Poetry: Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soteThe droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote,And bathed every veyne in swich licour,Of which vertu engendred is the flour;Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breethInspired hath in every holt and heethThe tendre croppes, and the yonge sonneHath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,And smale fowles maken …

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Poetry: Beowulf

“Do you want me to read it?” Before me sat half a dozen middle schoolers, watching with that wide-eyed curiosity and amazement that I know will be hidden in only a few short years. They watched and giggled and nodded their heads, some of them even cheering me on. They had already heard me read …

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On One Palmy Day

As Palm Sunday is coming up, I thought a post on the etymology of the word palm was in order. I was originally only going to look up the word palm, but I came across palmy and decided it needed to be added as well. Yes, palmy is a word - a word coined by Shakespeare no …

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