HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOUISA MAY ALCOTT!

I have always loved Louisa May Alcott!  She was definitely my favourite writer when I was a teenager  and used to spend long hours reading and enjoying her beautiful novels! Jo March will always be one of  my favourite heroines because she is lively, intelligent, passionate,  strong-minded and independent ... even more than Jane Austen's heroines! 

Read here  an article from The Telegraph about this female author who also became a famous feminist and campaigned for the abolition of slavery. 

It is absolutely worthwhile to read her most celebrated novel Little Women! Click here for a detailed analysis of the novel.

10 FAMOUS QUOTATIONS FROM ROMEO AND JULIET

Romeo and Juliet is among the most popular plays ever written in the English language. Written by the master playwright William Shakespeare, it tells the story of two young lovers whose families have a long history of violence against each other. Like most plays from Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet is laden with many great dialogues. 

Here are 10 of the most famous quotations from the play with their explanations.

#10

“Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;

Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;

Being vex’d a sea nourish’d with lovers’ tears.”

Romeo (Act I, Scene 1)

This is a famous definition of love from the master playwright through his character Romeo. It starts by saying that love is a smoke that rises from the fume of sighs, i.e. sighs of a person who is initially attracted to someone raises love just like fumes raise smoke. If the smoke is cleared, it causes a lover’s eyes to sparkle. However if the smoke is stirred up it can create a sea of tears of the lover. In simple words Shakespeare is saying that love can be source of great happiness or great sadness depending on how it is handled.

THE BALCONY SCENE IN ROMEO AND JULIET

The Balcony Scene in Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous scenes in all of Shakespeare's plays. 

It follows the meeting of Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, at a fancy dress party in Juliet's home. Romeo and his friends sneak into the party, uninvited, and when Romeo sees Juliet, he is instantly smitten. After the party, Romeo jumps over the Capulets' garden wall, and searches for Juliet.

Romeo hides in the garden and soon observes Juliet walking onto the balcony outside her room. When Romeo sees Juliet, he feels hope; it is as if the sun is rising. This is important to note, as Romeo has just spent several weeks pining over an unrequited love, Rosaline. When he sees Juliet at the party, Rosaline is instantly forgotten.

Read here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!

WHY IS JANE AUSTEN STILL IMPORTANT?

Here you can find a significant article about Jane Austen's longevity. 

“Anyone who has the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware of [two] facts: first, that of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness; second, that there are twenty-five elderly gentlemen living in the neighbourhood of London who resent any slight upon her genius as if it were an insult to the chastity of their aunts.” 
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

FICTION DURING THE ROMANTIC AGE - MARY SHELLEY

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, was the only daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Their high expectations of her future are, perhaps, indicated by their blessing her upon her birth with both their names. She was born on 30 August 1797 in London. The labor was not difficult, but complications developed with the afterbirth. Despite expert attention, her mother sickened from placental infection and died eleven days after her birth, on 10 September. Continue reading here.

Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" 

Revising Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" 

NOVEMBER