Critical Readings
CriticalReadings.com
Critical Readings examines key literary texts using close reading and critical analysis, and explains these approaches in discussion. Listeners will learn about the texts themselves and about how to approach a text for critical analysis.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 28, 2022 • 1h 13min
CR Episode 118: Introduction to Conrad Aiken
The panel reads a selection of three poems by Conrad Aiken--"The Room", "Exile", and "Goya"--and discusses their dreamlike imagery, and the impact of personal tragedy, English Romanticism, and Freudian and Jungian theories, upon Aiken's poetry.Continue reading
Feb 21, 2022 • 59min
CR Episode 117: Milton’s Lycidas
Following on the theme of love and death, the panel reads Milton's pastoral elegy, "Lycidas", dedicated to the memory of Edward King, with special attention to Milton's theology and his critique of both the contemporary English clergy and community.Continue reading
Feb 14, 2022 • 1h 42min
CR Episode 116: Venus and Adonis
For St. Valentine's Day, the panel reads what is likely to have been Shakespeare's first officially published work: his genre-defying Tragi-Comi-Ovidian poem "Venus and Adonis", dedicated to his patron, Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton.Continue reading
Feb 7, 2022 • 1h 31min
CR Episode 115: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part IV
The panel concludes "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" with an examination of the poem's liminal spaces, an evaluation of Gawain's moral virtue, a discussion on the nature of courage, and questions about the role of community in the act of contrition.Continue reading
Jan 31, 2022 • 1h 35min
CR Episode 114: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part III
The panel reads the third part of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", with particular attention to the juxtaposition of the forest hunting, killing, and skinning/gutting scenes with those of courtly love in the luxurious bedchamber of Sir Gawain.Continue reading
Jan 24, 2022 • 1h 3min
CR Episode 113: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part II
The panel reads the second part of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", and examines the theological significance of the seasons, the detailed military fortifications of Castle Hautdesert, and the appearance of the beautiful Lady Hautdesert.Continue reading
Jan 17, 2022 • 1h 6min
CR Episode 112: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part I
The panel reads the first part of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, providing an overview of the formal aspects of the poem, the history of the manuscript (Cotton Nero A.x), theories about authorship, and analysis of the poem's titular, veridian symbolism.Continue reading
Jan 10, 2022 • 1h 6min
CR Episode 111: Light Verse of Ogden Nash
The panels searches for a smile / And dwells with Ogden Nash a while. / Some lines are light and some are scary / But the formal aspects rather vary. / Most of them rhyme in a manner relaxin', / But the metrics range from good to absen'.Continue reading
Jan 3, 2022 • 59min
CR Episode 110: The Poetry of Langston Hughes
In the first podcast of 2022, the panel reads five poems spanning the entire poetic arc of Langston Hughes, from the famous lines of "I, Too" to the scenes of the "Lincoln Theatre", before ending with the Christmas message of "Shepherd's Song".Continue reading
Dec 27, 2021 • 45min
CR Episode 109: H.M.S. Pinafore
In a special, Christmas episode, the panel reads selections from W. S. Gilbert's libretto to H.M.S. Pinafore, and discusses how they are representative of Gilbert's penchant for comic 'topsy-turvy' plots which include keen-eyed social commentary.Continue reading
