Love poems didn’t start as private confessions. For much of their history, they were closer to public performances—tools for politics, status, ...

Old English poetry and language studies encompass a rich tapestry of literary, linguistic, and cultural analyses that illuminate the origins, composition techniques, and social contexts of early ...

Ian Shiels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

IN the epic of Beowulf, our first great English epic, with almost countless references to the winter season, the sweet, antithetical season of summer is not once mentioned. This fact is significant, ...

“The Moon that fell from heaven”—a story first inscribed on clay tablets in the 14th century BCE—begins with a celestial accident: the Moon tumbles to earth and encounters the workings of nature. In a ...