Critical Readings

The panel reads a selection of poems by Ted Hughes compassing the scope of his poetic oeuvre, from the early and animalistic imagery of "The Jaguar" to the modernist scenes of "Here Is the Cathedral", before concluding with the confessional "Last Letter". Continue reading

The panel reads four poems by Richard Wilbur, "Love Calls Us to the Things of This World", "A Baroque Wall-Fountain in the Villa Sciarra", "Mind", and "Year's End", particularly examining the intricacy of their details and their formal attributes. Continue reading

The panel traces themes of wanderlust, resignation, wistfulness, lonliness, and fatalism in six poems excerpted from Stevenson's Songs of Travel, including "The Vagabond", "Bright Is the Ring of Words," "Whither Must I Wander", and "The Woodman". Continue reading

The panel reads four poems by the Tudor poet and courtier Thomas Wyatt, whose misfortunes in the Henrician court (not least of all two imprisonments) are traced in sonnets and other verse including "Whoso List to Hunt" and "Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides". Continue reading

The panel reads three poems by Sylvia Plath, "Tulips", "Lady Lazarus", and "Daddy", tracing in them themes of self-annihilation, and analysing references to her depression and to the conflicted relationships she had with her father and husband. Continue reading

The panel reads a selection of sonnets by William Shakespeare, and considers their Symposium-like comparisons and contrasts of the different kinds and representations of love, in terms ranging from eloquent to earthy, and from concrete to abstract. Continue reading

The panel reads Christopher Marlowe's most famous poem, Hero and Leander, discussing its rich and provocative imagery, classical allusions, and levels of metaphor, and addressing the scholarly opinion of the apparently unfinished state of the work. Continue reading

The panel reads a single, long poem--"The Defence of Guenevere"--by the Victorian artisan, translator, novelist, and poet William Morris, giving special attention how Guenevere uses and mis-uses evidence and emotion in order to support her case. Continue reading

The panel reads four poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, including three sonnets, and discusses the excellence of her formal expertise and poetic style, particularly in contrast to less favourable mid-20th century critical responses to her body of work. Continue reading

The panel reads three poems of the greatly esteemed Victorian poet, Robert Browning, including "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's", "Andrea del Sarto", and "Love among the Ruins", giving especial attention to the dramatic features of his works. Continue reading

The panel reads three poems by mid-twentieth century American poet, Frank O'Hara, and examines his connexions to other forms of artistic modernism and post-modernism, including not only prose poetry, but abstract expressionism, cubism, and Dadaism. Continue reading

The panel follows the work of Poe and Lear to the macabre and surreal art of Edward Gorey, looking at four of his early, and most famous, works including The Gashlycrumb Tinies (an abecedarium), The Evil Garden, The Insect God, and The Doubtful Guest. Continue reading

How pleasant to know Mr. Lear! Who has written such volumes of stuff! Some think him ill-tempered and queer, But a few think him pleasant enough. Continue reading

The panel reads a selection of Poe's most significant verse, including "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee", and considers not only how Poe's use of Gothic and Romantic themes shapes the content and form of his poems, but also surprising mediæval connexions. Continue reading

The panel reads a small selection of poems by Geoffrey Hill, with a focus on his use of paradoxical language, complex metaphors, and highly imagistic description--and, contrasts Hill's work with that of the mid-20th century poet, Philip Larkin. Continue reading

The panel concludes its summer reading of The Canterbury Tales with a look at penitence, sin, and freedom in The Parson's Tale, and then considers whether Chaucer's Retraction (Boece excluded!) is an appropriate end to the Tales and to Chaucer's oeuvre. Continue reading

In the penultimate episode covering the Canterbury Tales, the panel discusses the potential links between Fragments VIII and IX, the morals of the tales included in them, particularly Cecilia's active piety and the Manciple's reserved discretion. Continue reading

The panel discusses the final two tales in Fragment VII: the tragic vignettes of unfortunate individuals described in The Monk's Tale, and the jolly (and much beloved) fable of the rooster Chanticleer and the wily Fox in the Nun's Priest's Tale. Continue reading

The panel considers vice in the Shipman's tale and piety in the Prioress' tale, before moving on to examine Chaucer's humble self-depiction in his rollicking minstrel song, The Tale of Sir Thopas, and in his dialogue on Prudence, The Tale of Melibee. Continue reading

The panel looks at the honor-before-death connexion between Fragment V and Fragment VI as exemplified by Virginia in the Physician's Tale, and then considers the multiple levels of moral instruction on offer in the boldly hypocritical Pardoner's Tale. Continue reading

The panel discusses Fragment V, with attention given both to scholarly theories about whether Chaucer deliberately left the Squire's tale interrupted and unfinished, and to Chaucer's use of estates satire in his depiction of the Franklin and his tale. Continue reading

The panel discusses Fragment IV, containing two tales that deal with men who deliberately engage in unequal marriages to both good and ill results, and considers what these tales demonstrate about historical critiques of progress and the human condition. Continue reading

Clinton Collister joins the panel to discuss Fragment III and its potential connexions to The Man of Law's Tale (Fragment II), with a focus on the role of justice, legalism, crime, intent, contractual obligations, and the judicial purpose of punishment. Continue reading

The panel examines The Man of Law's Tale and scholarly arguments about whether it is suited to its putative teller, and consider the tale's depictions of crime and justice (temporal and divine), constancy, providence, misadventure, and religious strife. Continue reading

Leaving behind the Knight's noble depictions of courtly love, the panel descends through bawdy, sexual misadventures in the form of 'quites'--narrative responses--offered by the drunken Miller and the vengeful Reeve, and the Cook's incomplete tale. Continue reading