Jonathan Culler's Literary Theory: a Very Short Introduction contains the following slightly puzzling quote in chapter 7: In principle at least, the performative [utterance] breaks the link between meaning and the intention of the speaker, for what act I perform with my words is not determined b...

I'm new here, and not completely sure if I'm asking this question in the right place, but I seem to have a vague memory of a story where a tribe of some sort lives in a cave for generations, and never leaves because they have access to food and water. One time, someone (it may have been a child; ...

In a story by A. Blackwood (http://algernonblackwood.org/Z-files/The_Prayer.pdf), I cannot infer the meaning in the following sentence: He did not notice their somewhat close attention because, in his turn, he was closely watching—somebody else. He ate and drank soberly, but drew his dinner out....

Twelve steeds unmatch’d in fleetness and in force, And still victorious in the dusty course; (Rich were the man whose ample stores exceed The prizes purchased by their winged speed;) Extract from Pope's translation of the Iliad. Have I correctly identified the bold verb as a subjunctive?

I'm trying to get a grasp of a poetical image of being "packed in furnace", found in Ted Hughes' Crow's opening poem "Two Legends": Two Legends I Black was the without eye Black the within tongue Black was the heart [...] Black the blood in its loud tunnel Black the bowels packed in furnace [......

An excellent verbose answer says that: Etymologically, the word iambos is related to the Greek word for cripple, with the short syllable representing the lame leg and the long the strong one. Deriving from this Greek origin, a foot of one short and one long syllable was called an iamb in Latin p...