Send us a text Sir Thomas More's 1516 book inaugurated a new genre of English literature: the utopian fantasy. But More's own life, combined with the text's irony and narrative layering, make this a more complex prescription than you might think! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, p...
Jun 03, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Send us a text Today we do a quick look at some of the poetry of Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, who is credited with the development of the English sonnet and of blank verse. We'll look at "The Night Piece," "Love that Doth Reign," and “Alas, so all things now do hold their peace." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky...
May 27, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Send us a text Firmly in the Tudor Renaissance now, literati! Today, we'll look at Sir Thomas Wyatt, the first major poet of Henry VIII's court. He brought back the iambic pentameter line and developed the English sonnet. We'll look particularly at "They Flee from Me" and "Whoso List to Hunt." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook...
May 20, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Send us a text As we move our discussions toward 16th century Tudor literature, we look at a key transitional figure: John Skelton. His virtuosic versifying introduces the English Renaissance and we'll hear "To Mistress Margaret Hussey" and take a deep look at "The Book of Phillip Sparrow." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, B...
May 13, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Send us a text To mark the coronation of Charles III, I present to you a 15th century coronation poem written for Henry VI by John Lydgate. God Save the King! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button....
May 06, 2023•10 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Send us a text Let's have a look at perhaps why Chaucer, in his "The Miller's Tale," alludes so often to the incipient mystery plays of the late 14th century. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button....
Apr 30, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Send us a text If, as it's often said, William Shakespeare is the greatest writer in the English -- perhaps, indeed, in any -- language, then where did his most famous genre come from? Today, we look at the very earliest English plays, the birth of English theatre. We will consider "The Second Shepherd's Play," "The York Crucifixion," and "Everyman." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicen...
Apr 22, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Send us a text Sir Thomas Malory's hernia-making masterpiece Le Morte D'Arthur is the subject of part 4 of our sporadic mini-series The Matter of Arthur. Because it's such a massive work, and because its versions of the Arthur legends are the most well-known, this episode will largely focus on Malory's deft use of the Lancelot and Guinevere love affair as necessary for his romantico-tragic vision. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or ...
Apr 15, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Send us a text Here's a nice little egg in your Easter basket! I look at William Dunbar's Easter hymn "Done is the Battle" from around the year 1500. I hope you enjoy the show, and I hope your Easter, Passover, Ramadan, and spring rites are happy and blessed! Cheers! Additional Music: Consort for Brass by Kevin MacLeod Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow...
Apr 09, 2023•13 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Send us a text Today on the Subcast there's a brief explainer on the Great Vowel Shift, the most significant change in English since the Norman Invasion. We're beginning to move into Modern English! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donati...
Apr 01, 2023•11 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Send us a text Today we look at the literature of female mysticism in the English 14th and 15th centuries, particularly the landmark texts Dame Julian of Norwich's Book of Showings and Margery Kempe's The Book of Margery Kempe , which are not only profound religious statements but the earliest voices of women in the English language. Special thanks to Jessica Orluck for her advice and assistance! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or w...
Mar 25, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Send us a text A Subcast episode looking at four of the most influential philosophers working in England during the Middle Ages: Anselm of Canterbury, Roger Bacon, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small ...
Mar 19, 2023•20 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Send us a text Today we take a look at John Gower, who was once considered the "Father of English Poetry," but who is now largely unknown outside English departments. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show"...
Mar 11, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Send us a text A CEL Subcast episode! Today we look at a comic poem from the first half of the 15th century: "The Tournament of Tottenham." But who's the joke on? On Hold Music: "Lounge" by Serge Quadrado Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small ...
Mar 05, 2023•12 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Send us a text A Subcast episode! Let's read two Old English poems that treat the female experience in Anglo-Saxon England: "Wulf and Eadwacer" and "The Wife's Lament" -- the only surviving OE poems written in a woman's voice! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider suppo...
Feb 26, 2023•13 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Send us a text What do peasants, poets, and priests write about when a toxic slurry of starvation, deprivation, and taxation spill over into the largest popular insurrection in English history? Find out as we look at the literature surrounding the Great Rising of 1381. With regards to Contemptua X. Smugly. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instag...
Feb 23, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Send us a text Today we look at Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , an anonymous narrative poem from the late 14th century Midlands. The Gawain Poet is a gifted technician and craftsman as well as storyteller whose technique interlaces disparate strands into an elegant pattern -- imagine a Celtic knot, the monastic Gospel illuminations, or the intricate metalwork of Saxon artisans, and you have the visual equivalent of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , the greatest English Arthurian romance! Suppo...
Feb 11, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Send us a text Have you ever wondered if Chaucer's satirical broadsides against the Church could get him into trouble? Well, seems he may have thought so . . . . or maybe not. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support ...
Jan 28, 2023•10 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Send us a text Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, is perhaps the most psychologically complex character in all of medieval English literature. Bawdy, rebellious, haughty, and rambunctious, the Wife smashes the patriarchy . . . or does she? Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider ...
Jan 23, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Send us a text WARNING: Contains strong language. In this Subcast minisode, I look at what would have been considered foul language in the Middle Ages. If you are of a sensitive disposition or a delicate constitution, if you are prone to the vapors or simply upright in your rectitude, might I suggest that you listen to this episode with your fingers plugged firmly into your ears? It may be helpful to also hum a happy tune. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, S...
Jan 14, 2023•10 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Send us a text On our second episode for Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales , we take a deep look at a character that scholars have called "pre-Shakespearean" in his psychological roundness and complexity: The Pardoner. Additional music: Timbre Milton Intro Remix Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjo...
Jan 08, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Send us a text A little stocking stuffer of a bonus episode: a couple of Middle English poems taking a look at Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the Nativity. Happy happy joy joy! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support ...
Dec 25, 2022•7 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Send us a text April showers bring May flowers, and May flowers bring pilgrims. No, not those stern po-faced separatists in New England, but a merry fellowship in old England! We come today to Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales , the monument of medieval English literature. In this episode, we'll focus on the "General Prologue" to the tales: its satirical project, its narrative structure, and a couple of its characters. Additional music: "Village Theme" by Gesornoud; "Consort for Brass" by ...
Dec 23, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Send us a text For us moderns, dreams are personal and interior, bubbling up from the deep chasms of experience, neurochemistry, and cultural symbolism. But for the medievals, dreams were exterior: penetrative, intrusive -- they came from the outside, from beyond. They perhaps were messages from God Himself. On today's episode, we look at two poems about dream visions: the Old English "Dream of the Rood" and (a quick tour of) William Langland's Middle English "The Vision of Piers Plowman." Suppo...
Dec 08, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Send us a text Nicholas of Guildford's "The Owl and the Nightingale" is one of the earliest examples of "verse contest" poetry in English. But don't expect nuance from these disputants! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the...
Nov 19, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Send us a text Perhaps the first great Arthurian romance to be written in England, Marie de France's "The Lay of Sir Lanval" is full of love, lies, secrets, and betrayals. With a bit of faery thrown in. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small do...
Nov 05, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Send us a text Today we start our discussion of what has been called "The Matter of Britain": the tales of King Arthur and his knights. This episode focuses on the earliest writings about Arthur in English: Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain and Layamon's Brut . Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel perf. Advent Chamber Orchestra "Running Fanfare" by Kevin Macleod Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you lis...
Oct 23, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Send us a text This episode is a brief overview of the changes to English language and literature wrought by the Norman Conquest in 1066. Interstitial Correction: She Who Must Be Obeyed Music: "Rejoice" (GF Handel) perf. Advent Chamber Orchestra; "Medieval Flute" (Carlos Carty) Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: [email protected] Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and Y...
Sep 29, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Send us a text In this short Subcast episode, I wish to engage your help! The Anglo-Saxons loved riddles and nearly a hundred survive. Here are four. I'd love to hear your answers! Often I war with waves, battle the winds, strive against both at once, meaning to find the ground wave-covered. Home is estranged from me— I am strong of struggle, if stilled. If I fail, they are stronger than me, and, tearing me, immediately rout, wishing to whisk away what I must ward. I may withstand them, if my ta...
Sep 09, 2022•12 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Send us a text They say that not all those who wander are lost. Well, two of the most famous poems of the Anglo-Saxon era are about wandering and seeking. We'll discuss "The Wanderer" and "The Seafarer" from the Exeter Book , which not only take us into the minds of the seekers, but also show us evidence of the tremendous changes afoot as England begins to embrace the Christian religion. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever y...
Aug 26, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 5
