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
Nov 16, 2020 • 40min
CR Episode 58: Religious Poetry of George Herbert
The panel examines the poetical works of George Herbert, discussing the Christian theological implications found in the language of three of his lyric poems, each of which is composed on a religious topic: "Prayer (2)", "Divinity", and "Love (3)".Continue reading
Oct 26, 2020 • 59min
CR Episode 57: Cigars and Seaweed of James Russell Lowell
The panel examines selected verse of American fire-side poet James Russell Lowell, with a brief survey including some light verse on cigars and seasons, and some more serious writing on nautical themes featuring sirens, seaweed, and ocean-side lyres.Continue reading
Oct 19, 2020 • 55min
CR Episode 56: An Introduction to Robert Lowell
The panel reviews the biography of, and some selected works by, the twentieth-century poet Robert Lowell, including his "Falling Asleep over the Aeneid", "Memories of West Street and Lepke", and "Four Spanish Sonnets", with special attention to form.Continue reading
Oct 5, 2020 • 55min
CR Episode 55: Wallace Stevens’ Harmonium
The panel reviews five poems selected from Wallace Stevens' debut collection, Harmonium, and considers the role of Stevens within the larger context of the poetic development of the Romantic movement into its fulfilment with the advent of Modernism.Continue reading
Sep 28, 2020 • 53min
CR Episode 54: Pope’s Translation of The Iliad
The panel reads Book I of Alexander Pope's translation of The Iliad, discusses Pope's approach contextually, compares that approach to the modern translations of Fitzgerald and Fagles (amongst others), and considers theoretical commentary on translations.Continue reading
Sep 21, 2020 • 1h 9min
CR Episode 53: Masefield’s Midsummer Night
The panel examines the biography of John Masefield before reading and examining excerpts from his Arthurian cycle, Midsummer Night, with special attention on the unique aspects of Masefield's recasting of traditional Arthurian mythological elements.Continue reading
Sep 14, 2020 • 54min
CR Episode 52: The Faerie Queene, Mutabilitie Cantos
The panel reviews the epilogue-like Mutabilitie Cantos of the Faerie Queene, reviewing scholarly opinion about their place in the whole poem, and considering the interrelations of the Greco-Roman pantheon to Nature, Time, and the Judeo-Christian God.Continue reading
Sep 7, 2020 • 1h 10min
CR Episode 51: The Faerie Queene, Book VI, Cantos 7-12
The panel reviews the second half of Spenser's book of courtesy, with attention given to the scholarly view of C. S. Lewis, Northrop Frye, and others, that Courtesy represents the central portion of the poem and that it is the essential Spenserian virtue.,Continue reading
Aug 31, 2020 • 54min
CR Episode 50: The Faerie Queene, Book VI, Cantos 1-6
The panel examines the first half of Spenser's book of courtesy, reading its depictions in the light of the historical development of chevalrie/chivalry and courtoise/courtesy, and comparing its depiction of characters to those found in other Arthuriana.Continue reading
Aug 17, 2020 • 1h 12min
CR Episode 49: The Faerie Queene, Book V, Cantos 7-12
The panel examines historical criticism of Book V, with particular attention to the mid-twentieth-century development of a moral-allegorical reading in contrast to the earlier historical reading, and considers how the two might best be combined.Continue reading
