A Companion to Shakespeare’s Richard II
This discussion aims to facilitate your basic reading and understanding of Shakespeare’s Richard II. It offers guidance on online performances, structure, historical contexts and sources. A final section addresses Richard’s characterisation in relation to the play’s ethics and politics. References are to William Shakespeare. Richard II, ed. Stanley Wells, intro. Paul Edmondson (London: Penguin, 2008). […]
Macbeth’s Dark Journey
This basic interpretation of Macbeth deals with structure, ethics and characterisation.
A Study Guide to William Langland’s Piers Plowman, C-Text
The Study Guide consists of synopses of all twenty-two Passus [sections] of Langland’s C-Text. Questions on each Passus test your knowledge and are intended as an aid to memory. References throughout are to Derek Pearsall, ed. Piers Plowman by William Langland: An Edition of the C-Text. York Medieval Texts, second series. London: Edward Arnold, 1981. However, new […]
Gwen Harwood’s “Barn Owl” and Myron Lysenko’s “Pets & Death & Indoor Plants”
This lecture demonstrates simple techniques for analysing poetry through discussions of Gwen’s Harwood’s “Barn Owl” and Myron Lysenko’s “Pets & Death & Indoor Plants.”
The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, The Merchant’s Tale, The Pardoner’s Tale
The three Tales introduced in this lecture are among Chaucer’s best, and their excellence is the main reason for studying them. However, in considering them as a group, we can also trace a progression in moral intensity: a pair of light-hearted nominal morals is appended to The Nun’s Priest’s Tale; The Merchant’s Tale is a savage […]
The General Prologue, The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale
This introduction to the first three sections of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales focuses on structures, social classes, characterisation and ethics. The text referred to throughout is Nevill Coghill’s translation of The Canterbury Tales into modern English (London: Penguin, 2003).
Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights
This lecture discusses Northern Lights (alternately titled The Golden Compass) in the literary contexts of Milton’s Paradise Lost, William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, and C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. The lecture begins by considering the features of the fantasy genre that Northern Lights shares with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. […]
Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms
After a brief introduction to the experiences that Hemingway drew on in writing A Farewell to Arms, this account approaches the novel through a summary of its structure and a consideration of the following themes and ideas: War and heroism; Love and sex (sex as defiance–of convention and oppressive morality); Relative importance given to men […]
Shakespeare’s Henry V: Introductory Lectures
These four lectures cover the aspects of Henry V outlined below. Each lecture includes detailed discussions of one or more passages from the play. Lecture One: The late Medieval and Elizabethan contexts; the play’s structure and development. Lecture Two: Henry’s characterization in relation to heroism, war, and patriotism. Lecture Three: How other aspects of Henry V relate to these […]
Patrick White: Voss
This study guide addresses both the context and the content of Patrick White’s classic Australian novel Voss. Under “context” it summarises the novel’s reception,its place in the author’s life, and its inspiration in the expeditions of the lost explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. Under “content” the guide deals with five layers of meaning that are evident both in individual […]