x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

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

62:37

CR Episode 105: The Poetic Arc of Ted Hughes

Critical Readings ·

2021/11/29

The panel reads a selection of poems by Ted Hughes compassing the scope of his poetic oeuvre, from the early and animalistic imagery of "The Jaguar" to the modernist scenes of "Here Is the Cathedral", before concluding with the confessional "Last Letter".Continue reading

en-GB

58:32

CR Episode 104: Form and Detail in the Poetry of...

Critical Readings ·

2021/11/22

The panel reads four poems by Richard Wilbur, "Love Calls Us to the Things of This World", "A Baroque Wall-Fountain in the Villa Sciarra", "Mind", and "Year's End", particularly examining the intricacy of their details and their formal attributes.Continue reading

en-GB

76:31

CR Episode 103: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Songs of Travel

Critical Readings ·

2021/11/15

The panel traces themes of wanderlust, resignation, wistfulness, lonliness, and fatalism in six poems excerpted from Stevenson's Songs of Travel, including "The Vagabond", "Bright Is the Ring of Words," "Whither Must I Wander", and "The Woodman".Continue reading

en-GB

60:49

CR Episode 102: Thomas Wyatt in the Tudor Court

Critical Readings ·

2021/11/08

The panel reads four poems by the Tudor poet and courtier Thomas Wyatt, whose misfortunes in the Henrician court (not least of all two imprisonments) are traced in sonnets and other verse including "Whoso List to Hunt" and "Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides".Continue reading

en-GB

77:34

CR Episode 101: Sylvia Plath

Critical Readings ·

2021/11/01

The panel reads three poems by Sylvia Plath, "Tulips", "Lady Lazarus", and "Daddy", tracing in them themes of self-annihilation, and analysing references to her depression and to the conflicted relationships she had with her father and husband.Continue reading

en-GB

60:18

CR Episode 100: Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Critical Readings ·

2021/10/25

The panel reads a selection of sonnets by William Shakespeare, and considers their Symposium-like comparisons and contrasts of the different kinds and representations of love, in terms ranging from eloquent to earthy, and from concrete to abstract.Continue reading

en-GB

67:01

CR Episode 99: Hero and Leander

Critical Readings ·

2021/10/18

The panel reads Christopher Marlowe's most famous poem, Hero and Leander, discussing its rich and provocative imagery, classical allusions, and levels of metaphor, and addressing the scholarly opinion of the apparently unfinished state of the work.Continue reading

en-GB

79:07

CR Episode 98: The Defence of Guenevere

Critical Readings ·

2021/10/11

The panel reads a single, long poem--"The Defence of Guenevere"--by the Victorian artisan, translator, novelist, and poet William Morris, giving special attention how Guenevere uses and mis-uses evidence and emotion in order to support her case.Continue reading

en-GB

63:12

CR Episode 97: Elizabeth Barrett Browning on Love and...

Critical Readings ·

2021/10/04

The panel reads four poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, including three sonnets, and discusses the excellence of her formal expertise and poetic style, particularly in contrast to less favourable mid-20th century critical responses to her body of work.Continue reading

en-GB

76:15

CR Episode 96: Robert Browning’s Dramatic Verse

Critical Readings ·

2021/09/27

The panel reads three poems of the greatly esteemed Victorian poet, Robert Browning, including "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's", "Andrea del Sarto", and "Love among the Ruins", giving especial attention to the dramatic features of his works.Continue reading

en-GB

71:04

CR Episode 95: Frank O’Hara and Modernism

Critical Readings ·

2021/09/20

The panel reads three poems by mid-twentieth century American poet, Frank O'Hara, and examines his connexions to other forms of artistic modernism and post-modernism, including not only prose poetry, but abstract expressionism, cubism, and Dadaism.Continue reading

en-GB

66:51

CR Episode 94: The Macabre Verse of Edward Gorey

Critical Readings ·

2021/09/13

The panel follows the work of Poe and Lear to the macabre and surreal art of Edward Gorey, looking at four of his early, and most famous, works including The Gashlycrumb Tinies (an abecedarium), The Evil Garden, The Insect God, and The Doubtful Guest.Continue reading

en-GB

66:17

CR Episode 93: Edward Lear’s Complete Nonsense

Critical Readings ·

2021/08/30

How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!Who has written such volumes of stuff! Some think him ill-tempered and queer, But a few think him pleasant enough.Continue reading

en-GB

63:05

CR Episode 92: The Gothic Romanticism of Edgar Allan Poe

Critical Readings ·

2021/08/23

The panel reads a selection of Poe's most significant verse, including "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee", and considers not only how Poe's use of Gothic and Romantic themes shapes the content and form of his poems, but also surprising mediæval connexions.Continue reading

en-GB

66:52

CR Episode 91: Complexity in Geoffrey Hill

Critical Readings ·

2021/08/16

The panel reads a small selection of poems by Geoffrey Hill, with a focus on his use of paradoxical language, complex metaphors, and highly imagistic description--and, contrasts Hill's work with that of the mid-20th century poet, Philip Larkin.Continue reading

en-GB

54:19

CR Episode 90: Canterbury Tales XII – The Parson’s...

Critical Readings ·

2021/08/09

The panel concludes its summer reading of The Canterbury Tales with a look at penitence, sin, and freedom in The Parson's Tale, and then considers whether Chaucer's Retraction (Boece excluded!) is an appropriate end to the Tales and to Chaucer's oeuvre.Continue reading

en-GB

47:01

CR Episode 89: Canterbury Tales XI – The Second...

Critical Readings ·

2021/08/02

In the penultimate episode covering the Canterbury Tales, the panel discusses the potential links between Fragments VIII and IX, the morals of the tales included in them, particularly Cecilia's active piety and the Manciple's reserved discretion.Continue reading

en-GB

79:52

CR Episode 88: Canterbury Tales X – The Monk’s and...

Critical Readings ·

2021/07/26

The panel discusses the final two tales in Fragment VII: the tragic vignettes of unfortunate individuals described in The Monk's Tale, and the jolly (and much beloved) fable of the rooster Chanticleer and the wily Fox in the Nun's Priest's Tale.Continue reading

en-GB

78:18

CR Episode 87: Canterbury Tales IX – The Shipman’s,...

Critical Readings ·

2021/07/19

The panel considers vice in the Shipman's tale and piety in the Prioress' tale, before moving on to examine Chaucer's humble self-depiction in his rollicking minstrel song, The Tale of Sir Thopas, and in his dialogue on Prudence, The Tale of Melibee.Continue reading

en-GB

77:31

CR Episode 86: Canterbury Tales VIII – The...

Critical Readings ·

2021/07/12

The panel looks at the honor-before-death connexion between Fragment V and Fragment VI as exemplified by Virginia in the Physician's Tale, and then considers the multiple levels of moral instruction on offer in the boldly hypocritical Pardoner's Tale.Continue reading

en-GB

305 results

Similar Podcasts

Start The Breakthrough Full Audiobook Now, Thriller Fans!

thebookvoice.com

Get Hooked On The Life-Enhancing Full Audiobook Experience!

thebookvoice.com

西四五条

主播郑捕头

Podcast Patapoe

0d0a

On Mic Podcast

Jordan Rich