Wrack and rack are etymologically distinct, meaning they come from different words. Many usage guides will advise that you should use wrack for meanings such as "to utterly ruin," and rack for "to cause to suffer torture, pain, anguish, or ruin." If you follow this advice, the proper ch...
As seems to be theplaguecustom at this time of every year, The Posting Of the Lists ® is in full swing. From movies to concerts to podcast episodes to soup recipes, the critics and pundits scurry to list their best (or worst) ___ of the year. Moiselfhas but one entry to contrib...
As seems to be theplaguecustom at this time of every year, The Posting Of the Lists ® is in full swing. From movies to concerts to podcast episodes to soup recipes, the critics and pundits scurry to list their best (or worst) ___ of the year. Moiselfhas but one entry to contrib...
“That’s all fine and good,” someone might say. “But right now I see very little to be thankful for. We’ve had one financial setback after another, my job is more stressful than ever, our son is having a hard time in school, and my brother and sister-in-law just announced the...
The United States appear to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty. — Simon Bolivar 152 It is not the direction of the wind that determines your destination. It is the set of your sail. — Jim Rohn 148 You will never reach your destination if...
The governing images of the final quatrain, “season’d timber” and “turned to coal,” each call up a constellation of meanings. Timber suggests both the cedars of Lebanon and the cross. And the seasoning of wood represents the testing of the soul, which, by God’s grace, “never give...
The poem has been called “one of the purest lyrics in the language.”[i]The predominance of one-syllable words exemplifies its “fine poetic thrift.”[ii]The sixteen short lines, divided into four quatrains, overflow—almost miraculously—with diverse images, references and meanings. For example...
The term "Chimera" refers to a beast from Greek mythology, which had the head of a lion, the body of a goat and tail of a serpent. The term is also used in biology, to refer to an organism containing cells with different DNA. Both meanings are relevant in describing the Chimera in ...
1603: The Death of Queen Elizabeth, the Return of the Black Plague, the Rise of Shakespeare, Piracy, Witchcraft and the Birth of the Stuart Era. St. Martin's Press. p. viii. ISBN 978-0-3123-2139-0. ^ Jessica L. Malay, Anne Clifford's Autobiographical Writing, 1590-1676 (Manchester,...
Avoid fear as you would a plague. Fear, even the smallest fear, is a hacking at the cords of faith that bind you to God. However small the fraying, in time those cords will wear thin, and then one disappointment or shock will make them snap. But for the little fears, the cords of...