Marginalia
Poetry, essays on urban landscapes and built environments, and creative reflections.
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How Readers Have Tried to Solve The Mystery of Edwin Drood
When The Mystery of Edwin Drood was originally published in 1870, the audience expected another of…
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From Pastoral Vision to Urban Nightmare: Landscape and Symbolism in Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake’s poetry rarely focuses on scenery for its own sake. The fields, gardens, streets, and…
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Satire on the Road: Health, Hypochondria, and the Body in Smollett’s Humphry Clinker
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, published in 1771, stands out in eighteenth-century satirical writing because it…
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Why Emma Woodhouse Had to Be Wrong: Error, Pride, and Reform in Austen’s Most Complex Heroine
Emma is Jane Austen’s most psychologically challenging story, not because the main character suffers terribly, but…
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Satire as a Weapon: How Jonathan Swift Attacked Power Without Naming It
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was a priest, pamphleteer, and satirist who wrote during a period when literature…
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From Historical Romance to Political Novel: Why “Kidnapped” Still Matters
Kidnapped, published in 1886, is one of Robert Louis Stevenson’s most successful novels and a seminal…
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Satire Without a Smile: Why A Modest Proposal Is Not ‘Dark Humour’
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is widely cited to modern audiences as an early example of…
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Four Voyages, One Verdict: Swift’s Case Against Humanity
Gulliver’s Travels is best understood as a constant satirical assessment of humanity, rather than as a…
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The Most Polite Monsters in Literature: Jonathan Swift and the Civility of Cruelty
There is a certain dread in cruelty administered with calm logic, civility, and reason. Jonathan Swift’s…
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Madness, Method, and Mockery: Swift’s War on False Learning
Jonathan Swift is usually considered a leading satirist in the English literary canon, with work that…
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Empty Pages
By: Anam Fatima As I turn the empty pages Of my mental landscape Clouded aspirations, sunny…
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Understanding Arabic and Urdu Calligraphy on the Web
Writing about the aesthetics and structure of any international writing system can turn out to be…