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How accurate is Corbett's "My India"?

Jim Corbett's books are mostly autobiographical, My India particularly so. It describes several incidents across Corbett's life in India. One of the most moving ones is from Corbett's time as a Railway contractor on the shores of the Ganges. There…
muru
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What is the message of Poe's "Eleonora"?

I recently read Edgar Allan Poe's short story "Eleonora", a thinly veiled self-portrait in which the protagonist falls in love with his younger cousin, who later dies and leaves him alone. He (the protagonist, not Poe) vows that his love for his…
Rand al'Thor
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What are the indications that in writing his plays Shakespeare sometimes thought of the special abilities of the actors?

Many of Shakespeare's plays were written to be performed by a specific group of actors, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later called the King's Men), with the result that several famous roles in different plays might have been performed by the same…
Rand al'Thor
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Is there any known tune for the last two verses of Rudyard Kipling's Parade Song of the Camp Animals?

The last section of the Jungle Book is a song by the animals serving in the army in India, split into sections for each animal. For the first four sections the verses closely mirror well known tunes that could have been played by the army at the…
Showsni
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Romeo and Juliet: Why is honey loathsome in its deliciousness?

Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 6: ...The sweetest honey Is loathsome in its own deliciousness. And in the taste confounds the appetite Most interpretations online seem to suggest that honey is bad for you because if you eat too much it’ll upset your…
Gadam
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Fantasy series where magic is connected to astronomical objects

I am looking for a series. It may be 5 books, but I am not totally sure on that. I read the book roughly 15 years ago and believe it was somewhat new at that time. The story itself is wrapped around a parent story, which treats it as a history book…
user2089648
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Where does the quote “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right” come from?

The quote "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right" is often attributed to Steve Jobs, but a quote posted on LibQuotes suggests that Steve Jobs was himself quoting someone else: When I was 17, I read a…
Andrey Bienkowski
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Term for intentionally impressing different meanings on different audiences

Is there a term for when an author intentionally generates two completely different responses from two distinct parts of their audience or readership? An example I found could be in The Picture of Dorian Gray, where Oscar Wilde says: Yes, there is…
stevec
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What figure of speech is "transient feet" in "A Photograph" by Shirley Toulson?

In the poem "A Photograph" by Shirley Toulson, the phrase "transient feet" appears in the last line of the first stanza: All three stood still to smile through their hair At the uncle with the camera. A sweet face, My mother's, that was before I…
Baskaran Soundararajan
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What do "Joggleberry", "celestial limit" and "pink penultimate" mean in "The Power-House"?

I have a question about a passage in The Power-House by John Buchan. In Chapter 1, "Beginning of the Wild-Goose Chase", Tommy Deloraine says to Leithen, the narrator: “This about finishes me,” he groaned. “What a juggins I am to be mouldering…
vtrubnikov
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What's the significance of The Idiot in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian?

Toward the end of Blood Meridian, the gang encounters a man whose brother is so severely disabled that he is kept naked in a cage. Obviously, this character cannot speak and does not contribute to the novel's dialogue. Despite this, McCarthy…
Matt Thrower
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Meaning of: "the photographic views, the spyglasses you look at them" in 'Five Children and It'

In chapter 8, E. Nesbit said: Bill was a man who knew his business. In a very little while, the photographic views, the spyglasses you look at them through so that they really seem rather real, and the lights you see them by, were all packed away.…
Hamza Maher Abdurrahman
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What is the significance of the magicians in the poem 'In The Bazaars Of Hyderabad'?

In the poem In The Bazaars Of Hyderabad, the poet Sarojini Naidu says: What do you chant, O magicians? Spells for aeons to come. Here aeons likely refers to eternal ages and the magicians are likely chanting such spells for the eternity of their…
Ayan
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Is this François de La Rochefoucauld's quote authentic?

I am looking for the source of the quote We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves allegedly by François de La Rochefoucauld. The only French version I could find was Nous sommes plus…
Yulia V
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Meaning of "She had all the colour and dynamism of a parsnip"

This passage is from The Children's Bach by Helen Garner ‘She was wearing these daggy flares,’ said Elizabeth, ‘with embroidered insets.’ ‘I got my hand jammed between two speaker boxes,’ said Philip. ‘My finger burst like a sausage.’ ‘You know?’…
Viser Hashemi
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