Spring Will Come Again: Story, Song, and Sorrow in Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown
“Orpheus with his lute made trees And the mountain tops that freeze Bow themselves when he did sing: To his music plants and flowers Ever sprung; as sun and showers There had made a lasting spring. Every thing that heard him play, Even the billows of the...
Sweet Wild Grace: On Forgiveness, Redemption, and Humanity in Elizabeth Goudge’s The Rosemary Tree
“‘We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be. But there is one thing much more necessary.’ “‘What is that, grandmother?’ “To understand other people.'” —George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin Elizabeth Goudge’s The Rosemary Tree is a story about many different things: about family, relationships, secrets, second...
A Duty of Care: On Hospitality, Protection, and the Expression of Love in Redwall
Redwall Abbey, image c. Christopher Denise (illustrator) The 1995 Studio Ghibli film Mimi wo Sumaseba (耳をすませば) (marketed in the West as Whisper of the Heart), directed by Yoshifumi Kondo and written by Hayao Miyazaki, follows a young girl named Tsukishima Shizuku on her journey to finding and dedicating herself to her dreams and ambitions. The...
If You Listen Closely: On Art, Love, and Chasing Your Dreams in Whisper of the Heart
The 1995 Studio Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart, directed by Yoshifumi Kondo and written by Hayao Miyazaki, follows a young girl named Tsukishima Shizuku on her journey to finding and dedicating herself to her dreams and ambitions. The themes of struggling in school and navigating love for the first time lend themselves to the...
From Book to Screen: Capturing the Heart of Little Women
Little Women (2017), image c. BBC Little Women, the book Louisa May Alcott is most well known for, is a story that has touched readers all over the world since its original publication in 1868. The story of the four March sisters as they grow from girls to young women still remains relevant today because...
Becoming a Hero the Hard Way: On Unconventional Heroes and Everyday Heroism
“This is a story of becoming a hero the hard way.” —Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon What defines a hero? If we look at the heroes of old—Greco-Roman heroes like Hercules and Odysseus, for example, or the Prince Charmings of fairy tales and folklore—a pattern of traits and skills linking these characters together...
