Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Character of Holland’ was composed, though not published, in early 1653. So who was it written for, and why? A brief exploration. … More Resourcefulness: Marvell’s ‘The Character of Holland’
How much can you put yourself into the mind of another individual? My work on Marvell and Private Lives has been a wonderful introspective process because the way I’ve symbiotically linked our biographies together has given me license to think as deeply and darkly as I please. … More Andrew Marvell’s Quiet Confidence
2011 was a story I don’t know how to tell. Perhaps it’s best defined by what others have said. … More Shadow Seasons: An Epilogue, 2011
When encountering the headline ‘Gary Speed found dead’, I knew instinctively what the cause would be. … More The Invisible Self
Every so often, we hit those defining moments where we ask ourselves the all-important questions. … More All-Important Questions
Since we cannot turn back time, we have no choice but to deal with our life-defining moments. They cannot be undone. … More Facing a Challenge
A poem of inexperience gone wrong, or experience writ large? Thoughts on Andrew Marvell’s ‘seduction’ poem, ‘To His Coy Mistress’. … More ‘To His Coy Mistress’? To Her Coy Master
I believe in reward for effort. It’s a very basic but effective principle, and one that in teaching or mentoring roles I have always tried to impart to my charges. If you go the extra mile, you want that dedication to have meaning and result. Sadly, in recent years, it’s a belief I’ve been losing faith in. … More Family and Personal Influences
So console myself of a difficult anniversary, I have turned to the virtues of music, setting myself a challenge to select songs for friends that reflected how I see them. … More Music: Between Minds, Between Friends
Most of us are guilty at some point of writing in cryptics. Why do we do it? Why express ourselves in terms that are not meant to be understood? Is it, perhaps, a deep subconscious desire to be public with our privacy? Is it more about reaching out, or being reached out to? A few thoughts on why we so often seek to tangle rather than untangle. … More “Finders Keepers, holder Seekers hidden Secrets”: Writing in Cryptics
Writing Privacy 