns the surrounding settlements.

The dragon is viewed by some as an embodiment of fate for Beowulf. Many lines before Beowulf’s fight with the dragon begins, the poet hints to us that neither of the two combatants will survive their clash, and a sense of fate and foreboding surrounds the poet’s description of the combat. We are also told at the start of the fight that both of the combatants are in terror of the other, sensing that the conflict will be their doom.

The dragon represents a powerful enemy who brings devastation to ordinary people. In this way, the dragon is the perfect enemy for the poem’s hero, and in fighting it to the death, Beowulf can complete his heroic arc and perish as a defender of his people.

The Blood Feuds

Whilst the monsters take central stage in Beowulf in representing the forces of darkness, there is another destructive force that lurks around the edges of the poem: the blood feud. Whilst the poem centers on Beowulf’s struggles against the monsters, the poet presents a world riven by blood feuds between families and clans.

During reprieves to the central narrative of Beowulf’s conflict with the various monsters, the poet gives us a sense that most of the death and destruction in this world comes from the endless cycles of violence that plague the people of this world.

Great rulers like Beowulf are shown as bringing peace to their people, yet the description of the aftermath of Beowulf’s death points to the violence and chaos that can break out as soon as these mighty leaders are gone. Beowulf’s loyal retainer Wiglaf, when breaking the news of Beowulf’s death to the Geats, warns them that war looms over them. Wiglaf describes how long-running feuds with neighboring peoples, triggered by wars of years ago, will lead to their taking retribution on the Geats now that their leader, Beowulf, has been slain. Grudges in this world live on down the generations, and can spark fresh bloodshed at any time.

Beowulf himself speaks of feuds on his return to the Geats from Heorot. The hero describes the tragic inevitability of the feud. Marriages can make peace between people for a time, but memories of past conflict will always rise again and spark war anew. The old will relate to the young memories of battles lost and relatives slain, and so the young will be moved to vengeance, and the cycle continues.

In many ways, the blood feud is the true heart of darkness within the world of Beowulf. Monsters can be slain, and their death brings rejoicing, heroism, and unity amongst afflicted peoples. Yet, the blood feud continues from generation to generation, and the poet warns that it will bring devastation to the people of Beowulf’s world long after the hero’s death.

Libraries have long stood as pillars of knowledge and culture, evolving from ancient archives to modern public institutions. Ashurbanipal created the oldest known museum at Nineveh in the 7th century BC, housing a vast collection of cuneiform tablets. The Ptolemies built the Library of Alexandria in the 4th century BC in an attempt to centralize all human knowledge. In the United States, the concept of public libraries gained momentum in the 19th century. The Boston Public Library was established in 1848 and was among the first to offer free access to its collections. Today, libraries across the nation are not only book repositories but also architectural masterpieces and community spaces.

1. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Established in 1800, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Originally housed in the Capitol, it suffered significant losses during the War of 1812, when invading forces burned the building, destroying its original collection. In a pivotal move to restore its holdings, former President Thomas Jefferson sold his personal library to the institution, laying the foundation for its diverse collections.

Today, the Library encompasses three buildings, with the Thomas Jefferson Building being a highlight for visitors. Completed in 1897, the architectural marvel showcases a stunning Italian Renaissance design. Inside, the Great Hall welcomes guests with its ornate decorations, while the Main Reading Room impresses with a majestic dome and symbolic statues representing various fields of knowledge. Notably, the Library houses one of the few surviving copies of the Gutenberg Bible, a treasure displayed for public viewing.

Visitors are encouraged to explore the library’s exhibitions, which delve into diverse topics from American history to world cultures. The institution also offers free tours, providing insights into its vast collections and the building’s rich history.

2. Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts

The Boston Public Library is a historic institution with a collection of over 23 million items and a stunning architectural design. Founded in 1848, it was the first large free municipal library in the U.S. and quickly grew beyond its original space. In 1895, the library moved to its iconic McKim Building in Copley Square, designed in the Italian Renaissance style.

Visitors can explore Bates Hall, the grand reading room with its high vaulted ceiling and signature green-shaded lamps. The library’s courtyard, inspired by European cloisters, offers a quiet escape in the middle of the city. Inside, murals by John Singer Sargent and Edwin Austin Abbey add to the library’s artistic appeal. The library also hosts exhibitions, lectures, and public events, making it a cultural hub.

3. New York Public Library – Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York City, New York

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the flagship of The New York Public Library (NYPL), is a Beaux-Arts landmark located at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan. Opened in 1911, it was the largest marble structure in the U.S. at that time. The building houses over one million volumes and offers free public tours highlighting its history, architecture, and collections.

When visiting, you can explore the iconic Rose Main Reading Room and various exhibitions. It features a stunning mural of a cloud-filled ceiling. In 2014, a single plaster rosette fell from the ceiling. This triggered a massive two-year, $12 million restoration where every single one of the 900 rosettes was inspected and reinforced.

4. George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland

Established in 1857 by philanthropist George Peabody, the George Peabody Library in Baltimore, Maryland, is renowned for its stunning architecture and extensive 19th-century collection. Designed by architect Edmund G. Lind, the library opened in 1878 and features five tiers of ornamental cast-iron balconies rising to a skylight 61 feet above the floor.

Often referred to as a “cathedral of books,” the library houses over 300,000 volumes, with strengths in religion, British art, architecture, American history, and more. Now part of Johns Hopkins University, it serves as both a research library and an events venue, offering visitors a glimpse into its rich history and architectural beauty.

5. Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, New Haven, Connecticut

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library is located at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the oldest universities in the U.S. in continuous operation, and one of the world’s largest libraries dedicated exclusively to rare books and manuscripts. Established in 1963, it serves as a vital resource for scholars, researchers, and students.

Designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the library is renowned for its distinctive modernist architecture. Its exterior features a windowless façade constructed from translucent Vermont marble panels, which allow natural light to filter into the interior while protecting the rare materials from direct sunlight. This design creates a unique, softly illuminated environment within the library.

Inside, the library houses some of the most valuable literary artifacts in existence. Among its prized possessions is a rare Gutenberg Bible, one of only 48 known copies. It also holds the Voynich Manuscript, a mysterious book filled with undeciphered text and unusual illustrations. The archives include the personal papers of influential writers such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and James Joyce.

Open to the public, the library offers exhibitions showcasing its extraordinary collection. Researchers can access the reading room by appointment, while casual visitors can admire the breathtaking six-story glass-enclosed book tower.

6. Harold Washington Library, Chicago, Illinois

The Harold Washington Library Center stands as a cornerstone of Chicago’s intellectual and cultural landscape. Opened in 1991, it was named in honor of Harold Washington, the city’s first African American mayor, who championed education and public resources. Towering over the South Loop, its design blends classical and modern influences, with red brick, grand arched windows, and distinctive rooftop acroteria. These are massive, sculpted owls that symbolize wisdom and learning.

Inside, the library spans ten floors, offering an immense collection of books, digital resources, and dedicated spaces for learning and creativity. The grand entrance leads visitors into an open, welcoming space, while deeper inside, the Thomas Hughes Children’s Library provides a vibrant hub for young readers. The Maker Lab fosters innovation with 3D printers and technology tools, while the Harold Washington Archives preserve the legacy of the man who inspired its creation.

At the top, the breathtaking Winter Garden bathes in natural light, serving as a quiet retreat for study or reflection. Beyond its shelves and exhibits, the library remains a gathering place, hosting lectures, performances, and community programs.

7. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, New York

In the heart of New York City, The Morgan Library & Museum stands as a testament to the rich tapestry of art, literature, and history. Originally the private library of financier J. Pierpont Morgan, this institution has evolved into a public museum and research library, offering visitors a unique glimpse into the world of rare manuscripts, art, and architecture.

Designed by Charles Follen McKim of the renowned firm McKim, Mead & White, the library was constructed between 1902 and 1906. Its design draws inspiration from Italian Renaissance villas, featuring a grand façade and intricate interiors. The library’s main room, with its soaring ceilings and rich woodwork, houses an impressive collection of rare books and manuscripts, reflecting Morgan’s passion for collecting.

The Morgan’s collection is vast and varied, encompassing rare books, manuscripts, drawings, and artifacts. Highlights include a Gutenberg Bible from the 15th century and original manuscripts of literary giants such as Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. The museum also boasts an impressive collection of musical scores, including works by Mozart and Beethoven. In a recent discovery, a previously unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin was found in the library’s archives, adding to the legacy of groundbreaking finds within its walls.

Visitors can step back in time as they explore Morgan’s private study, a room lined with historic tomes, rich tapestries, and a commanding fireplace. Throughout the museum, rotating exhibits bring fresh perspectives on history, literature, and the arts.

8. Los Angeles Central Library, Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is a city of reinvention, and its Central Library is no exception. At first glance, its mix of Art Deco, Egyptian Revival, and Mediterranean influences might seem unusual, but in many ways, it mirrors the city itself. It is a blend of cultures, histories, and unexpected beauty. Designed by Bertram Goodhue and opened in 1926, the library’s striking tiled pyramid, adorned with a golden sunburst, crowns its place in the downtown skyline, a quiet monument in a city of constant motion.

But the library’s story is also one of survival. In 1986, an arson fire nearly destroyed it, reducing hundreds of thousands of books to ash. What followed was not just a restoration but a rebirth, culminating in the addition of the Tom Bradley Wing in 1993.

Today, visitors enter a living testament to the city’s resilience. The rotunda still carries its intricate murals of California’s past, while the eight-story atrium of the Bradley Wing floods the space with light, a quiet reminder that knowledge, like Los Angeles itself, refuses to be extinguished.

Far beyond its shelves, the library serves as a cultural crossroads. It offers a gathering place for art lovers, history buffs, and those simply seeking a moment of stillness in the city’s endless rush.

9. The St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis, Missouri

The St. Louis Public Library, established in 1865, has grown from a subscription-based entity into a comprehensive public library system serving the city of St. Louis.

Its Central Library, designed by renowned architect Cass Gilbert and opened in 1912, stands as a testament to early 20th-century architectural grandeur. The library’s collection has expanded significantly over the years, reflecting its commitment to providing diverse resources to the community.

Today, the St. Louis Public Library offers a wide range of programs and services, including digital makerspaces known as Creative Experience, available at multiple locations for patrons of all ages. Through its evolution, the library continues to adapt and innovate, ensuring that it meets the changing needs of its patrons while preserving its rich history.

10. Suzzallo Library, Seattle, Washington

Suzzallo Library, the central library of the University of Washington in Seattle, opened in 1926 and was named after Henry Suzzallo, the university’s fifteenth president.  Designed in the Collegiate Gothic style by architects Charles H. Bebb and Carl F. Gould, the library was intended to be the “soul of the university.”

Visitors are often drawn to the Graduate Reading Room, a grand space measuring 250 feet in length, 52 feet in width, and 65 feet in height. This room features a vaulted ceiling adorned with vibrantly colored and gilded details, oak bookcases topped with hand-carved friezes of native plants, and tall leaded windows with stained glass panels reproducing Renaissance watermarks.

The library’s exterior is equally impressive, with terra cotta sculptures of influential thinkers and artists, including Moses, Louis Pasteur, Dante Alighieri, and Shakespeare, selected by the faculty. Stone coats of arms from universities around the world, such as Toronto, Louvain, Virginia, California, Yale, Heidelberg, Bologna, Oxford, Paris, Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Uppsala, and Salamanca, also adorn the façade.

Suzzallo Library is also a destination for those interested in architecture and history. Its design and ambiance have earned it the nickname “Cathedral of Books,” reflecting its status as a sanctuary for learning.

11. The Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts

While the Boston Public Library was built as a “palace for the people,” the Athenaeum was founded in 1807 as a private, independent library to house a large portion of George Washington’s personal library. Founded by members of the Anthology Society, it is still a membership library, and patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use its services.

At first, the library rented rooms, then, in 1809, they bought a small house adjacent to the King’s Chapel Burying Ground. In 1822, it moved into a mansion on Pearl Street, and in the 1840s, it moved to its current location at 10 ½ Beacon Street, the first space designed specifically for the library’s needs.

The library holds over 100,000 rare volumes and an art collection of 100,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts. These include a 1799 set of Goya’s Los Caprichos and Gilbert Stuart’s unfinished portraits of George and Martha Washington.

12. Geisel Library, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California

The Geisel is the main library building of the University of California, San Diego. It is named for Audrey and Theodor Seuss Geisel, the latter better known by his pen name Dr Seuss. Designed by William Pereira, it opened in 1970 as a mix of brutalism and futurism.

The library holds over seven million volumes, including the Dr Seuss Collection, which contains original drawings, sketches, proofs, notebooks, manuscript drafts, photographs, memorabilia, and more.

Unusually, the library’s lower floors are numbered one and two, while the upper levels are numbered three and four. This gave rise to the idea that the third floor is sealed off. In reality, the “missing” third floor is an outside forum.

13. Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

The Folger is an independent research library on DC’s Capitol Hill and holds the world’s largest collection of printed works of William Shakespeare. It is also the primary repository for rare materials from early modern Britain and Europe between 1500 and 1750.

The library was founded by Standard Oil of New York executive Henry Clay Folger, who was an avid collector of Shakespeareana. He built the library with his wife to house their collection, which included a 1685 Fourth Folio.

The building was designed by architect Paul Philippe Cret and features a white marble exterior with nine carved reliefs of scenes from Shakespeare’s plays by John Gregory. Inside the building is designed in Tudor style, and the lobby is designed in the style of an Elizabethan Theater.

14. Fisher Fine Arts Library, UPenn, Philadelphia, PA

The Fisher Fine Arts Library was the primary library of the University of Pennsylvania from 1891 to 1962. The original design was considered innovative, with five stories of reading rooms and stacks built around a tower staircase. The building is a red sandstone brick and terracotta Venetian design that looks like a mix of a fortress and a cathedral.

The Main Reading Room is a soaring four stories, divided by an arcade from a two-story Rotunda Reading Room with a basilica plan. It also features Gargoyle vents that form a functional part of the ventilation system.

15. Linda Hall Library, Kansas City, MO

The Linda Hall Library is a private STEM library that sits on a 14-acre urban arboretum. It was established in 1946 through the philanthropy of Linda and Herbert Hall with the ambition of acting as a guardian of the collective intellectual heritage of science, technology, and engineering.

The library holds over two million items, starting with 62,358 books assembled by John Adams before he became president. It owns first-edition copies of some of the most important scientific works in history, including Newton’s Principia, Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species, and Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius. The arboretum grounds are home to over 338 trees representing 52 genera and 145 species.

The United States is responsible for producing some of the most celebrated literary icons in the world. Many towns across the country still retain their strong literary heritage to this day. This list is recommended for bookworms who want to explore the heritage of literary icons and visit childhood homes-turned-museums of authors, statues of them erected in town, or even entire towns that were fictionalized for the settings of famous works. Here are some of the best small towns all bookworms should visit at some point.

1. Hannibal, Missouri

Located along the banks of the Mississippi River, which inspired The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Hannibal is the hometown of Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain. The town is home to the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, which includes eight historic buildings, most notably the home where Twain grew up from 1843 to 1853. Go on a self-guided tour of the author’s home and view his personal belongings, handwritten pages of original manuscripts, and displays that explore how he created the characters of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Other landmarks in town pay further homage to the author, such as the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse, which sits atop Cardiff Hill, a location featured in his works that was frequented by Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The lighthouse was erected in 1935 as a memorial to Twain on his 100th birthday.

2. Key West, Florida

Key West’s claim to fame is being home to seven Pulitzer Prize winners, more per capita than any other city. After becoming captivated by the island, Ernest Hemingway moved to a Spanish-style villa, which today operates as the Hemingway Home and Museum. It is here that Hemingway penned many of his best works, including To Have and Have Not, set in Depression-era Key West. This is his only novel set in the United States.

Key West was also home to Tennessee Williams, who lived on the island for over 30 years. It is believed that he completed the final draft of A Streetcar Named Desire in the La Concha Hotel in 1947. The Tennessee Williams Museum houses an extensive collection of photographs, first edition plays and novels, and a typewriter used by Williams.

3. Monroeville, Alabama

Monroeville gained the status as the “Literary Capital of America” because of two American writers who called the town home: Harper Lee and Truman Capote. The town of Monroeville was fictionalized as the town of Maycomb, which serves as the setting for Lee’s novels To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman. Several landmarks from the novels can be visited around town, such as the Atticus Finch Monument, which honors the character as an ideal model for non-discriminatory justice.

Other attractions include the Monroe County Museum, housed in the Old Courthouse and featuring exhibits on Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Visitors can stop at the Faulk House marker for Truman Capote’s childhood home, where he lived between 1927 and c. 1933. The house was next door to Harper Lee’s. The Old Courthouse Museum also hosts the live on-stage production of To Kill a Mockingbird each spring as a further celebration of the town’s literary heritage.

4. Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst is a premier historic literary hub, best known as the home of poet Emily Dickinson, who wrote close to 1,800 poems during her mostly reclusive life in Amherst. Emily Dickinson’s family homestead, where she was born, did most of her writing, and where she died, has been turned into the Emily Dickinson Museum, which houses the largest and most varied collection of objects associated with Emily Dickinson and her family.

But Emily Dickinson is not the only writer associated with Amherst. In fact, she often overshadows many other famous authors who resided in Amherst at some point in their careers. Take a self-guided walking tour along Amherst’s historic streets, which pass the former homes of authors who once lived in Amherst. The route is dotted with signs marking the twelve residences of writers such as Robert Frost, Mabel Loomis Todd, and Robert Francis.

5. Concord, Massachusetts

Concord was the epicenter of the mid-19th-century Transcendentalist movement. Furthermore, the town was home to many acclaimed New England authors, including Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The historic homes of these American literary pioneers have been preserved and can be visited while exploring the town.

The Orchard House is by far one of the most famous homes open to visitors. This is where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women, inspired by her childhood growing up with her sisters. The house is open for tours, taking visitors from room to room to view original furniture and personal belongings. The Ralph Waldo Emerson House is preserved by his family and remains decorated much the same way it was throughout Emerson’s lifetime.

6. Oxford, Mississippi

The streets of Oxford are lined with historic antebellum homes, one of which was owned by Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner, who lived there for over 30 years. Faulkner based his fictional Yoknapatawpha County on the town and the surrounding Lafayette County, which was the setting for novels such as As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury.

Rowan Oak was built in the 1840s, although Faulkner acquired it in the 1930s, when it was in poor condition and needed repairs, which he did himself. The author lived there until his death in 1962, and his funeral was held in the house’s parlor. The house is now owned and maintained by the University of Mississippi. It is open year-round to the public and provides insight into his life and works.

7. Oak Park, Illinois

Hemingway may have fallen in love with Key West, but he was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and spent the first eighteen years of his life there. Oak Park has multiple landmarks around town dedicated to Hemingway. The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum is housed inside the Victorian-era home where he was born in 1899 and spent the first six years of his life.

Other Hemingway sights include the Ernest Hemingway Childhood Home. Although this is a private residence and not accessible to the public, it still stands today and is where Hemingway lived during his high school years. He first began writing and developing his craft in this home. Hemingway’s mother took him to opera houses and museums in Chicago, which helped him appreciate the arts, whereas his father took him to the woods and prairies west of Oak Park to appreciate the outdoors. These experiences prepared him for a life as a writer.

8. Bangor, Maine

The streets of Bangor have been in the imaginations of readers for years. However, they will know it better as the town of Derry, the setting for some of Stephen King’s famous novels, such as It and Insomnia. The Stephen King Tour operates out of Bangor and drives passengers around town on a three-hour tour that stops at between twenty and thirty literary and movie locations, as well as Stephen King’s Former House.

Stephen King’s Former House is a Victorian mansion with iron gates designed to look like spider webs. King no longer lives there, and the house has been turned into a writers’ retreat and an archive of his work. Other sights around town include the sewer drain at the corner of Jackson and Union Streets, which inspired the novel It, and the Paul Bunyan statue, which appeared in the most recent film adaptation of the book.

9. Waukegan, Illinois

This town’s legacy is primarily dedicated to science-fiction and fantasy writer Ray Bradbury, who was born there and spent his formative childhood years. The city was fictionalized for the setting in many of his key works, including Something Wicked This Way Comes. Ray Bradbury Park, formerly Powell Park, was designated a Literary Landmark in 2019. As a child, Bradbury often played in the park and walked through it to get downtown since it is close to the Ray Bradbury Boyhood Home. Although his boyhood home is now a private residence and not accessible to the public, it can still be viewed from the street.

The Fantastic Traveler statue depicts a middle-aged Ray Bradbury riding a retro-style rocket ship with a book in his hand outside of the Waukegan Public Library. The statue stands twelve feet tall and is composed of stainless steel. The Waukegan History Museum is housed inside the former Carnegie Library and features a permanent display of Ray Bradbury’s personal book collection. The exhibit is in a restored room where Bradbury spent much of his time as a child reading and developing a love and passion for stories.

10. Milledgeville, Georgia

For many years, Milledgeville was the home of Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor. She lived at Andalusia Farm between 1951 and 1964, where she wrote many of her highly acclaimed works, such as Wise Blood and A Good Man is Hard to Find. The farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and is open to the public for guided tours, not just of O’Connor’s time there, but also the entire lineage of the property when it operated as a dairy and beef cattle farm.

Her resting site can be visited at Memory Hill Cemetery. Self-guided tours are available at the cemetery, which begins at a gazebo and visits 47 points of interest, including O’Connor’s grave, where she is buried alongside her family. Alternatively, you can visit the Georgia College and State University, which O’Connor attended and maintains an archive of manuscripts, photographs, and letters.

Although the word ‘Celtic‘ denotes a group of people who arrived on the British Isles in the first millennium BC, when we refer to Celtic languages today, we do not just mean the language spoken and written by the early Celts. Following their settlement in Britain and Ireland, the ancient Celtic language developed into six modern Celtic languages, whose geographical spread indicates the areas into which the Celts moved as the Anglo-Saxons took over: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx (the Isle of Man), Welsh, Cornish, and Breton (northwestern France).

How Did English Gain Words From Celtic Languages?

Despite the rising cultural and sociopolitical dominance of English over the centuries, including attempts by British colonial powers to stamp out minority languages, the Celtic languages have persisted and remain in use today, to greater or lesser degrees.

Constitutionally, Irish is the first language of the Republic of Ireland, although in practice, English is most people’s first language. Only 2% of the population lives in the region called the Gaeltacht, where Irish is the first language. However, many more Irish people have some knowledge of the language: nearly 2 million as of 2022.

Per the latest census, 17.8% of the population of Wales speaks Welsh, but far more come into frequent contact with it, given that it is taught in primary school and used alongside English in all official documentation. Welsh is considered the least endangered of the Celtic languages, while Manx has dwindled to a purely second-language existence, and Cornish even went through a period of extinction.

Despite these fluctuations, largely caused by the dominance of English at critical moments of standardization, when a combination of developing technologies and legal restrictions shaped the way people spoke and wrote, the Celtic languages have exerted an influence of their own, lending the English language more words than you might expect.

Much of this transference comes through cultural exchange. For instance, English speakers began to use Scottish Gaelic-derived words such as whiskey and Argyle because of their acquaintance with, respectively, the drink and the fabric hailing from areas of Scotland. We know words such as ceilidh, leprechaun, banshee, and shamrock because of interest, particularly from the 19th century onwards, in the culture, history, and legends of the isle of Ireland.

But some of the words the English language has gained from the Celtic language are more surprising and have less obvious histories. Here are ten of them.

1. Trousers

This word came into English along with the garment it referred to, as fashions changed. As Englishmen in the late 16th century began to adopt long lower-body clothing which covered each leg separately, they borrowed the Irish word for close-fitting shorts, triubhas.

Triubhas became trouse or trouze, and as often occurred with words referring to plural items (such as ‘scissors’ or ‘tweezers’), it acquired the -ers ending, becoming trossers by the early 17th century. The additional r may have come from the related word ‘drawers,’ and it’s possible that the verb ‘truss,’ meaning to dress or package up, had an influence on the word along the way too.

2. Slogan

Given the tumultuous history of the various peoples jostling for control of the British Isles over the past two thousand years, including the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Romans, it is not too surprising that English has gained words via warfare.

‘Slogan’ is a descendant of the word slogorne, meaning battle cry, itself deriving from the Gaelic sluagh-ghairm. Clans in Ireland or the Scottish Highlands would send out a sluagh, or army, which would let out an almighty roar, or gairm (a word whose Proto-Indo-European root also gives us the word ‘garrulous,’ or excessively talkative).

By the beginning of the 18th century, this word was being used to describe political catchphrases, though it was more commonly spelled slughon. It could also be spelled slughorn, though this is no relation to the word for the misshapen horn of a cow or an ox.

3. Tory

No stranger to slogans, the Tory party has existed in the United Kingdom since the late 17th century, just after the English Civil War. The Tories were Royalists, while their opponents, the Whigs, supported Parliament. For the next century, commentators spoke of Whigs and Tories, until the Victorian period, when the terms ‘Conservative’ and ‘Liberal’ became more commonly used.

Throughout this period, the British royal family claimed dominion over Ireland. So, it is perhaps surprising that the name for the Royalist party comes from Irish and originally referred to people displaced by this very claim.

‘Tory’ comes from the Irish word toruighe, which has its roots in the idea of pursuit, and came to mean ‘plunderer.’ By the 17th century, the meaning of toruighe was inflected by the sociopolitical landscape of Ireland, referring to Irish people who took revenge on English settlers by plundering their land. It came to denote Irish Catholics who turned to robbery and outlawry after English settlement laws deprived them of their rights to own land on religious grounds.

Through this latter usage, ‘Tory’ came to be applied to supporters of the Catholic James Stuart, later James II, in his claim to the English throne. After his deposition in 1688 in favor of the Protestant monarchs William and Mary, a party was formed consisting of former Royalists and other supporters of the former Catholic monarchy, including a group called the Yorkshire Tories. Now completely divorced from its context across the Irish Sea, the name for the English party stuck.

4. Bother

A word arising not long after Tory is ‘bother,’ which similarly comes from contact between the English and Irish, although in the world of literature rather than politics.

The 18th century produced a handful of writers from Ireland who made their names writing in English, but used the language in particular ways that were typical of English speakers in Ireland. These included the playwright Thomas Sheridan, novelist Lawrence Sterne, and the satirist, essayist, and dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Jonathan Swift.

One word Sheridan, Sterne, and Swift used was ‘bother,’ a verb meaning ‘to bewilder, confuse, or give trouble to.’ It’s possible that this word was formed through a modification of the noun pother, connoting trouble or disturbance, and that both came from the Irish bodhairim, meaning ‘I deafen.’

5. Hubbub

Etymologists are not entirely certain of the origins of the word ‘hubbub,’ which has been used since the mid-16th century to describe chaotic noise or commotion. Some suggestions are that it comes from the Gaelic ub, a negative word expressing aversion, or the Irish abu, which, like slogan, relates to battle.

Buide in Old Irish meant ‘victory,’ and abu was a victorious battle cry. Hubbub could then be a derivation based on the raucous shouts of the winning side in a battle, though it is now generally used in more trivial contexts.

6. Galore

Used to express abundance, ‘galore’ suggests having plenty of something, perhaps even more than you can manage. Think, “the ceremony had prizes galore,” or, “there’ll be drinks galore at the party.”

First appearing in English in the 17th century, the word has equivalents in Irish, go leór, and Scottish Gaelic, gu leóir. Both phrases come from the Old Irish word roar, meaning ‘enough.’ With the particle go or gu, it becomes an adverb; as in, to ‘have galore’ of something.

7 & 8. Penguin and Puffin

Both of these bird names have unclear origins, but may come from Celtic words, despite the fact that penguins are not found in the British Isles, while the word ‘puffin’ was originally applied to a different and unrelated bird.

‘Penguin’ arose as a synonym for a now extinct bird called the great auk. According to some dictionaries, Welsh-speaking explorers observed this bird (black, with a white belly; flightless, but a good swimmer) on an island in northeast Canada called White Head Island.

Pen is Welsh for ‘head,’ while gwyn means ‘white.’ This explanation has been disputed since penguins’ heads are black, not white. It is possible, though, that the ‘white head’ idea came from the white rings around some penguins’ eyes, or the alternative usage of pen to mean ‘front,’ meaning the pen gwyn is a bird with a white front.

‘Puffin,’ meanwhile, may have Manx or Cornish origins. The Manx shearwater is a seabird that was known as the Manx puffin in the 17th century. It bears the binomial name Puffinus puffinus, despite not being related to the birds we call puffins today (the most common being the Atlantic puffin).

Why was the Manx bird called a puffin? The Latin binomial name seems to come from earlier variants (possibly originating in a Celtic language such as Cornish), such as pophyn, poffin, and puffing, which may have been influenced by the verb ‘puff.’ The nestlings of the shearwater were a delicacy until the late 18th century, especially the fatter ones, which looked puffed-up.

Atlantic puffins, which can be seen off British shores, acquired the name of the unrelated Manx seabird in the 18th century. Its Latin name, Fratercula arctica, meanwhile, refers to the similarity between a puffin’s plumage and a monk’s habit, frater coming from the Latin for ‘friar.’

9. Pixie

There are records in English of pixies, small fairy or sprite-like creatures believed to inhabit woodlands and moorlands, dating back to the 16th century. Early references connect these creatures to ideas of bewilderment or being led astray, as in ‘pixy-paths’ and being ‘pixie-led.’

The etymology of ‘pixie’ is not clear. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it was formed from the word ‘puck,’ for a mischievous sprite (as in the Shakespeare character), and the diminutive ending ‘-sy.’ The word is documented across large parts of Southern England, but the highest concentration of references to pixies was in Devon and Cornwall, where they were believed to be particularly prevalent. It’s possible, then, that the word ‘pixie’ is of Cornish origin. Similar creatures exist in the legends of other Celtic-derived cultures (Irish, Manx, Welsh, and Breton), but the names vary widely depending on location.

One word with more definite Cornish origins, although it is a local dialect word rather than a widely used English word originating in the Cornish language, is ‘dumbledore.’ Any buzzing insect was a dore in Middle English, while ‘dumble,’ like the ‘bumble’ part of ‘bumblebee,’ seems to refer to its movements.

10. Brat

Before it meant an assertive if messy party girl, courtesy of popstar Charli XCX, ‘brat’ was a mischievous or annoying child, but long before that, it was a kind of cloak or apron.

In the 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer’s writing includes the word bratt, for a cloak of coarse cloth, and this has Celtic roots: Old Irish has the same word for cloak or cloth.

By the 16th century, the word had come to refer to a child, possibly one who was unplanned or unwanted (differing from ‘bastard’ in that a married couple, especially perhaps a poorer couple, might find themselves burdened with a ‘brat’). This may have had something to do with the clothing that a child might wear: a ‘brat’ could be a poor, neglected child, dressed in the cloak or apron once known as a bratt. 

‘Brat,’ by the 19th century, suggested lower-class children for whom the parents struggled to provide, and might have to dress in the cheap clothing denoted by the former meaning of bratt. From there, the word gained its modern connotations of bad manners, via the idea of being poorly bred, shedding its connection with the idea of wearing rags. Only in very recent years has the word gained positive connotations, still disconnected from its Celtic origins, but now with a tinge of glamor and fun.