Explore every episode of the podcast Critical Readings

The panel addresses reader questions and discusses chapters 19–25 of The Ill-Made Knight, with an examination of Lancelot's pitiable condition and an investigation into its causes, whether due to internal contradiction, or because of external pressures.Continue reading

The panel discusses chapters 9–18 of The Ill-Made Knight, with special attention given to the development of Lancelot's relationships with the wily Elaine and the imperious Guenever, particularly in the savage denouement that leads to Lancelot's madness.Continue reading

The panel discusses chapters 1–8 of The Ill-Made Knight, with special attention given to the characterisation and Freudian psychology of Lancelot, contrasting humility with narcissism, and examining the beginning of his relationship with Guenever.Continue reading

The panel reads the second half of The Queen of Air and Darkness, giving special consideration to Arthur's vision of the Round Table and total war, the need for Might to support Right against wickedness, the Aristotelian (or not) nature of the tragedy.Continue reading

The panel discusses the first half of The Queen of Air and Darkness (also known as The Witch in the Wood), with particular attention both to the Freudian characterisation of Morgause and her children, and to Merlyn's 'just war' political philosophy.Continue reading

The panel discusses the concluding chapters (20–24) of The Sword in the Stone, with special attention to Arthur's martial inclinations (and what they mean for a broader society), Kay's personal failings (and fundamental goodness), and Merlin's robes.Continue reading

The panel discusses chapters 14–19 of The Sword in the Stone, with special attention to White's romanticised depiction of feudalism and the historical setting of the action, and with a comparison of the pacifistic views of the geese vs. the warlike ants.Continue reading

The panel reads chapters 8–13 of The Sword in the Stone, with a focus on the precise nature of Merlin's magic and the 'transformations' experienced by the Wart (but not by Kay), and a detailed examination of the episode of the Ants and their collectivism.Continue reading

The panel reads the first seven chapters of The Sword in the Stone, with attention given to the modern and medieval aspects of the setting, White's own narratorial voice, the differing metaphors and parallels of characterisation, and the original sources.Continue reading

The panel reads three poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson—"Uriel", "Ode Inscribed to William H. Channing", and "The Snow Storm"—with special attention to the role of the poet-philosopher's transcendentalist, romanticist, and abolitionist views in the poems.Continue reading

The panel discusses the concluding act and scene of the play, with special attention to the linguistic wordplay and the Shakespearean critique of players, audiences, and critics alike in the both the play-within-a-play device and in Puck's epilogue.Continue reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The panel discusses the fourth act, with attention to the self-serving plan of Friar Laurence, who imperils the two lovers by avoiding more rational courses of action in favour of one which helps him avoid scrutiny for his role in their relationship.Continue reading

The panel discusses the third act—the 'beginning of woe'—when the drama shifts decidedly from comedy to tragedy with the departure of Mercutio and Juliet's nurse from the action, and with both Romeo and Juliet considering death rather than separation.Continue reading

The panel discusses the second act, including the secret marriage plans facilitated by Friar Laurence, with attention given to the impetuous behaviour of Romeo and Juliet, and the dangerously enabling conduct of those around them, Mercutio excepted.Continue reading

The panel discusses the genre classification of Romeo and Juliet before moving on to an examination of the poem's first act, with special attention given to the love-violence parallels, characterisation of the feuding families, and bawdy use of puns.Continue reading

The panel concludes The Dunciad with a full reading of the standalone text that became the fourth book of the 1743 edition, before examining Pope's position within the canon of early modern literature and examining his critical appraisal of his culture.Continue reading

The panel reads the third book of the 1743 Dunciad, in which the poem swells to its crescendo, heaping scorn upon the agents of Dullness and the rampant spirits of ignorance and commercialism that threaten the survival of the arts from opera to poetry.Continue reading

The panel discusses the second book of Alexander Pope's final Dunciad (of 1743), with attention to the historical personages who are satirised, including Flecknoe and Blackmore, and the effects that they had on later poets and on the English stage.Continue reading

The panel reads in full the first book of Pope's final version of The Dunciad, giving special attention to the various cultural references and personal depictions in the poem, along with a look at the parodic critical footnotes provided by the author.Continue reading

Celebrating Halloween, the panel discusses one of Washington Irving's best-known works—The Legend of Sleepy Hollow—with special attention to the role of characterisation, historical detail, and descriptive imagery in a near contemporary to Jane Austen.Continue reading

The panel discusses the concluding chapters and a series of insightful reader questions about the influence of Austen's religion, the role of romance in her novels, and her development of realistic, compelling characters with flaws and areas of growth.Continue reading

The panel discusses chapters 35–49, with special attention to the rational development of Elizabeth's appreciation of Mr. Darcy, and to Jane Austen's reformist, but not revolutionary, attitude to the social mores and expectations of Regency-era England.Continue reading

The panel discusses chapters 18–34, with topics of interest including Mr. Darcy's concealed gallantry, whether Mr. Collins has any goodly qualities, Elizabeth's sensible regard for her family's reputation, and her internally conflicted personal values.Continue reading

The panel reads chapters 1–17 of Pride and Prejudice, with special attention to the developing form of the novel in the Regency era, the biographical connexions between Austen's life and her novels, and the initially peripheral nature of the protagonists.Continue reading

The panel discusses five poems by E.A. Robinson, with discussion centring on their use of the gothic, their shared imagery of death and hell (and their response), and particularly their formal qualities seen across three villanelles and two sonnets.Continue reading

The panel discusses four poems from Edwin Muir's collection The Narrow Place (1943), with a focus on their formal features, their connexion to a version of Nietzsche's philosophy, and their opposed characterisation of the civilised and natural worlds.Continue reading

The panel discusses two of the earliest examples of English poetry—Caedmon's Hymn and The Dream of the Rood (sometimes attributed to Cynewulf)—with a discussion of translation theory, Saxon influence, and the development of English poetry and language.Continue reading

The panel discusses the concluding three cantos, with attention to Pope's heroi-comic satire of epic in both content and form, and his use of references to his own involvement in the real-life events enacted by the poem's fictional protagonists.Continue reading

The panel discusses the first two cantos of Alexander Pope's heroi-comical peacemaker poem, with special attention to its use of foreshadowing, the style and tenor of its dialogue, and its allegedly Rosicrucian spiritology (and its textual origins).Continue reading

The panel is joined by the novelist H.S. Cross to discuss three poems that have been famously set to music: "The Lark Ascending" by George Meredith, "Most Glorious Lord of Life" by Edmund Spenser, and "Three Songs for St. Cecilia's Day" by W.H. Auden.Continue reading