User Gareth Rees

100 votes

Was the title "The Lord of the Rings" picked on purpose to be ambiguous?

answered Sep 15, 2020 at 15:06

78 votes

Why is Aragorn so weird to Pippin when they make their final farewell before going back to the Shire?

j-r-r-tolkien the-lord-of-the-rings

answered Oct 12, 2020 at 11:39

65 votes

Accepted

Did H. G. Wells use an emoticon in “The Time Machine”?

h-g-wells the-time-machine

answered Jun 19, 2021 at 12:35

37 votes

Accepted

Why don't Mr. Bennet's daughters get to inherit the Longbourn estate?

jane-austen pride-and-prejudice

answered Jan 14, 2019 at 10:47

35 votes

Accepted

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

poetry j-r-r-tolkien the-lord-of-the-rings interpretation

answered Jul 13, 2020 at 17:02

33 votes

Accepted

What is the pun in Kipling's poem "The Three-Decker"?

poetry rudyard-kipling wordplay

answered Feb 20, 2018 at 14:11

30 votes

What is the earliest reference in fiction to a government-approved thieves guild?

history-of-literature terry-pratchett

answered Sep 17, 2021 at 15:13

28 votes

Who "dribbled a lot and wasn’t allowed anything sharp" in "Good Omens"?

neil-gaiman terry-pratchett good-omens

answered Feb 26 at 13:56

27 votes

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

poetry j-r-r-tolkien the-lord-of-the-rings interpretation

answered Jul 13, 2020 at 17:04

26 votes

Accepted

"My father declared he should invent a slip button"

meaning historical-context wordplay a-memoir-reverend-sydney-smith saba-holland

answered Mar 2, 2021 at 21:33

25 votes

Accepted

Was it common that the bridges of ditches or creeks had guarding gates in 1924?

historical-context r-austin-freeman dr-thorndyke

answered Sep 27, 2020 at 16:54

24 votes

What does "skimmish" mean, in this eye dialect?

meaning richard-adams watership-down

answered Mar 18, 2021 at 9:54

24 votes

In which version of "Snow White" is her name really "Lips Red as Blood, Hair Black as Ebony, Skin White as Snow"?

textual-history folk-tales

answered Oct 24, 2021 at 8:33

24 votes

Accepted

Why does the prophecy imply Macbeth has to murder the king?

william-shakespeare macbeth

answered Dec 26, 2021 at 14:01

24 votes

What is the source of "You can achieve a lot with hate, but even more with love" (Shakespeare?)

william-shakespeare quote-source

answered Sep 14, 2019 at 19:48

23 votes

Accepted

How did contemporary readers respond to coincidence in 19th century novels?

history-of-literature reception

answered Feb 26, 2018 at 13:59

22 votes

Does Gandalf ever say this in the book "The Hobbit", or is it made up for the movie?

j-r-r-tolkien the-hobbit adaptation-comparison

answered May 14 at 16:25

22 votes

Accepted

What does "if the court knows herself" mean?

meaning robert-barr in-the-midst-of-alarms

answered Feb 19, 2021 at 19:10

22 votes

In what Chinese fairy tale does a painter disappear into his own painting?

identification-request folk-tales chinese-literature

answered May 11, 2021 at 14:07

22 votes

Accepted

Where was the Odyssean Ithaca?

greek-literature setting homer the-odyssey

answered Mar 10, 2018 at 10:23

22 votes

Accepted

What's the meaning of Tom Bombadil's poem?

meaning j-r-r-tolkien the-lord-of-the-rings

answered Feb 23, 2020 at 11:49

21 votes

How do these lines in Shakespeare's Sonnet 151 mean what they're supposed to?

meaning poetry william-shakespeare

answered Feb 5, 2021 at 10:01

21 votes

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

history-of-literature meter

answered Nov 25, 2020 at 22:36

21 votes

Why does Valentine refer to her father's second wife as her "mother-in-law"?

french-literature alexandre-dumas-pere the-count-of-monte-cristo

answered Oct 14, 2021 at 21:54

20 votes

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

quote-source h-g-wells

answered Jan 6, 2021 at 17:37

20 votes

Accepted

What is a "three-part moon"?

meaning redwall-series brian-jacques

answered Mar 23, 2021 at 8:51

19 votes

"Sly frantic wretch, that holp'st to make me great" what is the meaning of "holp'st"?

meaning william-shakespeare titus-andronicus

answered Dec 26, 2021 at 13:12

18 votes

Why does Shakespeare sometimes use "do" with the verbs in his plays?

william-shakespeare macbeth

answered Mar 6, 2020 at 21:37

17 votes

Why does the Iliad start "in the middle"?

greek-literature homer the-iliad

answered Aug 12, 2018 at 16:56

16 votes

What does "FACIT" mean in D. J. Enright's "The Typewriter Revolution"?

meaning poetry d-j-enright

answered Oct 17, 2021 at 18:20

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550 Answers

Was the title "The Lord of the Rings" picked on purpose to be ambiguous?

Why is Aragorn so weird to Pippin when they make their final farewell before going back to the Shire?

Did H. G. Wells use an emoticon in “The Time Machine”?

Why don't Mr. Bennet's daughters get to inherit the Longbourn estate?

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

What is the pun in Kipling's poem "The Three-Decker"?

What is the earliest reference in fiction to a government-approved thieves guild?

Who "dribbled a lot and wasn’t allowed anything sharp" in "Good Omens"?

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

"My father declared he should invent a slip button"

Was it common that the bridges of ditches or creeks had guarding gates in 1924?

What does "skimmish" mean, in this eye dialect?

In which version of "Snow White" is her name really "Lips Red as Blood, Hair Black as Ebony, Skin White as Snow"?

Why does the prophecy imply Macbeth has to murder the king?

What is the source of "You can achieve a lot with hate, but even more with love" (Shakespeare?)

How did contemporary readers respond to coincidence in 19th century novels?

Does Gandalf ever say this in the book "The Hobbit", or is it made up for the movie?

What does "if the court knows herself" mean?

In what Chinese fairy tale does a painter disappear into his own painting?

Where was the Odyssean Ithaca?

What's the meaning of Tom Bombadil's poem?

How do these lines in Shakespeare's Sonnet 151 mean what they're supposed to?

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

Why does Valentine refer to her father's second wife as her "mother-in-law"?

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

What is a "three-part moon"?

"Sly frantic wretch, that holp'st to make me great" what is the meaning of "holp'st"?

Why does Shakespeare sometimes use "do" with the verbs in his plays?

Why does the Iliad start "in the middle"?

What does "FACIT" mean in D. J. Enright's "The Typewriter Revolution"?