User Gareth Rees

26 votes

2 answers

6k 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

3k views

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

asked Mar 22, 2020 at 12:17

12 votes

1 answer

348 views

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

asked Apr 27, 2020 at 20:27

11 votes

1 answer

267 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

2 answers

361 views

Who was Coleridge's "schoolman"?

asked Sep 2, 2021 at 18:11

8 votes

1 answer

212 views

Source of the 1953 revisions to "The Great Gatsby"

asked Aug 8, 2022 at 16:31

8 votes

0 answers

290 views

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

asked Feb 21, 2018 at 13:15

7 votes

3 answers

552 views

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

asked Aug 28, 2019 at 14:19

7 votes

1 answer

223 views

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

asked Oct 10, 2021 at 14:18

6 votes

1 answer

730 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

327 views

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

asked Sep 3, 2020 at 17:35

5 votes

1 answer

249 views

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

asked Feb 6, 2019 at 10:44

5 votes

1 answer

235 views

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

asked Feb 2, 2019 at 11:14

5 votes

1 answer

264 views

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

asked May 17, 2021 at 10:16

5 votes

1 answer

214 views

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

asked Sep 6, 2021 at 19:26

5 votes

2 answers

178 views

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

asked May 14, 2022 at 8:52

5 votes

1 answer

219 views

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

asked Mar 10, 2022 at 21:34

5 votes

0 answers

136 views

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

asked Oct 14, 2022 at 17:52

5 votes

1 answer

147 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 at 14:50

4 votes

1 answer

415 views

Meaning of “toning herself off into the married state” in “Little Dorrit”

asked Dec 25, 2022 at 22:42

4 votes

1 answer

126 views

What deeds are emblematized by the cypress and myrtle in Byron’s “The Bride of Abydos”?

asked Aug 17 at 14:00

4 votes

2 answers

156 views

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

asked Sep 15 at 17:33

4 votes

1 answer

738 views

Who first wrote, “one person’s modus ponens is another’s modus tollens”?

asked Oct 27, 2021 at 20:01

4 votes

1 answer

357 views

Who are the “men of the west” who eat clay in “Aurora Leigh”?

asked Oct 9, 2021 at 10:53

4 votes

1 answer

221 views

What did Edmund Gosse mean by “servers of pillows to all armholes”?

asked May 29, 2021 at 12:46

4 votes

1 answer

136 views

Which thriller featured "a machine-gun attack in Park Lane"?

asked Feb 11, 2019 at 21:04

4 votes

1 answer

126 views

Why does Caponsacchi count his fingers in "The Ring and the Book"?

asked Feb 28, 2019 at 10:48

Stack Exchange Network

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

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

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?

Who was Coleridge's "schoolman"?

Source of the 1953 revisions to "The Great Gatsby"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meaning of “toning herself off into the married state” in “Little Dorrit”

What deeds are emblematized by the cypress and myrtle in Byron’s “The Bride of Abydos”?

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

Who first wrote, “one person’s modus ponens is another’s modus tollens”?

Who are the “men of the west” who eat clay in “Aurora Leigh”?

What did Edmund Gosse mean by “servers of pillows to all armholes”?

Which thriller featured "a machine-gun attack in Park Lane"?

Why does Caponsacchi count his fingers in "The Ring and the Book"?