Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Julian Paren, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Baldur was the toast of Valhalla, but Loki was determined to take him down.
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© Martin Falbisoner (1978-), Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.
In this ‘Cautionary Tale’, we hear what happened when naughty Jim gave his nurse the slip.
© Auckland Museum, Wikimedia COmmons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
The politicians of Georgian England went to surprising lengths to shield domestic businesses from overseas competition.
By Sir John Everett Millais (?-1896), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Thomas Carlyle felt that English criticism of Goethe revealed more about his critics than his poems.
By Edvard Munch (1863–1944), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
As Lord Marmion lies dying on Flodden Field, there is no one near to tend him but the woman he has wronged.
By John Ruskin, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
We should not force ourselves and ‘our values’ onto the writers of the past.