User Gareth Rees - Literature Stack Exchange

26 votes

2 answers

7k views

Bilbo’s song of Eärendil in “The Fellowship of the Ring”

asked Jul 13, 2020 at 17:02

21 votes

2 answers

3k views

Were English poets of the sixteenth century aware of the Great Vowel Shift?

asked Nov 25, 2020 at 12:23

16 votes

2 answers

1k views

Origin of “Good books are the warehouses of ideas”, attributed to H. G. Wells on commemorative £2 coin?

asked Jan 6, 2021 at 15:08

12 votes

1 answer

407 views

What evidence is there for the "recession of accent" theory?

asked Apr 27, 2020 at 20:27

12 votes

1 answer

3k views

What is the libellous meaning of ‘daffy-down-dilly’?

asked Mar 22, 2020 at 12:17

11 votes

1 answer

304 views

What is the history of the universe/canon/word-of-god approach to literature?

asked Feb 11, 2019 at 14:53

9 votes

1 answer

1k views

Who first claimed that Blake’s “dark Satanic Mills” referred to the Church of England, and what was their argument?

asked Apr 24, 2022 at 8:56

8 votes

1 answer

495 views

Source of the 1953 revisions to "The Great Gatsby"

asked Aug 8, 2022 at 16:31

8 votes

2 answers

493 views

Who was Coleridge's "schoolman"?

asked Sep 2, 2021 at 18:11

8 votes

1 answer

382 views

Which mystery writer said they picked the murderer only after writing the book?

asked Oct 10, 2021 at 14:18

8 votes

0 answers

326 views

Why does Kipling's poem ‘The Three-Decker’ differ between editions?

asked Feb 21, 2018 at 13:15

8 votes

1 answer

373 views

Was his name really “Faustus” in “Clouds of Witness” by Dorothy L. Sayers?

asked yesterday

7 votes

1 answer

227 views

How does one “shoot an arrow through all twelve axes” in the Odyssey?

asked Mar 30 at 17:18

7 votes

3 answers

713 views

John Betjeman’s "Suicide on Junction Road Station after Abstention from Evening Communion in North London"

asked Aug 28, 2019 at 14:19

6 votes

1 answer

800 views

In "Paradise Lost", how can a fleet of ships "hang in the clouds"?

asked May 22, 2020 at 6:47

6 votes

1 answer

528 views

What is a "dream bomb" in Agatha Christie's "Third Girl"?

asked Sep 3, 2020 at 17:35

6 votes

1 answer

164 views

Emily Jane Pfeiffer’s “To the Blind Architect of the City of Life”

asked Oct 10, 2020 at 7:52

6 votes

3 answers

270 views

What is a “sawney tea” in Kingsley Amis’ “The Riverside Villas Murder”?

asked Sep 15, 2023 at 17:33

6 votes

0 answers

155 views

Does Penelope secretly recognize Odysseus?

asked Mar 23 at 15:01

5 votes

2 answers

156 views

‘Medusa’ by Countee Cullen

asked Apr 23 at 21:29

5 votes

1 answer

363 views

Which is right, “ever dreams of” or “dreams of ever”, in Byron’s ‘Don Juan’?

asked May 4 at 6:55

5 votes

1 answer

176 views

How does the figure of “dropping oil to catch the air-borne motes” work in George Eliot’s “The Spanish Gypsy”?

asked Sep 30, 2023 at 14:50

5 votes

1 answer

295 views

Explain the plot of Georgette Heyer’s ‘Linckes’ Great Case’

asked Sep 6, 2021 at 19:26

5 votes

1 answer

409 views

What is the “presence” in Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’?

asked May 17, 2021 at 10:16

5 votes

0 answers

164 views

What links the two parts of "Fiasco" by Stanisław Lem?

asked Oct 14, 2022 at 17:52

5 votes

2 answers

237 views

What evidence confirmed a late date for Aeschylus’ “The Suppliants”?

asked May 14, 2022 at 8:52

5 votes

1 answer

352 views

What does “Hoti’s business” refer to, in Browning’s ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’?

asked Mar 10, 2022 at 21:34

5 votes

1 answer

265 views

What is a ‘tongue-leaved eye-figured Eden tree’?

asked Feb 6, 2019 at 10:44

5 votes

1 answer

244 views

Why does Browning need to be ‘manned by Manning’?

asked Feb 2, 2019 at 11:14

5 votes

1 answer

322 views

Explain the bidding in ‘The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker’

asked Sep 14, 2019 at 10:14

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86 Questions

Bilbo’s song of Eärendil in “The Fellowship of the Ring”

Were English poets of the sixteenth century aware of the Great Vowel Shift?

Origin of “Good books are the warehouses of ideas”, attributed to H. G. Wells on commemorative £2 coin?

What evidence is there for the "recession of accent" theory?

What is the libellous meaning of ‘daffy-down-dilly’?

What is the history of the universe/canon/word-of-god approach to literature?

Who first claimed that Blake’s “dark Satanic Mills” referred to the Church of England, and what was their argument?

Source of the 1953 revisions to "The Great Gatsby"

Who was Coleridge's "schoolman"?

Which mystery writer said they picked the murderer only after writing the book?

Why does Kipling's poem ‘The Three-Decker’ differ between editions?

Was his name really “Faustus” in “Clouds of Witness” by Dorothy L. Sayers?

How does one “shoot an arrow through all twelve axes” in the Odyssey?

John Betjeman’s "Suicide on Junction Road Station after Abstention from Evening Communion in North London"

In "Paradise Lost", how can a fleet of ships "hang in the clouds"?

What is a "dream bomb" in Agatha Christie's "Third Girl"?

Emily Jane Pfeiffer’s “To the Blind Architect of the City of Life”

What is a “sawney tea” in Kingsley Amis’ “The Riverside Villas Murder”?

Does Penelope secretly recognize Odysseus?

‘Medusa’ by Countee Cullen

Which is right, “ever dreams of” or “dreams of ever”, in Byron’s ‘Don Juan’?

How does the figure of “dropping oil to catch the air-borne motes” work in George Eliot’s “The Spanish Gypsy”?

Explain the plot of Georgette Heyer’s ‘Linckes’ Great Case’

What is the “presence” in Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’?

What links the two parts of "Fiasco" by Stanisław Lem?

What evidence confirmed a late date for Aeschylus’ “The Suppliants”?

What does “Hoti’s business” refer to, in Browning’s ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’?

What is a ‘tongue-leaved eye-figured Eden tree’?

Why does Browning need to be ‘manned by Manning’?

Explain the bidding in ‘The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker’