Harper's Articles- Sarah

The articles that I read in Harper's magazine were all very different. In a way they all complimented each other. There was one that was a purely entertaining story called "Vallandigham." This was a narrative that was not informative nor intellectual, simply romantic. In contrast, the "Monthly Current Events" was very politically informative and factual. It contained no story and simply and description of any recent activity that fell under the political spectrum in a manner so that anyone could read it. There were articles that I felt were not for everyone, though. Shakespeare and Hollingshed was analytical of Shakespeare's writing in comparison to a past writer; which would have required some background knowledge of Shakespeare. To round it all off, there were two poems included. "The Three Tells" was a tall tale, probably an old legend. It was mainly entertaining to read, but was somewhat intellectual. The Havelock was a poem that had to be read closely in order to see that it was political and about the Revolutionary War.

I thought some of the stories were interesting and some were pretty tedious to read. "Vallandigham was entertaining, but it dragged on too long for a magazine; which could be a personal bias since I am used to modern magazines. Some of the other articles would only be interesting to people who were interested in the specific subject that they addressed. The one with Shakespeare would only be interesting to someone who had an interest in Shakespeare's writing. I would probably read this magazine, but only certain parts. I thought the political article that gave summary of current events was very interesting and useful.