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PODCAST

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.

arts literature

All Episodes

53:23

CR Episode 322: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act IV

Critical Readings ·

2026/05/11

The panel discusses the resolution of the love quadrangle, as Puck puts right the enchantments in order to bring Oberon's original plan to fruition, before turning to consider Titania's relationship to her husband in the wake of her own enchantment.Continue reading

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70:01

CR Episode 321: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III

Critical Readings ·

2026/05/04

The panel discusses the deployment of additional fairy magic, with the transformation of Bottom and the confounding of Helena, and the confusion that results when both Bottom and Helena misbelieve that they are subject of their friends' pranks.Continue reading

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60:54

CR Episode 320: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II

Critical Readings ·

2026/04/27

The panel discusses the second act and the moment in the play when the plans of the characters begin to go astray due to mischance, with special attention to the tension between Titania and Oberon, and the expanding geographical knowledge of the time.Continue reading

en-GB

52:25

CR Episode 319: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I

Critical Readings ·

2026/04/20

The panel discusses the setting and form of the play, before discussing the first act and its complicated love quadrangle, with attention given to love and the threat of violence, and the characters' creation of overlapping plans that threaten to collide.Continue reading

en-GB

63:36

CR Episode 318: Paradise Regained, Book IV

Critical Readings ·

2026/04/13

The panel discusThe panel discusses the end of the second temptation, with Satan's exasperation and the exhaustion of his intellect, followed by his less cunning and crafty final temptation, set high atop the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, whence he falls anew.Continue reading

en-GB

60:08

CR Episode 317: Paradise Regained, Book III

Critical Readings ·

2026/04/06

The panel discusses the continuation of the second temptation in the desert, with Satan's various presentations of worldly power, and the explication that acceptance of any of his 'gifts' is tantamount to acknowledging his sovereignty over the recipient.Continue reading

en-GB

56:34

CR Episode 316: Paradise Regained, Book II

Critical Readings ·

2026/03/30

The panel discusses the second book, with special attention to the newest appearance of Satan, his confusion, and the difference between his first temptation (bread) and this second temptation (a feast), before shifting to his offer of worldly powers.Continue reading

en-GB

68:32

CR Episode 315: Paradise Regained, Book I

Critical Readings ·

2026/03/23

The panel discusses the first book of Paradise Regained, the sequel (or continuation) of Paradise Lost, with special attention paid to the particular qualities of the first temptation in the desert, and to the poet's references to the earlier poem.Continue reading

en-GB

69:42

CR Episode 314: W.H. Auden and Mediaevalism

Critical Readings ·

2026/03/16

The panel is joined by a special guest, the poet and author Aaron Poochigian, to discuss three medievally-inflected poems by Auden: "Lady Weeping at the Crossroads", "Ode to the Medieval Poets", and the 'Bombing Run' excerpt from "The Age of Anxiety."Continue reading

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73:01

CR Episode 313: Sense and Sensibility, Part IV

Critical Readings ·

2026/03/09

The panel discusses the closing chapters of the novel, with special attention to the quasi-reformation of Willoughby's character, the depths of villainy attained by Lucy Steele, the triumph of Col. Brandon, and Elinor's emotional displays: grief and joy.Continue reading

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81:14

CR Episode 312: Sense and Sensibility, Part III

Critical Readings ·

2026/03/02

The panel discusses chapters 30–39, with the unveiling of secrets including Edward and Lucy's engagement, and Colonel Brandon's connexion to Willoughby, and featuring a discussion of Colonel Brandon's good character and Willoughby's extravagant villainy.Continue reading

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74:50

CR Episode 311: Sense and Sensibility, Part II

Critical Readings ·

2026/02/23

The panel discusses chapters 18–29, with a omparison of the relationship of Elinore and Edward versus that of Marianne and Willoughby, a discussion of the role of leisure or industry in happiness, and a consideration of the failures of civility on show.Continue reading

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70:36

CR Episode 310: Sense and Sensibility, Part I

Critical Readings ·

2026/02/16

The panel discusses the first seventeen chapters of Sense and Sensibility, with special attention given to contemporary inheritance law, the character faults of the Dashwoods, and the opposition between Elinore's 'sense' and her family's 'sensibility'.Continue reading

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76:41

CR Episode 309: The Vanity of Human Wishes

Critical Readings ·

2026/02/09

The panel discusses Dr. Johnson's imitation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, with its message of caution about advanced age and the temptations of academic life, with special attention given to the difference lying between imitation and translation.Continue reading

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91:18

CR Episode 308: The Hobbit, Part V

Critical Readings ·

2026/02/02

The panel discusses the closing chapters—the battles against Smaug and between the five armies, and the journey home—with special attention to the influence of great wealth, the difference between leaders amongst the Lake-men, and Bilbo's significance.Continue reading

en-GB

94:35

CR Episode 307: The Hobbit, Part IV

Critical Readings ·

2026/01/26

The panel discusses the party's arrival in and departure from Lake-Town, and their arrival at and infiltration of the Lonely Mountain, with special attention to the contrast between rationalism and romanticism, particularly in the Master of Lake-Town.Continue reading

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77:18

CR Episode 306: The Hobbit, Part III

Critical Readings ·

2026/01/19

The panel reads chapters 8 and 9, with special attention to the episodic structure of the narrative, the maturation of Bilbo and his rising stature amongst the dwarves, the role of hunger and darkness in creating tension, and the timeframe of events.Continue reading

en-GB

82:18

CR Episode 305: The Hobbit, Part II

Critical Readings ·

2026/01/12

The panel discusses chapters 5–7, with examination of Tolkien's sources and the chronology of its composition, discussion about the different phases of the story's development, and a conversation about the chapter structure and roles of different races.Continue reading

en-GB

85:53

CR Episode 304: The Hobbit, Part I

Critical Readings ·

2026/01/05

The panel discusses the first four chapters of The Hobbit with special attention to the development of the story as a text, its features connecting it to the genres of fairy tales and bedtime stories, and its careful use of narrative foreshadowing.Continue reading

en-GB

80:19

CR Episode 303: Romeo and Juliet, Part V

Critical Readings ·

2025/12/29

The panel closes out Romeo and Juliet, and the year 2025, with a discussion of Friar Laurence's cowardly culpability, Romeo's impassioned importunity, Juliet's happy dagger, Paris' finest hour, and Shakespeare's interest in people of all walks of life.Continue reading

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342 results

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