In the poem A Photograph (written by Shirley Toulson), I didn't understand some sentences. In the second stanza, the poet says Some twenty — thirty — years later She’d laugh at the snapshot. “See Betty And Dolly,” she’d say, “and look how they Dressed us for the beach.” The sea holiday Was her p...

First time posting! I remember reading an interesting short story (fairly sure it was in an early level college lit class) where a man falls off a ladder while hanging a picture or performing maintenance inside his home. He shakes off the initial pain, but doesn't realize he has caused an interna...

Ages ago I read a detective novel which I remember very little about, and the few things I do remember are not very helpful for googling it. Maybe somebody here can help me with it. One thing I distinctly remember is that one of the police officers was a gay man, and I think he was pretty much th...

What does it mean to say that "Ambition should be made of sterner stuff". I am talking about the general import of this famous quote, rather than any reference to the play or characters it comes from. Any help would be appreciated.

The French Wikipedia article about Les dieux ont soif (The Gods Are Athirst), a novel by Anatole France, contains the following quote attributed to Joseph Conrad: « C’est un grand analyste d’illusions. Il en pénètre et en sonde les plus secrets replis comme s’il s’agissait de réalités faites de ...