Alexander Pope, one of the greatest English poets of the eighteenth century, was born on 21 May 1688. Considered a master of the heroic couplet (pairs of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter), he is best known for satirical and discursive poetry.In 1717 he wrote “Eloisa to Abelard”, his artistic interpretation of the 12th-century story of… Read More Alexander Pope: “Eloisa to Abelard”
Joe Cocker would have turned 77 today.One of the greatest white blues and soul singers was born in England on 20 May 1944.His tenth studio album released in April 1986, dedicated to his mother, Madge, who died when he was recording , contains the track “You Can Leave Your Hat On”The album eventually went Platinum… Read More You Can Leave Your Hat On🎶
“It struck me that the movies had spent more than half a century saying, “They lived happily ever after” and the following quarter century warning that they’ll be lucky to make it through the weekend. Possibly now we are entering a third era, in which the movies will be sounding a note of cautious optimism:… Read More Nora Ephron
The BAND-AID® Brand adhesive bandage is one hundred years old. It was invented in 1921 by an unknown Johnson & Johnson employee, Earle Dickson, whose wife was accident-prone, or at least unfamiliar with her new kitchen. Up to then it was not infrequent to die of infection from wounds and cuts even within the walls… Read More Happy Birthday, Band-Aid 🩹
(๑¯◡¯๑) Pubblicità non occulta (๑¯◡¯๑) Cari amici, sono lieta di comunicarvi che anche quest’anno un mio racconto è stato selezionato e pubblicato nell’Antologia “Racconti Lombardi 2021”. La storia, dal titolo “Viaggio di nozze”, parla della luna di miele di due contadini che partono da un paesino della Brianza diretti a Milano, a cui nemmeno si… Read More “Racconti Lombardi 2021”
Adrienne Rich, born on 16 May 1929, was an American poet, essayist and feminist, defined “one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century”. “Tonight No Poetry Will Serve” Saw you walking barefoottaking a long lookat the new moon’s eyelid later spreadsleep-fallen, naked in your dark hairasleep… Read More Adrienne Rich and Violence
Emily Dickinson was 55 years of age when she died on 15 May 1886 in Amherst, Massachusetts.Some years earlier, in 1866 when Laura Hills Dickey, her neighbours’ daughter, died she informed her sister (“A woman died last week, young and in hope but a little while – at the end of our garden. I thought… Read More Emily Dickinson and Death
“Unchained Melody” is a 1955 song, four versions of which were simultaneously in the US Top 40 on 14 May of that year, recorded by Les Baxter (#1), Al Hibbler (#3) , Roy Hamilton (#6), and June Valli (#29). That was an unbeaten record for any song, the first of its many renditions to chart,… Read More Unchained Melody 🎶
Daphne du Maurier, born on 13 May 1907, was an English novelist and playwright. After publishing her first novel, “The Loving Spirit”, when she was only 22, she went on writing other works, many of which were successfully adapted into films, including the novels “Rebecca” (see here), “Frenchman’s Creek”, “My Cousin Rachel”, “Jamaica Inn”, and… Read More Daphne Du Maurier
John Dryden (1631 – 12 May 1700) – English poet, literary critic, and playwright., named England’s first poet laureate in 1668. He was also a translator and translated several classic poets, such as Horace, Juvenal, Ovid, Lucretius, and Theocritus, into English In 1685 he wrote a long poem: Imitation of Horace.Here are two stanzas, based… Read More Dryden and Horace
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