John Gerard’s natural history of plants, The Herball (1597), is considered a failure in the history of science. Despite this reputation, it has endured as an aesthetic resource. Its illustrations were used as needlework patterns, and strewn across its pages are extracts of classical poetry, including Ovid’s Metamorphoses, that delight and instruct. It is lit ... Show More
Today
David Womersley, "Thinking Through Shakespeare" (Princeton UP, 2026)
In the eighteenth century, Samuel Johnson famously argued that Shakespeare is enduringly popular because he “is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life.” Johnson’s vie ... Show More
1h 1m
Yesterday
The British General Election of 2024: A Conversation with Robert Ford and Paula Surridge
Why and how did Labour win the 2024 election? In The British General Election of 2024 Robert Ford, a Professor of Politics at the University of Manchester, Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary, University of London, Will Jennings, Professor of Politics at the University ... Show More
47m 30s
Apr 25
Tiffany Jo Werth, "The Lithic Imagination from More to Milton" (Oxford UP, 2024)
The Lithic Imagination from More to Milton (Oxford University Press, 2024) by Dr. Tiffany Jo Werth explores how stones, rocks, and the broader mineral realm play a vital role in early modern England's religious and cultural systems, a role that, in turn, informs the period's poet ... Show More
46m 23s
Sep 2023
Episode 170: Printers, Plague and Poets
In this episode, we examine the connection between poetry and plague in the early 1590s. An outbreak of the recurring sickness contributed to Shakespeare’s early career as a poet, and that poetry likely included his many sonnets. We also examine how an old acquaintance from Shake ... Show More
1h 17m
Jan 2025
Andrew Smith, "Class and the Uses of Poetry: Symbolic Enclosures" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)
Sociologists have had surprisingly little to say about poetry as a topic while sometimes also making grandiose claims that sociology is/should be like poetry. These are the prompts which begin Andrew Smith’s Class and the Uses of Poetry: Symbolic Enclosures (2024, Palgrave Macmil ... Show More
1h 9m
Jul 2024
Steven E. Lindquist, "The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya" (SUNY Press, 2024)
In The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya (SUNY Press, 2024), Steven E. Lindquist investigates the intersections between historical context and literary production in the "life" of Yājñavalkya, the most important ancient Indian literary figure prior to the Buddha. Known for his sharp t ... Show More
1h 2m
May 2024
Constantine P. Cavafy — Poems as Teachers | Ep 3
We ask questions to find out the facts, but what if you can’t trust the answers, the questions, or the person who's asking the questions? In Constantine P. Cavafy’s “Waiting for the Barbarians,” translated by Evan Jones, leaders exercise a sinister kind of violence — they’ve take ... Show More
17m 23s
Jun 2024
Beowulf: everything you wanted to know
Beowulf is the most famous Old English epic poem, relating the adventures of the eponymous hero as he battles beasts and dragons in a pre-Viking Scandinavian world. However, it's so much more than just a story of men and monsters, as Heather O'Donoghue reveals in this conversatio ... Show More
39m 27s
Oct 2025
743 Fairy Tales (with Jack Zipes) [RECLAIMED] | Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (#11 GBOAT) | Chaucer News
An early encounter with one of the most famous people in the world initiated Jack Zipes into the world of fairy tales - and he never looked back. In this episode, Jacke talks to the fairy tale expert about his book Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales, which profi ... Show More
1h 2m