Poetry & Style

How the letter E almost ruined English poetry

Time erodes all things, even Chaucer

Nov 8, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

How to end a sentence with style

Cadence in English prose from Gibbon to Orwell

Oct 25, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

How iambic pentameter really works

And why it works so well in English

Oct 11, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

How rhyme works (and why)

A lesson in the anatomy of the syllable

Oct 8, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

The ancient poetic law that explains basically everything

From Sanskrit grammar to nursery rhymes

Aug 16, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

How to write poetry like Tolkien

A guide to composing alliterative verse

Jul 19, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

Why ChatGPT writes like that

A rhetorical analysis of AI “slop”

Jul 9, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

How to get started with Old English poetry

Five poems to read that aren’t Beowulf

Jul 2, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

Don’t read Heaney’s Beowulf

The cost of a beautiful translation

May 28, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

The ancient art of beating about the bush

Why you should care about kennings

Apr 16, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

When poetry didn’t rhyme

The ancient art of alliterative verse

Mar 12, 2025 • Colin Gorrie

Classical Chinese poetry: a guide for the curious

Everything you need to start appreciating one of the most common traditional poetic forms in Chinese literature

Jun 22, 2023 • Colin Gorrie

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