Critical Readings

CR Episode 316: Paradise Regained, Book II

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the second book, with special attention to the newest appearance of Satan, his confusion, and the difference between his first tem...

CR Episode 315: Paradise Regained, Book I

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the first book of Paradise Regained, the sequel (or continuation) of Paradise Lost, with special attention paid to the particular ...

CR Episode 314: W.H. Auden and Mediaevalism

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel is joined by a special guest, the poet and author Aaron Poochigian, to discuss three medievally-inflected poems by Auden: "Lady Weeping at t...

CR Episode 313: Sense and Sensibility, Part IV

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the closing chapters of the novel, with special attention to the quasi-reformation of Willoughby's character, the depths of villai...

CR Episode 312: Sense and Sensibility, Part III

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses chapters 30–39, with the unveiling of secrets including Edward and Lucy's engagement, and Colonel Brandon's connexion to Willoug...

CR Episode 311: Sense and Sensibility, Part II

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses chapters 18–29, with a omparison of the relationship of Elinore and Edward versus that of Marianne and Willoughby, a discussion ...

CR Episode 310: Sense and Sensibility, Part I

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the first seventeen chapters of Sense and Sensibility, with special attention given to contemporary inheritance law, the character...

CR Episode 309: The Vanity of Human Wishes

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses Dr. Johnson's imitation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, with its message of caution about advanced age and the temptations of acad...

CR Episode 308: The Hobbit, Part V

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the closing chapters—the battles against Smaug and between the five armies, and the journey home—with special attention to the...

CR Episode 307: The Hobbit, Part IV

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the party's arrival in and departure from Lake-Town, and their arrival at and infiltration of the Lonely Mountain, with special at...

CR Episode 306: The Hobbit, Part III

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads chapters 8 and 9, with special attention to the episodic structure of the narrative, the maturation of Bilbo and his rising stature am...

CR Episode 305: The Hobbit, Part II

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses chapters 5–7, with examination of Tolkien's sources and the chronology of its composition, discussion about the different phases...

CR Episode 304: The Hobbit, Part I

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the first four chapters of The Hobbit with special attention to the development of the story as a text, its features connecting it...

CR Episode 303: Romeo and Juliet, Part V

29 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel closes out Romeo Juliet, and the year 2025, with a discussion of Friar Laurence's cowardly culpability, Romeo's impassioned importunity, Jul...

CR Episode 302: Romeo and Juliet, Part IV

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the fourth act, with attention to the self-serving plan of Friar Laurence, who imperils the two lovers by avoiding more rational c...

CR Episode 301: Romeo and Juliet, Part III

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the third act—the 'beginning of woe'—when the drama shifts decidedly from comedy to tragedy with the departure of Mercutio and...

CR Episode 300: Romeo and Juliet, Part II

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the second act, including the secret marriage plans facilitated by Friar Laurence, with attention given to the impetuous behaviour...

CR Episode 299: Romeo and Juliet, Part I

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the genre classification of Romeo and Juliet before moving on to an examination of the poem's first act, with special attention gi...

CR Episode 298: The Dunciad, Part IV

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel concludes The Dunciad with a full reading of the standalone text that became the fourth book of the 1743 edition, before examining Pope's po...

CR Episode 297: The Dunciad, Part III

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the third book of the 1743 Dunciad, in which the poem swells to its crescendo, heaping scorn upon the agents of Dullness and the rampa...

CR Episode 296: The Dunciad, Part II

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the second book of Alexander Pope's final Dunciad (of 1743), with attention to the historical personages who are satirised, includ...

CR Episode 295: The Dunciad, Part I

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads in full the first book of Pope's final version of The Dunciad, giving special attention to the various cultural references and persona...

CR Episode 294: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Celebrating Halloween, the panel discusses one of Washington Irving's best-known works—The Legend of Sleepy Hollow—with special attention to the r...

CR Episode 293: Pride and Prejudice, Part IV

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the concluding chapters and a series of insightful reader questions about the influence of Austen's religion, the role of romance ...

CR Episode 292: Pride and Prejudice, Part III

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses chapters 35–49, with special attention to the rational development of Elizabeth's appreciation of Mr. Darcy, and to Jane Austen'...

CR Episode 291: Pride and Prejudice, Part II

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses chapters 18–34, with topics of interest including Mr. Darcy's concealed gallantry, whether Mr. Collins has any goodly qualities,...

CR Episode 290: Pride and Prejudice, Part I

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads chapters 1–17 of Pride and Prejudice, with special attention to the developing form of the novel in the Regency era, the biographica...

CR Episode 289: E.A. Robinson’s Gothic Verse

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses five poems by E.A. Robinson, with discussion centring on their use of the gothic, their shared imagery of death and hell (and thei...

CR Episode 288: Edwin Muir’s Narrow Place

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses four poems from Edwin Muir's collection The Narrow Place (1943), with a focus on their formal features, their connexion to a versi...

CR Episode 287: The Beginnings of English Poetry

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses two of the earliest examples of English poetry—Caedmon's Hymn and The Dream of the Rood (sometimes attributed to Cynewulf)—wit...

CR Episode 286: The Rape of the Lock, Part II

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the concluding three cantos, with attention to Pope's heroi-comic satire of epic in both content and form, and his use of referenc...

CR Episode 285: The Rape of the Lock, Part I

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the first two cantos of Alexander Pope's heroi-comical peacemaker poem, with special attention to its use of foreshadowing, the st...

CR Episode 284: Poetry and Music

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel is joined by the novelist H.S. Cross to discuss three poems that have been famously set to music: "The Lark Ascending" by George Meredith, "...

CR Episode 283: Tristram Shandy, Part XIV

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel concludes the summer reading with the ninth and final book of Tristram Shandy, compassing the manner of the liaison between Uncle Toby and t...

CR Episode 282: Tristram Shandy, Part XIII

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the conclusion of the eighth book, with attention to metaphorical fortifications and battle plans, a tale of one-sided love between Co...

CR Episode 281: Tristram Shandy, Part XII

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the books seven and eight, with particular attention to the parallel narratives used to describe the approach to Lyons, the differ...

CR Episode 280: Tristram Shandy, Part XI

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses narrative lines straight and winding in book six, and parallel trips in France in book seven, including Tristram's three visits to...

CR Episode 279: Tristram Shandy, Part X

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the majority of the sixth book, with attention to the 'picture' of the Widow Wadman, the story of Le Fever and his orphaned son, t...

CR Episode 278: Tristram Shandy, Part IX

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the conclusion of the fifth book, with attention to how the hobby horses of Trim and Toby reappear, and what they suggest about th...

CR Episode 277: Tristram Shandy, Part VIII

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the beginning of book five, including the extreme discomfort of riding post-chaise, the concupiscent meanings which attach to ordi...

CR Episode 276: Tristram Shandy, Part VII

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the conclusion of the fourth book, including Walter and Toby stuck on the stairs amidst further discussion of the definition of a ...

CR Episode 275: Tristram Shandy, Part VI

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the conclusion of book three and the beginning of book four in which the topic of noses recurs and features prominently, providing an ...

CR Episode 274: Tristram Shandy, Part V

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel approaches the moment of Tristram's birth beginning with the author's preface (in book 3), followed by a definition of 'nose', and a series ...

CR Episode 273: Tristram Shandy, Part IV

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel concludes the second book and, in a series of retrograde manoeuvres, progresses through the third book until Dr. Slop is able to receive del...

CR Episode 272: Tristram Shandy, Part III

19 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses book II, chapters 6–17 and Sterne's use of metanarrative focus on the correct art of oratory, the use of puns and textual elisio...

CR Episode 271: Tristram Shandy, Part II

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses Tristram's father's theories about nominative determinism, the different translations of identical biblical names, and the latest ...

CR Episode 270: Tristram Shandy, Part I

05 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel begins the summer reading of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman with a biographical overview of Laurence Sterne, followed b...

CR Episode 269: Pygmalion, Part V

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the final act of Shaw's Pygmalion, and then excerpts from the epilogue, with particular attention to Shaw's preference for realism ove...

CR Episode 268: Pygmalion, Part IV

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the fourth act in full, with a discussion of Prof. Higgins' narcissism and its collision with his deepening feelings, an examination o...

CR Episode 267: Pygmalion, Part III

14 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the third act, in which the antisocial Higgins and the gallant Pickering are exposed as juveniles by the savvy Mrs. Higgins, and L...

CR Episode 266: Pygmalion, Part II

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses Shaw's work on Wagner and a brief overview of the classical inspiration for his Pygmalion, before reading the second act with atte...

CR Episode 265: Pygmalion, Part I

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the first act of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, with an introduction to the author, and a consideration of how the play reflect...

CR Episode 264: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part IV

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel concludes the novella with a look at the primary falling action and the resolution of the Mary Wortle subplot, with particular attention to ...

CR Episode 263: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part III

17 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the third quarter of the novella with attention given to the romanticism of Doctor Wortle's character and how it guides his interactio...

CR Episode 262: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part II

10 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads parts three and four with attention given to the moral, logical, and legal conundrums that perplex Doctor Wortle, and with a considera...

CR Episode 261: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part I

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the first two parts (or six chapters) of Trollope's fortieth novel, beginning with an introduction to the author and the text, followe...

CR Episode 260: The Second Coming of Yeats

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses four poems by Yeats, including his most famous—"The Second Coming"—as a way of examining his understanding of a cyclical cosmo...

CR Episode 259: John Berryman’s Eleven Addresses to the Lord

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads John Berryman's "Eleven Addresses to the Lord" and considers the poems within the context of the author's biography and Judeo-Christia...

CR Episode 258: Tennyson’s Tiresias

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads Tennyson's Tiresias and considers its story of the blind prophet's extended (but not eternal) life in the context of what it reveals a...

CR Episode 257: Tennyson’s Ulysses

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads Tennyson's Ulysses with special attention given to how the return to Ithaca changed Ulysses; how he may be compared to and contrasted ...

CR Episode 256: Tennyson’s Tithonus

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads Tennyson's "Tithonus," a dramatic monologue written in 1833, and considers both what the poem suggests about the importance of mortali...

CR Episode 255: Skelton’s Phyllyp Sparowe

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads "The Boke of Phyllyp Sparowe" by the Tudor poet John Skelton, a poetic champion of Chaucer, and the inventor of Skeltonic verse, a rou...

CR Episode 254: The Poetry of A.E. Housman

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads three poems by A.E. Housman, the renowned British classicist and poet, and discusses the presence of death in his poetry, the influenc...

CR Episode 253: Pope’s Messiah

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads Alexander Pope's "Messiah," based upon Virgil's Fourth Eclogue and the biblical Book of Isaiah, with a discussion of its formal qualit...

CR Episode 252: Julius Caesar, Act V

30 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the final act, reflecting on the role of Brutus as a tragic figure, with attention given to his relationship with Cassius, his misunde...

CR Episode 251: Julius Caesar, Act IV

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the fourth act, with special attention to the fraught relationship between Brutus and Cassius, the political situation in the late Rom...

CR Episode 250: Julius Caesar, Act III

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the play's self-awareness, its complexity of character, the presence of character flaws which serve to advance the action of the d...

CR Episode 249: Julius Caesar, Act II

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the the play's contrasts of public and private settings, its parallelism of scenes and characters (especially Calphurnia and Porti...

CR Episode 248: Julius Caesar, Act I

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the first act of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, with attention to Caesar's biographies, the fraught sociopolitical situation in Rome...

CR Episode 247: In Parenthesis, Part II

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the biographical details of David Jones, and his participation in the Great War, before reading parts 5–7 of In Parenthesis, wit...

CR Episode 246: In Parenthesis, Part I

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads Parts 1–4 of David Jones' In Parenthesis, with attention to its Modernist and post-Romantic moves, its structure as a prose poem and...

CR Episode 245: Wuthering Heights, Part IV

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the conclusion of Wuthering Heights, with special attention given to the message of the novel; its place in the genres of Gothic, ...

CR Episode 244: Wuthering Heights, Part III

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Guest expert Dr. Madeline Potter joins the panel to discuss chapters 17–24, with a focus on the cycles of violence and manipulation at Wuthering Hei...

CR Episode 243: Wuthering Heights, Part II

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses chapters 10–16, from Catherine's marriage until her death, and examines Heathcliff's increased severity, the potential innocence...

CR Episode 242: Wuthering Heights, Part I

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Madeline Potter joins the panel to discuss the opening chapters of Emily Brontë's only novel, with attention to the influences of the gothic and ...

CR Episode 241: The Shimmering Form of Robert Penn Warren

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the American Poet Laureate Robert Penn Warren—the only person to win the Pulitzer prize both for Poetry and for Fiction—readin...

CR Episode 240: Wordsworth’s Beggars

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads Wordsworth's "Beggars" (and its sequel) examining the verses with attention to what they suggest about society and economics, beauty a...

CR Episode 239: Le Morte Darthur, Part XIV

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses The Morte Arthur: Aggravayne and Mordred's entrapment of Launcelot and Guenevere, the death of Garyth and Gaherys, Gawayne's venge...

CR Episode 238: Le Morte Darthur, Part XIII

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the penultimate sequence of the Morte, 'Launcelot and Guinevere,' with attention to Launcelot's pledge to defend the Queen's honou...

CR Episode 237: Le Morte Darthur, Part XII

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the complysshment of the Sankgreal, Galahad's unwieldy role as a model of virtue, Gawain's manifest impurity, Launcelot's outward ...

CR Episode 236: Le Morte Darthur, Part XI

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the first half of the Quest for the Holy Grail, including Galahad's knightly debut, the arrival of the Grail in the court, Gawain'...

CR Episode 235: Le Morte Darthur, Part X

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the conclusion of the Tristram sequence, including the begetting of Galahad, with special attention to the quality of worshypfulness a...

CR Episode 234: Le Morte Darthur, Part IX

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads of the Tournament at Surluse and the strife of the Orkney brothers, and considers in detail what a question about the use of a single ...

CR Episode 233: Le Morte Darthur, Part VIII

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the King Mark sections of Le Morte Darthur—presenting the first fully-realised villain of the piece, complete with motivations, pers...

CR Episode 232: Le Morte Darthur, Part VII

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads three episodes from the Tristram section—"Le Cote Male Tayle", "The Madness of Sir Tristram", and "The Tournament at the Castle of M...

CR Episode 231: Le Morte Darthur, Part VI

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the first two tales in the Tristram section—Sir Tristram and la Beall Isode and Sir Lamerok de Galys—with attention to Malory'...

CR Episode 230: Le Morte Darthur, Part V

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the episode of Sir Gareth of Orkney, with attention given both to the anti-egalitarian worldview and historical reality of the per...

CR Episode 229: Le Morte Darthur, Part IV

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake, with attention given to the features of mediaeval romance, Malory's use of humour and his knowledge...

CR Episode 228: Le Morte Darthur, Part III

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the Roman War sequence with particular attention to Malory's use of historical progression, metaphor, and physical violence, especiall...

CR Episode 227: Le Morte Darthur, Part II

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel catches up on the tale of "Balyn and Balan," before discussing "The Wedding of King Arthur" and "The Book of Adventures", with comments on t...

CR Episode 226: Le Morte Darthur, Part I

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the biography of Sir Thomas Malory, the textual history of Le Morte Darthur, the lineage of King Arthur, and the initial formation...

CR Episode 225: All for Love, Act V

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel closes discussion of Dryden's All for Love with an examination of the death of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, how the scene differs from that of...

CR Episode 224: All for Love, Act IV

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the penultimate act of Dryden's All for Love, with special attention to the depictions (or rather, lack thereof) of Octavius, the ...

CR Episode 223: All for Love, Act III

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the third act of Dryden's most successful play, All for Love, with particular attention to Marc Antony's lack of constancy, and Dr...

CR Episode 222: All for Love, Act II

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the second act of John Dryden's All for Love, with special attention to the rhetorical manoeuvres of Cleopatra, and the psychological ...

CR Episode 221: All for Love, Act I

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the first act of John Dryden's take on the story of Antony and Cleopatra, All for Love, with a focus on Marc Antony's mental state, th...

CR Episode 220: Antony and Cleopatra, Act V

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel concludes with the final act of Antony and Cleopatra, highlighting Octavius' intentions towards his defeated political foe, Cleopatra's atte...

CR Episode 219: Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel reads the fourth act of Antony and Cleopatra with particular attention to the character of Marc Antony and his worldview of personal honour ...

CR Episode 218: Antony and Cleopatra, Act III

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the third act, with a focus on the deterioration of the Roman political situation, Marc Antony's skills as a battlefield leader an...

CR Episode 217: Antony and Cleopatra, Act II

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The panel discusses the second act of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, with a focus on the Roman political situation, the difference between republ...