Douglas Harvey

The Black Bridge is a collection of poems about facets of contemporary culture including oversharing on social media, the breakdown of the nuclear family, being a cultural exile, interpersonal violence, and gender identity. Several of the poems are about Mespel-Harvey's experience of growing up in a half-Geordie household and spending a substantial amount of time in the Northeast of England. The works are often witty, honest, and compassionate and...

This collection of poems by famous English Romantic poet William Blake comprises two volumes in one. Self-published by Blake, the first collection entitled "Songs of Innocence", first appeared in 1789. This volume focuses on the pastoral and innocent perfection of childhood. The tone is beautiful and often delicately romantic. However, there is also a dark side to the naivety of childhood. Blake explores the vulnerability of the poor and the young...

Before the dawn of history, mankind was engaged in the study of dreaming. The wise man among the ancients was preeminently the interpreter of dreams. The ability to interpret successfully or plausibly was the quickest road to royal favor, as Joseph and Daniel found it to be; failure to give satisfaction in this respect led to banishment from court or death. When a scholar laboriously translates a cuneiform tablet dug up from a Babylonian mound, where...

George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation is a set of 110 precepts or maxims on such matters as how to dress, how to walk, how to eat in public, and how to behave correctly in the company of superiors and equals. While containing the clear guidance in propriety, the rules also address moral issues, albeit somewhat indirectly. The rules are based on a set of precepts found in a treatise "Bienseance de la...

"Citizenship in a Republic" is the title of a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, on April 23, 1910. In the speech Roosevelt discusses the attributes required of its citizens and leaders to sustain a thriving national character, not least of which are a high moral character and energetic engagement. He has harsh words for those who act purely in self-interest, who cause division, and who sit on the sidelines while...

"A Madman's Diary" is a short story by Lu Xun first published in 1918. Written in vernacular Chinese, it is considered "China's first modern short story" and the most influential modern work in the republican era. Lu was inspired by "Diary of a Madman" by Nicolai Gogol, both in the use of the diary form and in the idea that the madman sees things more clearly than others. The story comes about when the narrator decides to visit two friends with whom...

Andrew Carnegie, an immigrant from Dunfermline, Scotland with only a grammar-school education, amassed a fortune in the steel industry the 1800's to become the richest American in history. Yet Carnegie believed strongly that the wealthy should live modestly, without ostentation, and devote their energies after achieving wealth to finding ways to invest their "surplus wealth" in ways that benefit the public. Historically, private fortunes were handed...

In late 1913, Carl Jung set out on an exploration of his psyche, a quest he called his "confrontation with the unconscious". In doing so, he would enter an imaginative state of consciousness and experience visions, a process that continued with varying intensity for the next ten years. He recorded his visions in six black-covered journals that he referred to as the "Black Books", which provided a chronological record of his visions and dialogues with...

The Code of Hammurabi is a codification of the laws enacted by Hammurabi, the king of Babylonia and is one of mankind's oldest known writings. It was inscribed on a stone stele, or monument, in approximately 1754 B. C. and was discovered by archeologists in 1901. The code was inscribed using cuneiform script in the Akkadian languages into a diorite stele that stands 7.4 feet tall. A small portion of the code is considered missing. Famous for the concept...

We all die, sooner or later. We all know it, and we wonder when, where, and how it may happen. and yet we go to extraordinary lengths to put the thought of it out of our minds. We hesitate to bring it up in conversations. Montaigne, who ... essay, addressed this issue head on in "To Study Philosophy is to Learn to Die." It is perhaps his best-known essay, a kind of summation of his philosophy, and considered his most stoic. There are three main themes:...