You know that game where the floor is lava and you have to get from one side of a room from another with the use of stepping stones? Well, that’s what I found my two young cousins doing not long ago. Reliving such a staple of childhood playtime I almost joined in, until I saw [...]

I have a rather sordid confession to make. I like Ted Hughes. I really really really like Ted Hughes. My mum read The Iron Giant to me when I was younger, and ever since I have absolutely loved everything he has ever done. I have just ordered his collected works from Amazon, a massive brick [...]

Continued from PART 1 Johnson: In terms of intelligence, Benjamin Johnson is your playwright. The son of a brick maker, he excelled to have one of the finest educations available, but he never let anyone forget about it. If he were a rock star I’d consider Johnson to be a more preachy version of Billy [...]

It’s been a while since my last review and even longer since my last article, but less than 24 hours after my English exam on Renaissance drama I felt I might as well put that knowledge to good use. Today I’m going to guide you through the exciting world of the English stage in the [...]

In the UK, recently published league tables show that one in ten schools have failed to meet the Government’s target when it comes to pupils’ literacy levels. Don’t worry, dear reader. This article isn’t about UK politics, or a rant about how the Government ought to be doing more for school education. No, instead I’ll [...]

As an undergraduate studying English, one thing I can count on each and every term is the fact that I’m going to have a reading list as long as my arm. Being a student whose money situation can be summed up with the words ‘never enough’, having to buy 10-20 brand new books per term [...]

Time can turn the memory of a book into a fine wine, or a rotting carcass. Not too long ago, (literally less than five minutes for me) I finally finished a very problematic review. For a week or so I have suffered with what many call ‘writers block‘, but what I personally call ‘creative constipation’. [...]

If you were to ask a majority of people what a story was, it’s likely that the words ‘book’ or ‘writing’ would find their way into the explanation. Whilst certainly not incorrect, it’s not the entire truth, either. For one, a story doesn’t have to be written down at all, and it certainly doesn’t impact [...]

Continued from PART ONE. Another major symbol in the Harry Potter series is the snake. It is almost needless to point out that a snake is a phallic symbol. I would argue that the climax of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in which Harry must go through a secret entrance in a girl’s [...]

“Wands are only as powerful as the wizards who use them. Some wizards just like to boast that theirs are bigger and better than other people’s.”  – (Hermione – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.) I’m sure it’s not just me who’s noticed the huge amount of phallic imagery in the Harry Potter series. It’s [...]