Amores

by Sam Alexander Because of its position in D.H. Lawrence’s oeuvre, Amores (1916) has not received as much critical attention as the volume that followed it, Look! We Have Come Through (1917). Grouped with the “Rhyming Poems” in the Penguin edition of Lawrence’s poetry, it predates the more experimental, Whitmanesque free verse through which Lawrence has… Continue Reading Amores

Abinger Harvest

by Sam Alexander Abinger Harvest (1936) collects essays, reviews, poetry and a pageant play, written by E.M. Forster between the years 1903-1935. The volume is ordered not chronologically but “by subject,” and Forster groups the selections under five headings: “The Present,” “Books,” “The Past,” “The East,” and “The Abinger Pageant”—the play that gives the volume… Continue Reading Abinger Harvest

Where Angels Fear to Tread

by Sam Alexander Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) is E.M. Forster’s first novel. With its action split between England and Italy, the novel raises questions about national character the possibility of personal connection across social differences that would occupy Forster throughout his career. Like Lucia di Lammermoor, the tragic opera that becomes raucously entertaining… Continue Reading Where Angels Fear to Tread

La Figlia Che Piange

by Sam Alexander “La Figlia Che Piange” (“young girl weeping”) is the final poem in T.S. Eliot’s Prufrock and Other Observations (1917). This short (24-line) poem describes a lovers’ parting, but its speaker plays a curious dual role. He not only describes his lover and the feelings aroused by remembering her, but also directs her–… Continue Reading La Figlia Che Piange