The Classic English Literature Podcast (M. G. McDonough)

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	Pub. Date	Title	Duration
	25 Jul 2022	Hello and Welcome!	00:12:16
Send us a text This introductory episode outlines my vision for a podcast that takes a historical perspective on English literature to show how it can give meaning to our everyday lives! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	29 Jul 2022	The Coming of the Anglo-Saxons	00:30:07
Send us a text In this episode, we get a little history about how Germanic peoples from northern Europe came to settle what is now Britain over 1500 years ago. One of these tribes, the Angles, gave their name to this land (Anglelonde = England) and to the language (Anglisch = English). We'll meet the first English historian, the first English poet, and we'll learn about some of the main characteristics of Old English language and poetry! Music: "Rejoice" performed by The Advent Chamber Orchestra; "Dies Irae" by Dee-Yan-Key; "Sunday Morning in the Great Hall" by Fool Boy Media Interstitial Announcement: She Who Must Be Obeyed Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	04 Aug 2022	Why Think About Literature?	00:13:51
Send us a text Our first Subcast episode! I know it seems early, but I thought it important to put this out there as soon as possible: sort of justify the podcast's existence. . . . Students often ask me: "Why do we have to learn this stuff?" It's a fair question. To many, it seems useless: reading novels and poetry won't help you be a better engineer or physician's assistant, won't keep you fit -- in fact, one can lead a beautiful life and never have read a sonnet. So why study it? Oscar Wilde said that a "work of art is useless as a flower is useless." I love that: something may be useless without being worthless. This episode is my reply to students who look for a connection between literature and life. Music: "Rejoice" (G.F. Handel) perf. Advent Chamber Orchestra Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	12 Aug 2022	Wherefore Beowulf?	00:32:56
Send us a text In this episode, we talk about the first major text in English: the epic Beowulf. In addition to summarizing the tale, we'll also ask why a Christian monk would feel the need to preserve an oral pagan legend by transcribing it: why does Beowulf even exist? Music: "Rejoice" (G.F. Handel) perf. Advent Chamber Orchestra, "Dies Irae" perf. Dee Yan Key; "Mournful Violin" perf. Cottager Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	26 Aug 2022	Those Who Wander: The Anglo-Saxon Elegies	00:42:59
Send us a text They say that not all those who wander are lost. Well, two of the most famous poems of the Anglo-Saxon era are about wandering and seeking. We'll discuss "The Wanderer" and "The Seafarer" from the Exeter Book, which not only take us into the minds of the seekers, but also show us evidence of the tremendous changes afoot as England begins to embrace the Christian religion. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	09 Sep 2022	Black and White and Read All Over: The Exeter Book Riddles	00:11:43
Send us a text In this short Subcast episode, I wish to engage your help! The Anglo-Saxons loved riddles and nearly a hundred survive. Here are four. I'd love to hear your answers! Often I war with waves, battle the winds, strive against both at once, meaning to find the ground wave-covered. Home is estranged from me— I am strong of struggle, if stilled. If I fail, they are stronger than me, and, tearing me, immediately rout, wishing to whisk away what I must ward. I may withstand them, if my tail is tough and the stones allow me to hold fast against unrelenting force. Ask what I am called. __________________________________________________________ A moth ate words. It seemed to me a strange occasion, when I inquired about that wonder, that the worm swallowed the riddle of certain men, a thief in the darkness, the glorious pronouncement and its strong foundation. The stealing guest was not one whit the wiser, for all those words he swallowed. ____________________________________________________________ I saw four wondrous creatures travelling together; dark were their tracks, their footprints very black. Swift was their journey, faster than birds, flying through the breeze, diving under the waves. Restless it wrought, a struggling warrior who points out their ways over decorated gold, all four of them. __________________________________________________________ I am a wonderful thing, a pleasure to women, useful to the neighbors— I am harmless to the villagers, except to my slayer alone. My shaft is lofty, I stand over the bed, shaggy below someplace or other. Sometimes a churl’s daughter, proud-minded woman, quite sexy, dares to grapple me, molesting me by the redness, ravishing my head, affixing me in her fastness. She feels my forcing right away, she who approaches me, a woman with braided locks. Her eye will be wet— ____________________________________________________________ Music: "Rejoice" (G.F. Handel) perf. Advent Chamber Orchestra Text: Muir, Bernard James, ed. The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry, 1994. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	29 Sep 2022	1066 and All That: Anglo-Norman English	00:23:15
Send us a text This episode is a brief overview of the changes to English language and literature wrought by the Norman Conquest in 1066. Interstitial Correction: She Who Must Be Obeyed Music: "Rejoice" (GF Handel) perf. Advent Chamber Orchestra; "Medieval Flute" (Carlos Carty) Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	23 Oct 2022	The King Arthur of Pseudo-History (The Matter of Arthur, Part 1)	00:36:50
Send us a text Today we start our discussion of what has been called "The Matter of Britain": the tales of King Arthur and his knights. This episode focuses on the earliest writings about Arthur in English: Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain and Layamon's Brut. Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel perf. Advent Chamber Orchestra "Running Fanfare" by Kevin Macleod Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	05 Nov 2022	"Wise, Worthy, and Belle": Marie de France's "Lanval" (The Matter of Arthur, Part 2)	00:26:00
Send us a text Perhaps the first great Arthurian romance to be written in England, Marie de France's "The Lay of Sir Lanval" is full of love, lies, secrets, and betrayals. With a bit of faery thrown in. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	19 Nov 2022	Avian Agitation: "The Owl and the Nightingale"	00:25:29
Send us a text Nicholas of Guildford's "The Owl and the Nightingale" is one of the earliest examples of "verse contest" poetry in English. But don't expect nuance from these disputants! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	08 Dec 2022	Encountering the Divine: Medieval Dream Vision Poetry	00:30:50
Send us a text For us moderns, dreams are personal and interior, bubbling up from the deep chasms of experience, neurochemistry, and cultural symbolism. But for the medievals, dreams were exterior: penetrative, intrusive -- they came from the outside, from beyond. They perhaps were messages from God Himself. On today's episode, we look at two poems about dream visions: the Old English "Dream of the Rood" and (a quick tour of) William Langland's Middle English "The Vision of Piers Plowman." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	23 Dec 2022	"Pilgrims were they all": Chaucer's "General Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales (The Canterbury Tales Part 1)	00:26:02
Send us a text April showers bring May flowers, and May flowers bring pilgrims. No, not those stern po-faced separatists in New England, but a merry fellowship in old England! We come today to Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the monument of medieval English literature. In this episode, we'll focus on the "General Prologue" to the tales: its satirical project, its narrative structure, and a couple of its characters. Additional music: "Village Theme" by Gesornoud; "Consort for Brass" by Kevin Macleod; "Medieval Flute" by Carlos Carty Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	25 Dec 2022	Mary's Christmas!	00:07:25
Send us a text A little stocking stuffer of a bonus episode: a couple of Middle English poems taking a look at Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the Nativity. Happy happy joy joy! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	08 Jan 2023	"A Wholly Vicious Man": Chaucer's Pardoner (The Canterbury Tales Part 2)	00:31:11
Send us a text On our second episode for Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, we take a deep look at a character that scholars have called "pre-Shakespearean" in his psychological roundness and complexity: The Pardoner. Additional music: Timbre Milton Intro Remix Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	14 Jan 2023	Going Blackberrying: Swearing in "The Pardoner's Tale" (The Canterbury Tales Part 2.5)	00:09:43
Send us a text WARNING: Contains strong language. In this Subcast minisode, I look at what would have been considered foul language in the Middle Ages. If you are of a sensitive disposition or a delicate constitution, if you are prone to the vapors or simply upright in your rectitude, might I suggest that you listen to this episode with your fingers plugged firmly into your ears? It may be helpful to also hum a happy tune. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	23 Jan 2023	"Beaten for a Book": Chaucer's Wife of Bath (The Canterbury Tales Part 3)	00:33:08
Send us a text Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, is perhaps the most psychologically complex character in all of medieval English literature. Bawdy, rebellious, haughty, and rambunctious, the Wife smashes the patriarchy . . . or does she? Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	28 Jan 2023	"Noble Preaching": The Wife, The Lollards, and Chaucer's Retraction (The Canterbury Tales Part 3.5)	00:10:05
Send us a text Have you ever wondered if Chaucer's satirical broadsides against the Church could get him into trouble? Well, seems he may have thought so . . . . or maybe not. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	11 Feb 2023	The Endless Knot: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (The Matter of Arthur, Part 3)	00:29:06
Send us a text Today we look at Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an anonymous narrative poem from the late 14th century Midlands. The Gawain Poet is a gifted technician and craftsman as well as storyteller whose technique interlaces disparate strands into an elegant pattern -- imagine a Celtic knot, the monastic Gospel illuminations, or the intricate metalwork of Saxon artisans, and you have the visual equivalent of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the greatest English Arthurian romance! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	23 Feb 2023	Revolting Peasants: 1381 and All That	00:21:07
Send us a text What do peasants, poets, and priests write about when a toxic slurry of starvation, deprivation, and taxation spill over into the largest popular insurrection in English history? Find out as we look at the literature surrounding the Great Rising of 1381. With regards to Contemptua X. Smugly. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	26 Feb 2023	Love and Loss in Anglo-Saxon Poetry	00:13:26
Send us a text A Subcast episode! Let's read two Old English poems that treat the female experience in Anglo-Saxon England: "Wulf and Eadwacer" and "The Wife's Lament" -- the only surviving OE poems written in a woman's voice! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	05 Mar 2023	Mock Chivalry: "The Tournament of Tottenham"	00:11:30
Send us a text A CEL Subcast episode! Today we look at a comic poem from the first half of the 15th century: "The Tournament of Tottenham." But who's the joke on? On Hold Music: "Lounge" by Serge Quadrado Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	11 Mar 2023	Keep the Faith: Moral John Gower	00:31:21
Send us a text Today we take a look at John Gower, who was once considered the "Father of English Poetry," but who is now largely unknown outside English departments. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	19 Mar 2023	Three Doctors and a Razor: Medieval English Philosophers	00:20:05
Send us a text A Subcast episode looking at four of the most influential philosophers working in England during the Middle Ages: Anselm of Canterbury, Roger Bacon, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	25 Mar 2023	Medieval Mysticism: The Book of Showings and The Book of Margery Kempe	00:36:36
Send us a text Today we look at the literature of female mysticism in the English 14th and 15th centuries, particularly the landmark texts Dame Julian of Norwich's Book of Showings and Margery Kempe's The Book of Margery Kempe, which are not only profound religious statements but the earliest voices of women in the English language. Special thanks to Jessica Orluck for her advice and assistance! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	01 Apr 2023	The Great Vowel Movement	00:10:33
Send us a text Today on the Subcast there's a brief explainer on the Great Vowel Shift, the most significant change in English since the Norman Invasion. We're beginning to move into Modern English! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	09 Apr 2023	William Dunbar's "Done is the Battle": An Easter Hymn	00:12:37
Send us a text Here's a nice little egg in your Easter basket! I look at William Dunbar's Easter hymn "Done is the Battle" from around the year 1500. I hope you enjoy the show, and I hope your Easter, Passover, Ramadan, and spring rites are happy and blessed! Cheers! Additional Music: Consort for Brass by Kevin MacLeod Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	15 Apr 2023	Weal and Woe: Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur (The Matter of Arthur, Part 4)	00:24:21
Send us a text Sir Thomas Malory's hernia-making masterpiece Le Morte D'Arthur is the subject of part 4 of our sporadic mini-series The Matter of Arthur. Because it's such a massive work, and because its versions of the Arthur legends are the most well-known, this episode will largely focus on Malory's deft use of the Lancelot and Guinevere love affair as necessary for his romantico-tragic vision. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	22 Apr 2023	The Birth of English Drama: Mystery and Morality	00:33:33
Send us a text If, as it's often said, William Shakespeare is the greatest writer in the English -- perhaps, indeed, in any -- language, then where did his most famous genre come from? Today, we look at the very earliest English plays, the birth of English theatre. We will consider "The Second Shepherd's Play," "The York Crucifixion," and "Everyman." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	30 Apr 2023	The Mysteries and the Miller's Tale (The Canterbury Tales, Part 3.75 [?])	00:17:20
Send us a text Let's have a look at perhaps why Chaucer, in his "The Miller's Tale," alludes so often to the incipient mystery plays of the late 14th century. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	06 May 2023	For the Coronation of King Charles III	00:10:24
Send us a text To mark the coronation of Charles III, I present to you a 15th century coronation poem written for Henry VI by John Lydgate. God Save the King! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	13 May 2023	John Skelton: The Last Medieval (or First Renaissance) Poet	00:27:50
Send us a text As we move our discussions toward 16th century Tudor literature, we look at a key transitional figure: John Skelton. His virtuosic versifying introduces the English Renaissance and we'll hear "To Mistress Margaret Hussey" and take a deep look at "The Book of Phillip Sparrow." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	20 May 2023	Venus, Venison, and Venom: The Poetry of Sir Thomas Wyatt	00:27:02
Send us a text Firmly in the Tudor Renaissance now, literati! Today, we'll look at Sir Thomas Wyatt, the first major poet of Henry VIII's court. He brought back the iambic pentameter line and developed the English sonnet. We'll look particularly at "They Flee from Me" and "Whoso List to Hunt." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	27 May 2023	On Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey	00:15:01
Send us a text Today we do a quick look at some of the poetry of Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, who is credited with the development of the English sonnet and of blank verse. We'll look at "The Night Piece," "Love that Doth Reign," and “Alas, so all things now do hold their peace." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	03 Jun 2023	Nowhereland: Sir Thomas More's Utopia	00:27:54
Send us a text Sir Thomas More's 1516 book inaugurated a new genre of English literature: the utopian fantasy. But More's own life, combined with the text's irony and narrative layering, make this a more complex prescription than you might think! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	10 Jun 2023	Defending Poetry: Sir Philip Sidney	00:31:06
Send us a text Though he spent only a brief period as a courtier of Elizabeth I, Sir Philip certainly cut a dashing figure. He also dashed off one of the most influential works of literary theory in English. And he was quite the dab hand at versifying. Today, we look at Sidney's Defence of Poesie, "Ye Goatherd Gods" from Arcadia, and sonnets from Astrophil and Stella. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	17 Jun 2023	The Queen's Two Bodies: Elizabeth I's Poetry	00:16:09
Send us a text While the political history of Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603) has been well-rehearsed, fewer listeners may be aware that she was also a devilishly accomplished poet and rhetorician. In this episode of the Subcast, we look at her most important poems -- "When I was fair and young," "On Monsieur's Departure," and "The Doubt of Future Foes" -- as well as note her stirring 1588 speech to the troops at Tilbury. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	27 Jun 2023	The Perfect Pattern of a Poet: Edmund Spenser's Lyrics	00:34:53
Send us a text Some say he is the first real poet of the English Renaissance. Whatever that may mean, Edmund Spenser certainly looms large in 16th century English literature. In this first of two episodes, we will look at his paradoxically traditional and innovative lyric poetry, especially The Shepheardes Calendar, Amoretti, and "Epithalamion." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	04 Jul 2023	American Independence: Tudor Roots	00:11:42
Send us a text As Americans mark Independence Day, I wanted to out that the shift in Western thinking that eventually produced a document like the Declaration of Independence began with a doctrine of the 16th century Protestant Reformation and its influence on Tudor political thought. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	12 Jul 2023	Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene: The Legend of the Redcrosse Knight	00:32:19
Send us a text Today we'll look at the most famous tale from Spenser's epic The Faerie Queene: Book I "The Legend of the Redcrosse Knight." We'll discuss its allegorical and neoplatonic dimensions while doing a quick drive-by of a passage from Mutabilitie Cantos. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	20 Jul 2023	Live with Me, Be My Love: Pastoral Eclogues	00:27:09
Send us a text If you listen to much modern American country music, you notice that many of the songs conjure up an idealized vision of small-town rural America, distinct from (and presumably superior to) life in urban areas. The fact that many of these songs are written in large cities like Nashville points to a kind of constructed nostalgia. This is very like the vogue for pastoral poetry in 16th century England. We'll look at two famous poems: Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and Ralegh's "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd." Here's a link to a page that will direct you to the many replies and parodies of these poems: https://comelivewithmeballad.com/replies-parodies/ Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	27 Jul 2023	A Still Queer Voice: Richard Barnfield's "The Affectionate Shepherd"	00:26:48
Send us a text This week on the poddie, we discuss a lesser known -- but by no means a lesser quality -- Elizabethan pastoral by Richard Barnfield called "The Affectionate Shepherd." In sophisticated, learned verse, Barnfield highlights the homoerotic elements (not always so) latent in classical and early modern bucolics, which I think a heroic feat in for a 16th century writer. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	04 Aug 2023	An Overview of Renaissance Theatre	00:18:26
Send us a text A bonus episode on the Subcast looks at the early modern English theatre, the culture and atmosphere of Elizabethan playgoing, as a prologue to our multi-episode discussion of the great English dramatists of the age, and for all time! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	13 Aug 2023	The Sum of Glory: Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great Parts 1 and 2	00:31:50
Send us a text Perhaps the first great play of the Elizabethan stage, Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great is relentless and ruthless. How are we to understand a bloody conqueror and tyrant? What does Marlowe mean by this spectacle of his success? We'll look at those questions today! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	22 Aug 2023	"Violence Prevails": Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy	00:37:07
Send us a text Oooh, you're in for a bloody one today, dear listener! Perhaps the most popular revenge tragedy in the 16th-century: Kyd's Spanish Tragedy. Wildly infamous, wildly influential, wildly excessive -- just wild! It inaugurates the fashion for revenge tragedy that will dominate theater for the next decades, and paves the way for Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	01 Sep 2023	Spillin' the Tea on Marlowe and Kyd	00:14:48
Send us a text You may be surprised at how the rivalry between these early Elizabethan theatrical superstars played out! Betrayal, torture, assassination; this is tabloid-worthy stuff! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	17 Sep 2023	History, History Plays, and Historiography: Shakespeare's Richard III	00:38:50
Send us a text We're here! Finally, our first Shakespeare play episode. Today, we'll look at The Tragical History of King Richard III. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	30 Sep 2023	Concord of this Discord: Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream	00:34:50
Send us a text Shssshh! Drift off into Shakespeare's most rhymy and least rational play! Today, it's The Dream! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	15 Oct 2023	Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: A Tragedy of Sonnet-Lovers	00:31:32
Send us a text Does Romeo and Juliet even need an introduction? Well, this time on the poddie, we'll look at the play's tragic lovers through the lens of the Renaissance sonnet, how that poem style's postures shapes the action, making character fate. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	29 Oct 2023	Despair and Damnation: Marlowe's The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus	00:37:25
Send us a text Here's a good one for the Halloweeny season: Christopher Marlowe's most famous play. A scholar sells his soul to the Devil for ultimate knowledge and power! Correction: In this episode, I misidentify the author of "The Devil and Tom Walker" as Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is, of course, Washington Irving. Extra musical selection from "Faust" by Charles Gounod, perf. Orchestra And Chorus Of The Théâtre National De l'Opéra. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	31 Oct 2023	Happy Halloween from Herrick's "The Hag"!	00:10:35
Send us a text Trick or treat! Here's a bone-us episode on Robert Herrick's "The Hag," about a witch's night ride with the Devil! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	10 Nov 2023	Shakespeare's Henriad	00:36:36
Send us a text In today's discussion, we take a look at the character of Henry, Prince of Wales, who will become King Henry V in the group of plays including Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, and Henry V, sometimes called "The Henriad." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	22 Nov 2023	Happy Thanksgiving! George Herbert's "Gratefulness"	00:07:11
Send us a text 17th-century poet and priest George Herbert offers a playful poem reminding us to strive for gratefulness. I am, myself, very grateful for all the support you all have offered me. Thank you so much! Additional sound: "Mahna Mahna" from The Muppet Show (1977). Downloaded from Internet Archive. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	25 Nov 2023	"I am a woman; when I think I must speak": Shakespeare's Rosalind and Beatrice	00:40:14
Send us a text In this episode, we'll look at two women who are generally regarded as among the greatest female characters ever written: Rosalind from Shakespeare's As You Like It and Beatrice from his Much Ado About Nothing. Their wisdom, intelligence, and emotional depth challenge Renaissance gender assumptions and inaugurate a line of deep-feeling, wise-cracking female characters down to our own day. Excerpts from "As You Like It" c. 1964 The Shakespeare Recording Company and "Much Ado About Nothing" c. 1960 The Dublin Gate Theatre; both downloaded from the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/audio) Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	30 Nov 2023	Happy 400th! Shakespeare's First Folio	00:23:31
Send us a text Welcome to the Subcast! On today's bonus episode, I give a little poddie-training on perhaps the most significant publishing event in English literature: the presentation of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	10 Dec 2023	Honor, Ethics, and Assassination: Shakespeare's Julius Caesar	00:40:13
Send us a text Is political violence ever justified? Who decides? And what ethical systems can evaluate the justice of such acts? Today, we look at the ethics driving the characters of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	24 Dec 2023	The First Anglican Christmas Carol	00:15:08
Send us a text Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year! Here's a little subcast episode on poet Nahum Tate's "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks," the first Christmas carol sanctioned by the Anglican Church around the turn of the 18th century. Recording: "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night" THE B.B.C. CHORUS; Berkeley Mason Writer: Nahum Tate (Traditional Christmas Carol); (Text: (1696); Tune: "Winchester Old" 16th Cent.) Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	29 Dec 2023	Who is There?: Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet	01:00:46
Send us a text Shakespeare's Hamlet has not been out of production for over four centuries and its profound examination of the human condition continues to capture the hearts and minds of people the world over. Join me in Elsinore as we think about what some have called the greatest drama in history -- perhaps even the greatest literary achievement of all time! Margaret Atwood's "Gertrude Talks Back" can be found here: https://lucylit.weebly.com/uploads/6/1/5/6/61560063/margaret_atwoods_gertrude_talks_back.pdf Hamlet recording: Hamlet with Richard Burton and the Broadway Cast; Columbia Masterworks DOS 702 (1964). Taken from the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/lp_hamlet-richard-burton-and-the-broadway-c_richard-burton-hume-cronyn-alfred-drake-ei Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	15 Jan 2024	Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth: A Love Story	01:02:10
Send us a text Is Shakespeare's darkest tragedy a cautionary tale about ambition? a bit of Jacobean mythmaking? Or is it the portrait of a deeply committed marriage gone catastrophically wrong? With apologies for all the appalling accents . . . . Performance Clip: Macbeth with Orson Welles, Fay Bainter, and the Mercury Acting Co. Mercury Text Records. From the Internet Archive (archive.org) Additional Music: "The Rout of Moy" perf. Albannach. 2006. From the Internet Archive (archive.org) Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	28 Jan 2024	Shakespeare's Problematic Plays	00:47:14
Send us a text In this episode, we look at how our current concerns with identity politics intersects with those of Shakespeare's plays which portray sexist, racist, or anti-Semitic material. Fair warning: this episode will deal with language and tropes that some may find uncomfortable Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	18 Feb 2024	Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Lear and the Absurdity of Suffering	00:43:18
Send us a text The Tragedy of King Lear, while considered by many as Shakespeare's greatest play, is also his most devastating. In this episode, we consider what Lear has to say about the meaning of human suffering. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	10 Mar 2024	Shakespeare: The Narrative Poems	00:45:32
Send us a text While most people know Shakespeare as a playwright, he saw himself as a poet in the quite traditional sense. Today, we'll look at his two major narrative poems: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. clip from "Mrs. Robinson" by Paul Simon; perf. by Simon and Garfunkel. 1968. Taken from We Got Good at It: A Wrecking Crew Anthology 1962-1971. The Internet Archive. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	31 Mar 2024	The Felix Culpa: George Herbert's "Easter Wings"	00:10:58
Send us a text To mark the Easter holiday, we return to George Herbert, Jacobean poet and priest, and his most famous work, the pattern poem "Easter Wings." Here's a link to an image of the poem: https://clinicalpsychreading.blogspot.com/2016/03/easter-wings-george-herbert-15931633.html Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	07 Apr 2024	"You taught me language": Shakespeare's The Tempest	00:40:08
Send us a text For our (probably) final episode on Shakespeare's plays, we sail through The Tempest, a late romance which has attracted historical and psychoanalytical interpretations, but stands out for many readers as perhaps a play in which a version of Shakespeare himself appears as the protagonist. Audio clip from The Tempest ; 2004 Naxos AudioBooks. Taken from The Internet Archive Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	20 Apr 2024	Fair Youths and Dark Ladies: Shakespeare's Sonnets	00:47:19
Send us a text For our final episode focusing on Shakespeare, we look at his sonnets, arguably the most famous collection of lyric poems in the language. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	05 May 2024	More than the Dark Lady: Aemilia Lanyer's "Eve's Apology in Defense of Women"	00:33:02
Send us a text Today we look at Aemelia Lanyer's pioneering and influential work, "Eve's Apology in Defense of Women" from 1611's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	19 May 2024	The Bible in English	00:54:04
Send us a text Today, we take a historical survey of the Bible in English, from early partial translations and paraphrases in the 7th century through the magnificence of King James I's Authorized Version of 1611. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	02 Jun 2024	Humorous Humors: Ben Jonson's Early Comedies	00:30:45
Send us a text Today, I look askance at two plays by Ben Jonson, whom many see (not me, though) as the greatest English playwright bar Shakespeare: Every Man In His Humour and Every Man Out of His Humour. These have become the paradigmatic examples of the 17th century "comedy of humours." Thank you to the Internet Archive for providing public domain recordings of The Benny Hill Show and Fawlty Towers theme songs. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	17 Jun 2024	"A Pretty Kind of Game": Ben Jonson's Volpone and The Alchemist	00:34:06
Send us a text We'll finish our look at Ben Jonson's comedies today with perhaps his most well-regarded efforts: Volpone, or The Fox and The Alchemist. Additional music: "In Town Tonight" by Eric Coates, perf. Reginald Dixon. From the Internet Archive. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	03 Jul 2024	English Comes to America	00:41:12
Send us a text It's Independence Day here in America, so today's show takes the opportunity to look at some of writing of early English colonists in New England and how their ideas contributed to the national ethos that would emerge in the coming centuries. Additional music from Internet Archive: "Stars and Stripes Forever." John Philip Sousa. perf Twentieth Century Fox Orchestra "The Love Boat Theme." perf Jack Jones Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	21 Jul 2024	"Drink to me only with thine eyes": Ben Jonson's Lyrics	00:27:28
Send us a text Today, we'll wrap up our Jonsonian mini-series by looking at some his lyrics, including poems from the 1616 Works and songs from his plays. If you'd like to read along, just ask Uncle Google to serve up these titles: "On Something, that Walks Somewhere" "On My First Daughter" "On My First Son" "Song: To Celia" "Still to be Neat" Additional music from Internet Archive: "Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes" perf. Paul Robeson, 1938. "In Town Tonight" by Eric Coates, perf. Reginald Dixon. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	05 Aug 2024	Flesh and Spirit: The Writing of John Donne	00:40:49
Send us a text Poet and priest John Donne's work seems to transcend its early 17th century moment and feels as fresh and alive to us as anything written today. In this episode, we look at the following texts: "The Bait" "Elegy 19: To His Mistress Going To Bed" "Batter my heart" "Death, be not proud" "The Flea" "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" "Meditation 17" from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions Additional music: "You Can Leave Your Hat On" by Randy Newman. Sail Away. Reprise Records. 1972. Accessed as public domain through the Internet Archive. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	20 Aug 2024	John Webster's Sensational The Duchess of Malfi	00:39:33
Send us a text Let's head back to the theatre for a really blood-soaked tragedy! And while we're at it, let's think about the intersection between art and social criticism. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	02 Sep 2024	An Unintended Episode: English Country House Poems	00:24:49
Send us a text I had not thought to do an episode on the English country house poetry of the 17th century, but was recently reminded of their place in the survey of early modern literature, so here's a look at that peculiar subgenre. In this show, we'll look at Aemilia Lanyer's "A Description of Cooke-ham" and Ben Jonson's "To Penshurst." Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	15 Sep 2024	Will the Real Hamlet Please Stand Up	00:13:27
Send us a text Here's a short episode to answer a special request by a loyal listener! Let's dive a little deeper into the various versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet that have come down to us! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	22 Sep 2024	Vikings Are A Thing! The Scandinavian Influence on English (Out of Time Episode 1)	00:18:43
Send us a text 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 the Danish invasions left an indelible mark upon English language and literature. Pack your battle-axe! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	06 Oct 2024	"The test of experience": The Philosophy of Sir Francis Bacon	00:35:35
Send us a text 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 Novum Organon are our focus. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	26 Oct 2024	Cant, Costume, and Cutpurses: Dekker and Middleton's The Roaring Girl	00:34:07
Send us a text 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 the protagonist's use of clothing and language. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	30 Oct 2024	"Death the Leveller" by James Shirley	00:10:27
Send us a text This year's Halloween Subcast episode looks at James Shirley's meditation on Death. I hope you love it! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	17 Nov 2024	Carpe Diem!: The Cavalier Poets	00:32:59
Send us a text 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 by Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Richard Lovelace, and the ill-fated and unfortunately named Sir John Suckling. Additional music: "Consort for Brass" by Kevin MacLeod "La Violetta" by Claudio Monteverdi; perf. The Boston Camerata, dir. Joel Cohen "In Town Tonight" by Reginald Dixon; perf. Eric Coates Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	27 Nov 2024	Thanksgiving in Plain Style	00:20:47
Send us a text This Subcast episode marks the American Thanksgiving holiday by looking at two early accounts of the celebration by Pilgrims William Bradford and Edward Winslow and then turns to that great hymn of thanksgiving -- Psalm 107 -- from The Bay Psalm Book, the first book published in what would become the United States. We'll also look at what's called the "Puritan Plain Style" of composition, a marked departure from the ornate literature of its Anglican contemporaries. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	19 Dec 2024	Cavaliers and Roundheads: The English Civil Wars	00:40:18
Send us a text Today we have a slightly different kind of show -- literary analysis takes a bit of a back seat to historical context. We'll look at the turbulent period between 1625 and 1660, when England went to war with itself over the roles of the monarchy and of Parliament. We'll look at primary historical documents as well as a little poetry to get a sense of the state of the nation as it begins its rise to a world power. Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	23 Dec 2024	Christmas on Trial!	00:20:09
Send us a text The original "War on Christmas"! This year's stocking stuffer looks at England's Christmas ban from 1647 to 1660 and at a rather quirky pamphlet entitled "The Examination and Trial of Old Father Christmas." Season's greetings, Litterbugs! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	12 Jan 2025	"Pastures New": John Milton's "Lycidas"	00:35:25
Send us a text In 1638, John Milton -- whom many see as perhaps the (second) greatest poet in English -- produced what many think to be his first major poem: the pastoral elegy "Lycidas," written to memorialize the tragic death of a college classmate. Ah! But it's so much more than that! Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	19 Jan 2025	A Minor Announcement and a Major Request	00:11:27
Send us a text Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	02 Feb 2025	Sexy Satan: John Milton's Paradise Lost (episode 1)	00:40:56
Send us a text Sexy Satan, what have you done? You made a fool of every one! On this episode we tackle the rather thorny question of Paradise Lost's charismatic protagonist (?) or antagonist (?) or antihero (?): the hottest guy in Hell. Why does an epic on the cosmic history of Christianity, written by a radical Puritan, present us with so commanding and appealing a character? Additional music: "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)" by Bill Conti. https://archive.org/details/rocky_202111/1976+-+Rocky/01.+Gonna+Fly+Now+(Theme+from+Rocky).mp3 Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	17 Feb 2025	To Justify the Ways of God: John Milton's Paradise Lost (episode 2)	00:42:55
Send us a text We return to Milton's magnificent octopus today with an eye toward evaluating the epic's success according to its own mission statement: "to justify the ways of God to men." How does Milton approach the great theological problems of evil and suffering, divine foreknowledge, and free will? Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!
	02 Mar 2025	The Earliest Tales of Robin Hood (Out of Time Episode 2)	00:32:51
Send us a text Here's another episode in our foundling series "Out of Time." Today, I correct an oversight from our 15th century literature discussions and survey the very earliest surviving tales of the outlaw and all-around-swell-guy Robin Hood! Let's jump in the Wayback Machine! Here's a link to the Robin Hood Project at the University of Rochester, where you can find the texts we're discussing today and a wealth of other resources! https://d.lib.rochester.edu/project/robin-hood/about.html Support the show Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you! Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful! Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

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