Shakespeare's Children: Tracing The Bard's Family Tree

March 5, 2022

William Shakespeare (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images) Considering the volume and significance of William Shakespeare's work, it's easy to...

Phillis Wheatley, America's First Published Black Poet

December 31, 2021

Phillis Wheatley, African-American author and poet. Engraved by Scipio Moorhead, 1773. (VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images) Phillis Wheatley lived a remarkable li...

Maya Angelou: Life, Biography, And Stories About The Literary Titan

November 25, 2021

Maya Angelou circa 1970. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) Born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928, Maya Angelou was...

History Of The Vampire

October 4, 2021

Publicity still of Bela Lugosi for the 1931 Universal Studios film Dracula. (Bettmann/Getty Images) From the Asanbosum of southern Ghana to the Puechen of Chile to the jiangshi of Qing-dynasty C...

"Stealing My Thunder": The Dramatic Origins Of This Common Phrase

August 9, 2021

Drury Lane Theatre, London, built 1794. Detail based on watercolor reproduction by Edward Dayes showing the audience and stage, 1795. (Culture Club/Getty...

George Orwell: His Life And Cultural Influence

June 21, 2021

A poster with the famous words 'Big Brother is Watching You' from a 1965 B.B.C. T.V. production of George Orwell's classic novel 1984. (Larry Ellis/Express/Getty Images) ...

John Keats: Poet, Father Of Romanticism Who Peaked When He Was Young

March 31, 2021

Posthumous portrait of John Keats by William Hilton. (National Portrait Gallery/Wikimedia Commons) During his life, John Keats was far from the most...

Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch: The Father Of Masochism, Explained

June 28, 2020

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and Fanny Pistor Bogdanoff, c. 1870-1880 (note the whip). (Unknown author/Wikimedia Commons) Human sexuality is a vastly complica...

Chinua Achebe: 'Things Fall Apart' Author Wrote The First Major English Novel From An African P...

June 17, 2020

Prior to the 20th century, almost every English novel about Africa was written from the perspective of a white person...

Emily Dickinson: Things You Didn't Know About The Famous Writer, Horticulturist

May 28, 2020

Whether you're a fan of poetry or prefer HBO, you know Emily Dickinson, the poet from Amherst, Massachusetts who spent the 1800s writing...

The Invention Of Kryptonite: The Real Reason The Man Of Steel Needed A Weakness

May 22, 2020

There are a few things that everyone knows about Superman: He's faster than a speeding bullet, he can leap tall buildings in a single bo...

William Randolph Hearst: Father Of Yellow Journalism/Fake News Billionaire

April 29, 2020

There's never been an American character quite like William Randolph Hearst, the business tycoon, newspaper publisher, and politician who cre...

Shakespeare Hoarded Grains And Resold It For Profit During Famine

April 23, 2020

It's hard to think of William Shakespeare as anything but the author of some of the most stirring and populist plays of the 16th and 17th centuries, b...

The Origins Of Mermaids: Greek Mythology, Ghosts, And Christopher Columbus

January 9, 2020

Actress Glynis Johns as the title-role in the film Miranda, 1948. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) Mermaids...

Where Does The Phrase "Pie In The Sky" Come From? A Song By The Wobblies

January 2, 2020

Even if you haven't ever referred to an idea as being a "pie in the sky," you've definitely heard the phrase. On its face, it's unclear why an airbo...

Auld Lang Syne: Song Meaning, History, And Why We Sing It On New Year's Eve

December 27, 2019

An onlooker holds a glass of champagne at a New Year's Eve celebration on Sydney Harbour in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse\City of Sy...

Santa Claus And Father Christmas Used To Be Two Completely Different Characters

December 25, 2019

Today, we tend to think of Santa Claus and Father Christmas as one and the same, along with Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, and every other na...