Poet Wilfred Owen was killed-in-action in 1918, one week before the First World War's end.

Among his papers was found, unfinished, what would become the preface to his posthumous poetry collection.

Read on, for a Memorial Day thread on the War Poets: 🧵👇 Owens wrote:

"This book is not about heroes.

English Poetry is not yet fit to speak of them.

Nor is it about deeds or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, dominion or power, except War... 2/

On this day in 1882, writer Ralph Waldo Emerson breathed his last.

Emerson's transcendentalist worldview is not without its pitfalls, but it is *alive*. Few wrote about the possibilities of human achievement with more brilliance.

A thread of my favorite Emerson quotes: 15. "God will not have his work made manifest by cowards...

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."

~Emerson, Self-Reliance

On this day in AD 121, the Philosopher Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, was born.

His diary (never meant for publication) is a reservoir of quotable sayings, preaching resilience and self-control. It's worth reading.

Here's a thread of my favorite lines from his Meditations: 15. Be like the rock against which the waves break.

It stands firm and tames the fury of the waters around it.

Happy Birthday to the Immortal Bard!

To celebrate, a thread of every Shakespeare play, with the most memorable lines from each: 1. Romeo and Juliet

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet..." (II.ii)

It's Good Friday.

Instead of doom-scrolling, log off and read one of these Good Friday-inspired works of literature.

Thread: 🪡 👇 10. The Dream of the Rood

This 7th-century Old English poem tells the story of the Crucifixion from the perspective of the Cross itself ("Rood" is Old English for "pole" or crucifix), blending Christian themes with Anglo-Saxon warrior culture.

A fascinating work.

Happy April Fools' Day.

On this day, in 1708, Jonathan Swift, years before publishing Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal, inflicted one of the first public April Fools hoaxes on his readers.

It was as brutal as you'd expect from him.

A thread: 🧵👇 In Swift's day, Almanacs were all the rage.

Today, we think of them like Ben Franklin's Poor Richard -- collections of pithy witticisms paired with weather forecasts for farmers.

But back then, they were horoscopes with an agenda.

The most popular was John Partridge's. 2/

JD Vance as classic literary figures.

I’m so sorry.

1. JD Austen 2. JD Shakespeare

For President's Day, a reminder:

Of the 45 people who have served as President of the United States, at least 33 studied Latin in school.

Why? Latin Education is Leadership Education.

A brief thread: 1/


For the Founding Generation? Latin proficiency was a prerequisite for higher education.

Adams and Jefferson were reading Cicero, Caesar, and Virgil at a young age.

Ancient Greek was expected, too.

Some, like James Madison, even studied and mastered Hebrew at university. 2/

Happy President's Day!

In 1771, Thomas Jefferson's brother-in-law asked him what books every gentleman should own.

Jefferson responded with a list of hundreds.

I'll include the full list at the end of the thread, but here are a few gems I think you'll want to check out: 🧵👇 10. Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso (1581)

This Italian epic melds history with myth to tell the story of the First Crusade and its "deliverance" of Jerusalem from Muslim rule.

An inspiring chivalric tale, it is fundamentally about the clash between love and duty.

For Valentine's Day, a top ten countdown of the best classic love poems.

Which one's your favorite? And which ones did I miss? Let me know. 10. Sonnet #43, from Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘦? 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴..."

On this day, Feb. 9, 1881, Fyodor Dostoevsky breathed his last.

His dying wish?

For his children to be gathered around him and read a story.

It was his final lesson to his children, and it is the key to understanding his work.

Thread 👇 Dostoevsky's daughter Aimée recounts the scene:

“He made us come into the room, and, taking our little hands in his, he begged my mother to read the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

He listened with his eyes closed, absorbed in his thoughts..." 2/

On this day, Jan. 27, 1302, Dante Alighieri found himself cast into the wilderness.

Not allegorically. Literally.

But only after losing everything could he find his true life's purpose.

A thread on Dante's midlife crisis, what he learned from it and you can too. 🧵👇 1/ Dante wasn't always *just* a poet. His first vocation was politics. A dangerous game in Florence.

At age 35, he was at the top of the city's political pile.

At age 37? It was all gone.

His career? Over. His wealth? Stolen.

His life? He was an exile, on pain of death. 2/

Let's have some fun and play "Finish that line..." Shakespeare edition.

Answer key at the end of the thread. Share your score in the replies.

Let's start with an easy one.

1. From Julius Caesar:

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ____" 2. From King Lear:

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a ____"

Happy 133rd Birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien.

If you've ever been inspired by Tolkien's works, perhaps you'd like to learn what books inspired him.

A thread of 15 works that shaped Tolkien's imagination: 1. Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Lang's Fairy Books and his version of Sigurd and the Dragon captivated Tolkien as a child.

Tolkien later wrote: "I desired dragons with a profound desire... the world that contained even the imagination of Fáfnir was richer and more beautiful."

Everyone knows A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’s timeless tale of Christmas redemption.

But did you know he wrote four other Christmas novellas?

Here’s the story of why Dickens returned to Christmas again and again — and why they're still great reads today. 🧵👇 First published on December 19, 1843, A Christmas Carol was an immediate sensation — selling out its 6,000 print run before Christmas Eve.

The novella’s success inspired Dickens to make Christmas literature a yearly tradition.

Happy 126th Birthday to C.S. Lewis, born on this day, November 29, 1898.

In 1962, he was asked what books most influenced him.

He responded with a list of 10 books.

They're Great Books. I recommend you read them -- or, at least, read this thread about them: 10. George MacDonald's Phantastes

A fantasy novel about a young man searching for his female ideal in a dream-world.

Lewis once said: "I have never concealed the fact that I regard [MacDonald] as my master... I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him."

Long before Tolkien’s fantasy worlds enchanted us, other stories enchanted him.

Ever wonder which books sparked his imagination?

Here's a thread of 15 works — some high-brow, some low, all fascinating — that shaped Tolkien's world: 1. Beowulf

Beowulf was Tolkien's academic specialty, and he consciously drew upon it in LOTR.

Ents, orcs & elves are all taken from Beowulf.

Gollum is partly based on the monster Grendel.

And the dragon Smaug (in The Hobbit) mirrors Beowulf's dragon.

But that's not all.

Leonardo da Vinci was a true polymathic genius, not just as an artist and inventor, but also as a thoughtful writer

Scattered in his Notebooks are memorable aphorisms on life, philosophy, and art.

Here are 15 of his best. 🧵 15. Impatience, the mother of stupidity, praises brevity.

Happy 170th Birthday (one day late) to one of literature's most acid pens, Oscar Wilde.

A thread of the controversial playwright's most insulting (and amusing) quotations.

Which is your favorite?🧵👇 20. "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life a mimicry, their passions a quotation." - De Profundis

In 1887, Mark Twain was asked what books every boy and girl should read.

He responded with a list of seven.

It's a list of Great Books, and they're not just for kids.

I think adults should read them, too -- or, at least, read this thread about them: 🧵 7. Defoe's The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

A timeless shipwrecked adventure story, Crusoe faces challenge after challenge on his desert island.

Crusoe's saga is a testament to the importance of perseverance, ingenuity, and never giving up.

Before he was a leader, Napoleon Bonaparte was a reader.

He read *everything* -- romances, plays, histories, myths.

A thread of (some of) Napoleon's favorite works of literature. 🧵👇

(Inspired by "Napoleon's Library" by Louis Sarkozy - an interesting book, I recommend it). 10. Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther

Napoleon idolized Goethe and even summoned him for a meeting in 1808.

Werther is an epistolary novel, chronicling the obsessions and failures of a highly emotional young man, struggling to cope with a failed romance.