Megan McCafferty

In “Confessions,” a religious life is described, together with human prayer and thanksgiving. Augustine invokes God at the start of the piece, asking him to support him as he writes about his own life.

“His Last Bow” by Arthur Conan Doyle is an espionage thriller, not a detective mystery. The narrative might have been written to bolster public morale during World War I. It is recounted in the third person, rather in the first person like in a Sherlock Holmes tale.

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s collection of poems, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, was originally published in 1798 and is generally regarded as the start of the English Romantic literary movement.

Every human activity aims at some end that we consider good. The highest ends are ends in themselves, while subordinate ends may only be means to higher ends. Those highest ends, which we pursue for their own sake, must be the supreme Good.

Longinus discusses the elements of excellent writing with his companion Postumius Terentianus. The most important principle of excellent writing is that it “takes the reader out of himself” (4), leaving an impression of force and passion on the reader.

In Plato’s Republic, Echecrates meets Phaedo of Elis, one of the men present during Socrates’ final hours. The philosopher argues that there is a perpetual cycle of life and death, so that when we die we come back to life after a period of time.