The Cultural Tutor

Areopagus Volume XLVII Welcome one and all to the forty seventh volume of the Areopagus. It was more or less one year ago that I decided to start a Twitter account and call it The Cultural Tutor. Now I'm here. What more can I do at this wholly unforeseen juncture than to offer my boundless...

Areopagus — Readers' Lexicon Welcome one and all to... a slightly different instalment of the Areopagus. O Fortuna, thou art fickle! Last week I asked you this: What is your favourite word, and why? I received a flood of fascinating followups. And so, though I had planned this week to write about...

Areopagus Volume XLVI Welcome one and all to the forty sixth volume of the Areopagus. We begin this week with a quote from Dr Johnson, who once said this about John Milton: He was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones. Last week, rather than...

Areopagus Volume XLV Welcome one and all to the forty fifth volume of the Areopagus. This week I'm trying something a little different. After all, is not variety the spice of life? That famous line comes from a poem called The Task, written by William Cowper in 1785: Variety’s the very spice of...

Areopagus Volume XLIV Welcome one and all to the forty fourth volume of the Areopagus. We begin this week not with poetry but with some words of wisdom from one of the wisest there's even been: We ought to read devout and simple books as willingly as those that are high and profound. Let not the...

Areopagus Volume XLIII Welcome one and all to the forty third volume of the Areopagus. In Western Christianity today is Good Friday, although in the Eastern Orthodox Church it isn't observed until next Friday. It also happens to be the birthday of that great Romantic poet William Wordsworth. So...

Areopagus Volume XLII Welcome one and all to the forty second volume of the Areopagus. It was on this day, 392 years ago, that the great Metaphysical poet John Donne died at the age of fifty nine. It seems only appropriate to begin this week's instalment, then, with a few lines from his fertile...

Areopagus Volume XLI Welcome one and all to the forty first volume of the Areopagus. This is my view as I write these words - the formidable walls of Edinburgh Castle. It's an inspirational setting. Amazing with how many words the simple joy of a good view can fill you. And the city of Edinburgh...