finalist for the Pulitzer Prize This moving, exquisitely observed memoir will appeal to fans of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott. It follows a young, idealistic neurosurgeon as he tries to determine what makes a life worthwhile in the face of overwhelming obstacles. The New York Times Book Review, People, NPR, The Washington Post,… Continue reading

Writing in a time still recovering from tyranny and revolution, Bront’s evocation of dungeons, prisoners, and tyranny would not have been a subversive approach for the poem; furthermore, Bront constructs careful imagery that could be interpreted as teetering on tyranny; and finally, Bront’s political purpose must be, to some extent, hidden From those barren slopes,… Continue reading

The woman describes the “Invisible; the Unseen… truth” (Bront, 1846, line 49) that manifests itself as a winged soul that is “nearly free” toward the end of the poem (line 51). The poetry is engulfed in freedom, serving as a symbol of courage for the imprisoned women. Even though the captive’s realignment with her senses… Continue reading

Emily Bronte, Figure 5. Bront, Branwell 1833. If reading a poem in the gothic style by a woman with prison, shackles, and captives surprised modern readers, it could surprise them even more to learn that the captive was a woman. By presenting a female hostage as “soft and mild / as sculptured marble saint” (Bront,… Continue reading

According to Thorne-Murphy, the depiction of rape resolves her doubts about the ability of female poetical ability, sourcing the advocation of female nurture towards these wronged women as the key to healing society’s social wounds. however, while her depiction of rape and prostitution would have been shocking to modern readers, her poetry in this poem… Continue reading

All of them, whether stained with your blood or not Nothing at anything to you (Browning, 1890, II. 196 – 198). In this way, the female body comes under scrutiny, creating tension in the politics that Browning seeks to address. If women, as she so firmly thinks, are intellectually inferior to men and lack first-hand… Continue reading