The use of language in any context rests on a single and essential tenet: words mean. And not only that, they mean something particularly. When anyone writes or speaks, they trust utterly, even if unconsciously, that they can, to someone who speaks their language, be understood. The next obvious question is, who decides what words mean? Here, we have two options…
Authorial Intent and Christian Education Read More »
by Ian Andrews The school year at CenterForLit has taken flight, which means the hustle and bustle involved in administrating
The Apostle Paul on Getting an A Read More »
I’m often asked, “What does my high schooler need to read before college?” – as though there were one or two novels out of the hundreds and hundreds of spectacular works in the Western tradition without which any primary educational journey would be void of meaning. I don’t mean to ridicule the impulse to choose wisely what we offer our students. We clearly should. But I do sense an undercurrent of misunderstanding about the educational project in questions like these…
What Should a Student Read Before Going to College? Read More »
Picture this: a young child, just beginning to develop his own taste, personality, and interests, takes up an art and begins to pursue it with all the intensity and excitement of youth. Along the way, however, he feels rejected and oppressed by his family, who vocally oppose his dreams of a grand future in which his art becomes his sole focus. “Wealth and fame might look alluring now,” they say, “but getting rich as an artist isn’t as easy as it looks, and the lifestyle holds far less actual happiness than you assume!”…
The Triumph of Coco Read More »
My mother hates the term “Close Reading.” To her it is emblematic of the postmodernist deconstructive literary criticism she encountered during her own college years in the late 80’s. To engage in this sort of “close reading” was to focus so intently on the trees that you missed the forest entirely; to purposefully evade and ignore the overarching thematic meaning of an author’s text and to decide what the work “meant to you” by evaluating how the granular details of the story made you feel…
“Close Reading” and Postmodern Criticism Read More »
Blog articles always seem to start with some catchy hook – a ‘lede,’ we used to call them in my college writing class. A reader will only persist in finishing the article, so said my professor, if the earliest lines are pithy, terse, and challenging, like the turn in a sonnet or the rhetorical question in a stump speech. I don’t have one of those this time around. I do, however, have a rambling thought or two about human nature brought on by contemplating one of my favorite characters in all of literature: Tolkien’s master of the woods, Tom Bombadil…
In the House of Tom Bombadil Read More »
Emily and I just had the distinct pleasure of teaching a tricky and delightful poem called Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Picture this: King Arthur and his noble Knights of the Round Table are busy throwing a Christmas feast, when in through the big double doors rides, you guessed it, a Green Knight. Now, before your 21st-century modern imaginations dress an entirely normal, if large, knight in green clothes and call it good, allow me to emphasize a poetic reality: this dude is green. His skin is green. His beard is green. His horse is green. His teeth are green. And not just green – fluorescent! He shines! In one hand, he holds a green shiny holly branch (a symbol of peace or mercy) and in the other, an equally green shiny battle-axe…
Trapped by the Rules: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Read More »
I’m just going to say it: I loved Kenneth Branagh’s recent film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery novel, Murder on the Orient Express. Partially this is due to the fact that it was visually stunning. But what did I expect? That a lavishly furnished steam engine, winding its atmospheric way through snow-capped mountain passes, carrying a richly costumed cadre of some of the finest actors of our generation would be difficult to look at? Being familiar with Branagh’s penchant for over-the-top-ness, I expected a spectacle, and ladies and gentlemen, this film delivered. It was beautiful…
A Review of Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express Read More »
So, I’ve been listening to an album recently, and it has me thinking about the purpose of “art.” The album is perkily titled, We’re All Gonna Die, and I’m thoroughly obsessed with it. I’ve spent hours unpacking the lush orchestration, focusing this time on the perfectly liquid bass parts, next on the engrossing and sensitive drum tracks, and then on Taylor Goldsmith’s quietly pitch perfect voice. I just can’t seem to get enough. But, being a reader by nature, I also can’t help but be confronted with the sadness written into each track…
Dawes, Art, and Good Criticism Read More »
The climactic moment of the children’s classic, The Bronze Bow, is a simple smile. As I was preparing to teach this work to a room full of eager Junior High students, I was refreshed by Elizabeth George Speare’s elegant style and careful attention to detail. Master that she was, she brought her novel to a perfect crescendo, using all her considerable literary tools to highlight one shining moment of turning: the climax…
Foreshadowing and the Judgment of Christ in “The Bronze Bow” Read More »
