Literary Connections

This Tumblr page collects multimedia resources related to British, American, and World literature--its history and contemporary relevance. Created by Erin M. Breaux, MA Instructor of English (2014-Present)

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Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy

Tales of love and adventure from 1,000 years ago reveal a dazzling range of now-extinct English pronouns. They capture something unique abou

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Shakespeare Films Expose Culture, Not History

It appears that people now find comfort in the idea that the life of even the greatest of writers is no more satisfying than their own.

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Sappho to Taylor Swift: The 2,600-year-old history of 'tortured' poets – and sexism

With her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift joins in a tradition that goes back to the writers of ancient Greece.

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Louisa May Alcott’s Utopian Feminist Workplace Novel

In “Work: A Story of Experience,” Alcott fictionalizes her own stints as a servant, a seamstress, a governess, and a lady’s companion—and as

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The 420-year-search for Shakespeare's lost play

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio, BBC Future investigates a mysterious vanishing – a play that has been missi

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https://europeanconservative.com/articles/essay/the-green-knight/?fbclid=IwAR0_IfKlshYM_Hs6Inw2uMAwH6Gp2VsfreJ3gI6dymIogGltpMu4sDiZrto

The Green Knight, or Heroes are Made in the Wilderness – The European Conservative

We who watch the wilderness fearfully, we do not become knights.

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https://dickens.ucsc.edu/news-events/news/dickens-code-solved.html?fbclid=IwAR0i9SVbHj7cgOWfaCl9npgzZ6gcMB-it7L6V_V5RntdUKmAS6QTZhvWQUc

The Dickens Code: Enduring mystery of Dickens shorthand letter solved with crowd-sourced research

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https://classicalwisdom.com/mythology/agamemnon-and-the-cursed-house-of-atreus/

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-true-life-horror-that-inspired-moby-dick-17576/?fbclid=IwAR3beeqFM01RNu7b-gbZh148voHQrOwJ2f_zFK6vVhs9WmQjSzcr9xDOYRQ

The True-Life Horror That Inspired Moby-Dick

The whaler Essex was indeed sunk by a whale—and that's only the beginning

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https://lithub.com/a-brief-history-of-metaphor-in-persian-poetry/?fbclid=IwAR20_xlNMaPZBpVktAjhCwJhJcoe3TCihnNi6Vkp9WFVZ97HvNyCrbBKAJw

A Brief History of Metaphor in Persian Poetry

A significant feature of Persian poetry that distinguishes it from most verse written in a European language is that almost all of it—from t

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-victorian-woman-writer-who-refused-to-let-doctors-define-her-180978988/?fbclid=IwAR1yTah80zEQerxQxmA1yjWr4sotCZTTzFYxtoSuBYaYQfc_rfH-5xgz18E

The Victorian Woman Writer Who Refused to Let Doctors Define Her

Harriet Martineau took control of her medical care, defying the male-dominated establishment’s attempts to dismiss her as hysterical and fra

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https://shakespeareandbeyond.folger.edu/2021/10/01/excerpt-origins-english-history-play-shakespeare-war/?fbclid=IwAR1G0zdxsqnY3e6fnbq2vIJpu2Vq7L1hMdHHT3YEZ6_7cvCYftjPM57fuz8

The origins of the English history play - Excerpt: Shakespeare and War

David Bevington explores the origins of the English history play as "a dramatic study of civil conflict in England" in this excerpt.

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rediscovered-medieval-manuscript-offers-new-twist-on-arthurian-legend-180978705/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=socialmedia&fbclid=IwAR3ulqy-7N6WKrkydhB5E-tqj_k5b6obTAXbknXtK3YWkA711_f5iDWoARo

Rediscovered Medieval Manuscript Offers New Twist on Arthurian Legend

The 13th-century pages, found by chance at a British library, show a different side of Merlin, the magician who advised Camelot's king

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https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/08/i-dont-care-text-shows-modern-poetry-began-much-earlier-than-believed?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR06eirZjIo2zQweuYGUG94XzLojrAPYM-anjXs7CCpcYZvyPXFMFvZzzfk#Echobox=1631095021

‘I don’t care’: text shows modern poetry began much earlier than believed

Academic finds that lines widely reproduced in the eastern Roman empire are ‘stressed’ in a way that laid the foundations for what we recogn

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https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-the-english-spelling-system-so-weird-and-inconsistent?fbclid=IwAR3DwRpw8T_sks5gxdTIn-tvmCVMPbnkTVgjsXu9fA0qIa-1JX4lfZu5IKU

Why is the English spelling system so weird and inconsistent? | Aeon Essays

Why is English spelling so weird and unpredictable? Don’t blame the mix of languages; look to quirks of timing and technology

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https://lithub.com/what-a-13th-century-medieval-text-can-teach-us-about-queerness-and-gender/?fbclid=IwAR1M_DNbV1q_GTuSrZ_Mj-3hT0w5yMKm4FV_DMrnA-xS6rsFwcLKJolZTVo

What a 13th-Century Medieval Text Can Teach Us About Queerness and Gender

The standard European “medieval chivalric legend” fulfills every stereotype of white patriarchy. There’s the helpless woman needing aid—or,

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https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/the-rape-of-a-goddess-how-greek-women-found-empowerment-through-myth-and-ritual/?fbclid=IwAR3XoRK5a45LAGdZ69K2GiNiXcMdUBnTdpYiwLt0fvFLPWaCtX1MTM8DeOo

The Rape of a Goddess: How Greek Women Found Empowerment Through Myth and Ritual

Written by Mary Naples, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Clad in white robes and carrying torches, the dawn’s amber rays cast a golden