In 1909 Ambrose Bierce famous for many of his works including An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge wrote a piece of advice to writers titled “Write it Right.” The piece starts with some words of wisdom to the writer and then is followed by a long “
Historic Articles by Authors
A Study in French Poets by Ezra Pound
The. time when the intellectual affairs of America could be conducted on a monolingual basis is over. It has been irksome for long. The intellectual life of London is dependent on people who understand the French language about as well as their own. America’s part in contemporary culture is based chiefly
The Wild Apple by Henry David Thoreau
So much for the more civilized apple trees (urbaniores, as Pliny calls them). I love better to go through the old orchards of ungrafted apple trees, at what ever season of the year,—so irregularly planted: sometimes two trees standing close together;
What Interests Readers
To interest readers is obviously the prime object in all popular writing. The basis of interest in the news story, the special feature article, and the short story is essentially the same. Whatever the average person likes to hear and see, whatever gives him
A Happy Hour’s Command by Walt Whitman
A Happy Hour’s Command by Walt Whitman Down in the Woods, July 2d, 1882.-If I do it at all I must delay no longer. Incongruous and full of skips and jumps as is that huddle of diary-jottings, war-memoranda of 1862-’65, Nature-notes of 1877-’81, with Western and Canadian observations afterwards, all bundled up and tied by […]
Growth, Health, and Work by Walt Whitman
Growth, Health, and Work by Walt Whitman I develop’d (1833-4-5) into a healthy, strong youth (grew too fast, though, was nearly as big as a man at 15 or 16.) Our family at this period moved back to the country, my dear mother very ill for a long time, but recover’d. All these years I […]
Mark Twain’s Letter to Mrs. Grover Cleveland
To Mrs. Grover Cleveland, in Washington: Hartford, Nov. 6, 1887. My Dear Madam,—I do not know how it is in the White House, but in this house of ours whenever the minor half of the administration tries to run itself without the help of the major half it gets aground. Last night when I was […]
Rules of Tragic Plot by Aristotle
Rules of Tragic Plot by Aristotle In constructing the plot and working it out with the proper diction, the poet should place the scene, as far as possible, before his eyes. In this way, seeing everything with the utmost vividness, as if he were a spectator of the action, he will discover what is in […]
The Shrinkage of the Planet by Jack London
The Shrinkage of the Planet What a tremendous affair it was, the world of Homer, with its indeterminate boundaries, vast regions, and immeasurable distances. The Mediterranean and the Euxine were illimitable stretches of ocean waste over which years could be spent in endless wandering. On their mysterious shores were the improbable homes of impossible peoples. […]
An English Critic on Mark Twain
An English Critic on Mark Twain An English Critic on Mark Twain: Perhaps the most successful flights of humor of Mark Twain have been descriptions of the persons who did not appreciate his humor at all. We have become familiar with the Californians who were thrilled with terror by his burlesque of a newspaper reporter’s way […]