Solitude By Henry David Thoreau This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirt-sleeves, though it is cool as…
Classic Articles on Writing
Classic articles on writing art some of the most interesting and telling works by past authors. Here you will find articles from the past by authors that range from the famous to the obscure.
ON THE ART OF POETRY By Aristotle II.
ON THE ART OF POETRY By Aristotle II. The objects the imitator represents are actions, with agents who are necessarily either good men or bad—the diversities of human character being nearly always derivative from this primary distinction, since the line between virtue and vice is one dividing the whole of mankind. It follows, therefore, that…
Origin of Printing by Frederick Saunders (1839)
Origin and Progress of Printing by Frederick Saunders (1839) (I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the ideals of an early publisher, a pioneer in modern printing of his day. Much like many of us are pioneers of modern web and digital printing. The text was written in 1839. I’m sure…
The Story of a Speech by Mark Twain
An address delivered in 1877, and a review of it twenty-nine years later. The original speech was delivered at a dinner given by the publishers of The Atlantic Monthly in honor of the seventieth anniversary o f the birth of John Greenleaf Whittier, at the Hotel Brunswick, Boston, December 17, 1877. This is an…
Bio of Benjamin Franklin by Nathaniel Hawthorne
In the year 1716, or about that period, a boy used to be seen in the streets of Boston, who was known among his schoolfellows and playmates by the name of Ben Franklin. Ben was born in 1706; so that he was now about ten years old. His father, who had come over from England,…
Confessions of a Humorist by O. Henry
O. Henry’s “Confessions of a Humorist” reveals how monetizing creativity leads to burnout—a cautionary tale surprisingly relevant for today’s content creators and digital economy.
Let’s Just Eat the Babies by Jonathan Swift
A MODEST PROPOSAL Dr. Jonathan Swift For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick. 1729 It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the…
A JULY AFTER-NOON BY THE POND by Walt Whitman
Experience Whitman’s genius! A summer pond transforms into a profound meditation on nature and existence.
POEMS IN PROSE by Oscar Wilde
POEMS IN PROSE by Oscar Wilde THE ARTIST ONE evening there came into his soul the desire to fashion an image of THE PLEASURE THAT ABIDETH FOR A MOMENT. And he went forth into the world to look for bronze. For he could think only in bronze. But all the bronze of the whole world…
My Thoughts on July by Alice Meynell
One has the leisure of July for perceiving all the differences of the green of leaves. It is no longer a difference in degrees of maturity, for all the trees have darkened to their final tone, and stand in their differences of character and not of mere date. Almost all the green is grave, not…
The Poet and His Ego by Elizabeth Atkins from The Poet’s Poet 1922
Most of us, mere men that we are, find ourselves caught in some entanglement of our mortal coil even before we have fairly embarked upon the enterprise of thinking our case through. The art of self-reflection which appeals to us as so eminent and so human, is it after all much more than a…
Household Superstitions by Joseph Addison
Visions and magic spells, can you despise, And laugh at witches, ghosts, and prodigies? Going yesterday to dine with an old acquaintance, I had the misfortune to find his whole family very much dejected. Upon asking him the occasion of it, he told me that his wife had dreamt a very strange dream the night…
Of Wisdom For A Man’s Self by Francis Bacon
Of Wisdom For A Man’s Self by Francis Bacon AN ANT is a wise creature for itself, but it is a shrewd thing, in an orchard or garden. And certainly, men that are great lovers of themselves, waste the public. Divide with reason; between selflove and society; and be so true to thyself, as thou…
My Fear of Tolstoy’s Death. A Letter by Anton Chekhov
TO M. O. MENSHIKOV. YALTA, January 28, 1900. … I can’t make out what Tolstoy’s illness is. Tcherinov has sent me no answer, and from what I read in the papers and what you write me now I can draw no conclusion. Ulcers in the stomach and intestines would give different indications: they are not…
A Review of Hamlet by WILLIAM HAZLITT
A Review of Hamlet by WILLIAM HAZLITT It is the one of Shakespeare’s plays that we think of the oftenest, because it sounds most in striking reflections on human life, and because the distresses of Hamlet are transferred, by the turn of his mind, to the general account of humanity. Whatever happens to him, we…