The Classic English Literature Podcast
Where rhyme gets its reason! In a historical survey of English literature, I take a personal and philosophical approach to the major texts of the tradition in order to not only situate the poems, prose, and plays in their own contexts, but also to show their relevance to our own. This show is for the general listener: as a teacher of high school literature and philosophy, I am less than a scholar but more than a buff. I hope to edify and entertain!
Episodes
Well, I probably should have done this episode earlier, since it might have been good for it to precede our other discussions of Resto comedy. But I made a last minute decision and included a second play, which kind of threw off the old chronology. But it's good all the same!
The Man of Mode by George Etherege: https://coldreads.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/the-man-of-mode.pdf
For our second episode on John Dryden, we'll talk about two of his plays which marked an innovation in the tragi-comic romance: Marriage a la Mode and Amphitryon. We'll discuss the "split-plot" play, the exorcising of Restoration political anxieties, and why we sometimes mock that which we cherish.
Additional sound clip from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Text of Marriage a la Mode: https://www....
Once hailed as the towering literary figure of the Restoration age, John Dryden is little known now by the general reader. Let's take care of that with a close look at his most enduring works, the poetical satires Mac Flecknoe and Absalom and Achitophel.
Mac Flecknoe text: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44181/mac-flecknoe
Absalom and Achitophel text: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44172/absalom-and...
Since they wrote in 17th century Massachusetts, poets Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are often overlooked in surveys of English literature. Today, though, we'll bring them back into the fold as we look at how their puritanical religious beliefs engaged with the pastoral and metaphysical poetic traditions that celebrated "Arcadia," that vision of unspoiled Nature.
The Works of Anne Bradstreet:
Charles II reopened the theatres in 1660 and inaugurated the second golden age of the English stage. Today's show looks at one of the bawdiest plays to come from the period, a "comedy of manners" whose clever use of language points to the reality of style over substance.
The Country Wife text: https://theater.lafayette.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/59/2021/03/The-Country-Wife.pdf
Plea...
Today marks the anniversary of one of the most mythologized battles in Anglo-Irish history: the Battle of the Boyne. In July of 1690, King William III soundly defeated James II and secured Ireland's Protestant supremacy while sowing the seeds for centuries of violent conflict. The battle also marks the debut of one of Ireland's most prominent writers, Dr. Jonathan Swift, whose poem "Ode to King Willia...
As Americans celebrate Independence Day, I'm here once again to remind them of the debt American independence owes to English literature and history. Stick in the mud. Today, we look at a genuinely weird poem that allegorizes the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (an event that would lay the groundwork for the American Revolution nearly a century later) as a cup of tea. So, pour yourself one -- milk first or last, d...
In today's chinwag, we'll explore a candidate for the first novel in English by the first professional female writer in English: Oroonoko by Aphra Behn (1688). It's the story of an African prince and his beloved, who are betrayed into slavery and do not live happily ever after. The novel seems a modest heroic romance, but I think Ms. Behn has a more complex project up her sleeve . . . .
Full text of Or...
Today we look at the diary, a form of writing that became extraordinarily popular over the course of the 1600s. We'll especially look at famous diarists such as John Evelyn and Samuel Pepys, who not only chronicle details of their personal lives, but also give first hand accounts of the dramatic history of the period: the Restoration of the Monarchy, the Great Plague, and the Great Fire of London.
I'm back before you even had a chance to miss me!
Today, a bit of a genealogy of a now little read mock epic -- Samuel Butler's Hudibras -- which takes Chaucer and Spenser and Jonson and Cervantes, mixes them all up into a gloopy goo, and sprays it all over lemon-sucking Puritans!
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Put on your comfortable shoes and grab your walking stick because today we're embarking on the most famous allegory in the English language: John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress from 1678. We'll cross plains, endure temptations, descend valleys, fight monsters, and ford rivers in our quest for the Celestial City! Along the way, we'll talk about how this most Puritanical of texts is, ironical...
The political upheavals of 17th century England demanded new answers for old political questions: what is the purpose of government, how is power legitimated, and who may wield it? Philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke reasoned from the same premises, but arrived at rather different conclusions. Balancing those conclusions is the primary task of liberal democracies to this day.
Texts:
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes: h...
We often think of science fiction as a particularly modern genre of storytelling, born of the science and technology of the electronic and digital age. But speculative fiction goes back centuries, back to the beginning of what we now call the Scientific Revolution of the 1600s. On today's show, we look at two of the foundational books in the genre: Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moon and Margaret Cavendis...
Which is better: the life of ascetic contemplation or one of passionate sensuality? Let's see what the last great poet of the Stuart era, Andrew Marvell, has to say about that.
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Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com
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Here's another episode in our foundling series "Out of Time." Today, I correct an oversight from our 15th century literature discussions and survey the very earliest surviving tales of the outlaw and all-around-swell-guy Robin Hood! Let's jump in the Wayback Machine!
Here's a link to the Robin Hood Project at the University of Rochester, where you can find the texts we're discussing toda...
We return to Milton's magnificent octopus today with an eye toward evaluating the epic's success according to its own mission statement: "to justify the ways of God to men." How does Milton approach the great theological problems of evil and suffering, divine foreknowledge, and free will?
Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you ...
Sexy Satan, what have you done? You made a fool of every one!
On this episode we tackle the rather thorny question of Paradise Lost's charismatic protagonist (?) or antagonist (?) or antihero (?): the hottest guy in Hell. Why does an epic on the cosmic history of Christianity, written by a radical Puritan, present us with so commanding and appealing a character?
Additional music: "Gonna Fly Now (Theme ...
In 1638, John Milton -- whom many see as perhaps the (second) greatest poet in English -- produced what many think to be his first major poem: the pastoral elegy "Lycidas," written to memorialize the tragic death of a college classmate. Ah! But it's so much more than that!
Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!
The original "War on Christmas"! This year's stocking stuffer looks at England's Christmas ban from 1647 to 1660 and at a rather quirky pamphlet entitled "The Examination and Trial of Old Father Christmas." Season's greetings, Litterbugs!
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Email: ...
Today we have a slightly different kind of show -- literary analysis takes a bit of a back seat to historical context. We'll look at the turbulent period between 1625 and 1660, when England went to war with itself over the roles of the monarchy and of Parliament. We'll look at primary historical documents as well as a little poetry to get a sense of the state of the nation as it begins its rise to a world ...
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