In this special guest post, Ana Sampson offers some fascinating facts about classic poets

Matthew Arnold struggled a bit with the ageing process

At Oxford University, Arnold made a name for himself as something of a dandy. It was only when he fell in love, and needed to prove that he had prospects, that he finally settled into the position of Schools Inspector, rattling around provincial Victorian Britain on the newborn railway network. Most of his poetry was written during his younger years – he once said that after his thirtieth birthday he felt ‘three parts iced over’. His most famous poem, ‘Dover Beach’, was begun during his honeymoon in 1851, but was not published until sixteen years later.

There was a sad story behind Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s beard

Longfellow, best remembered now for The Song of Hiawatha, numbered among New England’s ‘Fireside Poets’, so called because their…

Perseverance, the word that is great in concept but difficult in action. 

In pursuit of your art, the necessity to not give up but in fact prevail is paramount. If one gives up, their work will not reach the audience that it deserves and thus, the spark will shudder and finally disappear. An artist must work continuously. Each day is another stepping stone to the day in which their work is recognised and appraised.

It is hard, however, to keep the necessary pressure upon yourself and your work each day. It is critical however that you do this. Yes, you are able to have rest days and time off, but it is your future you’re working towards and thus, it must be nurtured and respected.

An artist works long hours, tirelessly trying to improve their creations. You, an artist, must do similar. No individuals work is perfect and flawless. There…

In this special guest post, Lyubov Dali offers an analysis of Zamyatin’s We and Huxley’s Brave New World in light of their striking dystopian visions

What is freedom to you? Is it an ability to choose what degree to pursue, where to live, what to have for dinner, or is it that hip Pharrell tune? Would limiting these freedoms make you unhappy? More importantly, are you likely to ever be persuaded to volunteer your freedom, aspirations, identity to be sacrificed for the greater social good?  Now before you dismiss us as lunatics, you might be surprised to learn that there were literally hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people who not so long ago willingly sacrificed their freedoms for the promise of a better society. Can it happen to us?

Brace yourself to hear not one, but two such stories: one of a society whose existence was shaped by…

by Elise Holland  in Writer’s Digest Online:

For writers of short form literature, submitting your work can mean a variety of positive things.

This step is a powerful signal to yourself that you take your craft seriously enough to put your work out into the world.

And having your work published in a genre or literary magazine can serve to build your resume and grow your writing community.

But so many writers, emerging or established, have lingering questions about the process.

As editor of 2 Elizabeths, here are five of the most frequent questions I’m asked:

5 FAQs: Submitting short Fiction and Poetry

In this week’s Dispatches from the Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle delves into the life of the man immortalised by the spoonerism

Archibald Spooner (1844-1930) was a physically striking man. An albino with pink skin and white hair, he became affectionately known as the Child by students at New College, the Oxford college of which Spooner became warden in 1903. (His wife Frances became known as the Madonna, hence their collective nickname.) By all accounts, Spooner was a kindly man who insisted, in the face of indignant opposition, that the college’s war memorial should list the names of the German dead alongside the college members who had given their lives in the Great War.

But this has all been lost from the popular consciousness – if it ever resided there – and Spooner’s name and legacy have firmly centred on the ‘spoonerism’ – a word attested from The Globe