Raised by wolves, I learned to read, write and survive.

Essays

• On the Uses of AttentionEssay
• Hopkins and the Difficult YesEssay
• In Praise of the Slow SentenceEssay
• The Grammar of MercyEssay

Teaching

Resources for the classroom — language and literature, kept clean of the news cycle.

• Close Reading: a one-page methodFor students meeting a hard poem for the first time.
• Twelve Poems Worth MemorisingAnd a short note on why the body should hold them.
• Writing the Plain SentenceA practical sequence for clarity over flourish.

About

An English teacher who writes.

These essays are an attempt at one thing, made many times over: a clear and unembarrassed yes — to language, to the difficulty of attention, to the comedy that life turns out to be. Nothing here is ironic. That is the whole experiment.