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!
Podcasting since 2022 • 79 episodes
The Classic English Literature Podcast
Latest Episodes
Carpe Diem!: The Cavalier Poets
Today we look at the love children of John Donne and Ben Jonson, a group of monarchist soldiers during the English Civil War. Collectively known as the Cavalier Poets, they are numerous. We'll look at some representative poems today...
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Season 1
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Episode 79
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32:59
"Death the Leveller" by James Shirley
This year's Halloween Subcast episode looks at James Shirley's meditation on Death. I hope you love it!
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Season 1
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Episode 78
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10:27
Cant, Costume, and Cutpurses: Dekker and Middleton's The Roaring Girl
Let's head into the Fortune Theatre for a performance of one of the most innovative and deceptively complex comedies of the English Renaissance. The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse explores the fluidity of social identity by ...
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Season 1
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Episode 77
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34:48
"The test of experience": The Philosophy of Sir Francis Bacon
We'll get a bit philosophical today and look at the English language's greatest influence on the scientific revolution: politician, philosopher, and scientist Sir Francis Bacon. His Essays and "The Four Idols" from ...
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Season 1
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Episode 76
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36:16
Vikings Are A Thing! The Scandinavian Influence on English (Out of Time Episode 1)
This is the first of what I'm calling the "Out of Time" episodes, an embedded series of Subcast shows that fill in gaps I may have missed along the way. Today, we fly our Out-of-Time-Machine all the way back to the 8th-century to see how ...
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Season 1
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Episode 75
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18:43
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