EnglishReadings
43 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago -Microlectures and readings from English literature; by Michael Blackburn, writer, poet, retired lecturer.
A traditional approach to the appreciation of literature. English Readings comprises two strands. The first is brief lectures/podcasts on specific texts or authors which may, I hope, prove of some interest to students and those with a love of English literature; the second is short readings of extracts from texts that may not be so well-known but which deserve a wider readership. These podcasts are also available on iTunes (also as EnglishReadings).
If the literature and landscape of England is of interest to you please subscribe to this channel, and if you enjoyed some of these podcasts please consider making a donation.
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Episodes
Aristocrats, by Keith Douglas
August 09, 2019 00:00Keith Douglas was the finest British poet of the Second World War. After fighting in the North African desert he took part in the invasion of Europe and died in Normandy at the age of just 24. The version of the poem here is the original one and is, to my mind, superior to the revised version. The text is from the Faber edition of Selected Poems, chosen and introduced by Ted Hughes (London, 1964). If you have enjoyed this podcast or others on my channel please consider showing your apprecia...
An extract from The South Country by Edward Thomas, read by Michael Blackburn
May 17, 2019 12:44A video from the summerhouse (instead of a podcast) - this brief extract is from The South Country by Edward Thomas (centenary edition of the volume issued by Little Toller Books in 2009). For more on Edward Thomas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Thomas_(poet) If you have enjoyed this podcast or others on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, to https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
"Was it a dream?" - An amorous sonnet by Edmund Spenser (Amoretti LXXVII) read by Michael Blackburn.
April 27, 2019 09:59Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1559) is one of the greatest poets of the English Renaissance, best known for his epic, The Faerie Queene. This recording is of sonnet LXXVII of Amoretti, a sequence published in 1595. If you have enjoyed this podcast or others on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, to https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland https://youtu.be/6t7yalSdeyY Image ℅ Wikipedia.
The Erotic Nerve; from A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys
April 14, 2019 19:04This paragraph is from Chapter12 "The Dolorous Blow", of A Glastonbury Romance, by John Cowper Powys. Image c/o Wikipedia. If you have enjoyed this podcast or others on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, to https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
The Poet Holds His Future In His Hand, a poem by B S Johnson read by Michael Blackburn
April 04, 2019 10:07B S Johnson (1933 - 1973) was a British experimental novelist, poet and film maker. This poem is take from his second collection, Poems Two, published by Trigram Press, London, on 1972. If you have enjoyed this podcast or others on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, to https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
The Spectator, the first article (1711), read by Michael Blackburn.
April 02, 2019 15:27The first issue of The Spectator came out in 1711. Its opening article was by Joseph Addison. If you have enjoyed this podcast or others on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, to https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland Image: c/o Wikimedia
The Little Dancers by Binyon: a reading and microlecture
March 17, 2019 16:01"The Little Dancers" is a short poem by Laurence Binyon (1869 - 1943) who is better known for his WW1 poem, "For the Fallen" and "The Burning of the Leaves. If you have enjoyed this podcast or others on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, to https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland Image by Strang c/o Wikipedia. Microlecture copyright Michael Blackburn, 2019.
Scum of the Earth by Koestler: an extract read by Michael Blackburn
February 03, 2019 12:05The short extract here comes from Arthur Koestler's memoir, Scum of the Earth, which recounts how he survived internment as a foreign national in France at the beginning the Second World War, escaped the Nazis and finally arrived in England, where he lived for the rest of his life. Koestler had been a committed Communist and been imprisoned by the Fascists during the Spanish Civil War but had become disillusioned. The extract tells how the Communist internees in his camp reacted to the Sovie...
A brief intro to the poet, Brian Higgins.
November 18, 2018 12:45This is a brief introduction to the poet, Brian Higgins (1930 - 1965). A recording of one of his poems is also available on this channel. Higgins’s first collection, The Only Need, was published by Abelard-Schuman (New York - London - Toronto) in 1960, the second, Notes While Travelling, by Longmans (London) in 1964, and the final one (posthumously), The Northern Fiddler, by Methuen (London) in 1966. His death was ascribed to a ”rare heart condition”. More on Higgins on Wikipedia - https://...
The Necessity of Freedom of Speech - J S Mill, On Liberty (a brief extract)
October 27, 2018 18:09Given the increasing opposition to the idea and practice of free speech in western society, and most disturbingly in the universities, it is salutary to remember the words of J S Mill. This brief extract is taken from his famous essay On Liberty. PIcture of J S Mill courtesy of Wikipedia. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
“Settle thine imagination, thou art well” - extract from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton
September 23, 2018 12:46This extract is taken from Volume 2 (or The Second Partition, as it is called in the book) of Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy (1651-2), section 6. The Anatomy is a great disquisition on melancholy, which, in its more extreme forms, today we would term depression. In this brief extract Burton is examining how we can use reason to combat its effects. Further information at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_of_Melancholy Image is in the public domain, from the Briti...
John Locke on reading properly (Of the Conduct of the Understanding)
May 21, 2018 19:45John Locke (1632 - 1704) was an English philosopher. This piece is part of the long essay, Conduct of the Understanding, which was published posthumously in 1706. Among his other major works are An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government. Locke’s Conduct of the Understanding, edited by Thomas Fowler, D.D., Cambridge, Clarendon Press, 1901. Portrait of Locke by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1697); State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia. More on Locke at Wikipedia ...
Stella, the social justice warrior; in Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818)
May 07, 2018 18:33Thomas Love Peacock, in his 1818 comic novel, Nightmare Abbey, presents us with Stella, an early version of the social justice warrior. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Ken Smith, poet: a personal recollection and two poems.
April 29, 2018 13:26This is just a short personal memoir of Ken, with a reading of two of his early poems, to celebrate what would have been his 80th year. This is also the 40th anniversary of the publication of Tristan Crazy by Bloodaxe Books. “Another part of his childhood” is from The Poet Reclining: Selected Poems 1962-1980, Bloodaxe, 1982. “Nine: Shorty’s advice to the players” is from Tristan Crazy, Bloodaxe, 1978. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciat...
The fierce joy of Merry England (from Storm Jameson's The Decline of Merry England)
April 28, 2018 16:28Merry England - a visionary, idyllic and mainly pastoral idea of “deep” England that still persists. “At last, England had some inkling of her strength, the power drawn from a well-knit body and young muscle...This consciousness, this pride of strength was what made England merry: not merry in the sense of pleasant, but a fierce joy, a merriness as of Samson when he bore away the gates from Gaza.” The extract is from the opening chapter of The Decline of Merry England by Storm Jameson, bett...
On the English, by Santayana; for St George's Day
April 23, 2018 11:21On the English, by Santayana: for St George’s Day This extract is from Soliloquies in England by the Spanish-American philosopher, George Santayana (1863 - 1952). Santayana spent five years in England as the Great War raged on the Continent. This gave him ample time to study the British character and the nature of England. The text of Soliloquies is available on the Gutenberg Project and the Internet Archive. Image: ℅ National Gallery of Art, Washington DC Apologies for the quality of my...
"Hannah - by no means an ordinary person": from Sketches of English Life and Character.
April 20, 2018 18:50This extract is from the essay, “Hannah Bint”, included in Some Sketches of English Life and Character, by Mary R Mitford. Mary Mitford (1787-1855) was a successful author and dramatist whose work is now, unfortunately, little known. She specialised in writing about English rural life. More on Mary R Mitford - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Russell_Mitford Image: “A Village by the Sea”, by Stanhope Forbes (one of the Newlyn School); as included in the above book. If you enjoyed this o...
Dogfight in the Battle of Britain (from The Last Enemy)
April 15, 2018 15:48The Last Enemy is a classic of Second World War literature. It was written by Richard Hillary, a fighter pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain. The book recounts his experiences and the aftermath of being shot down and suffering appalling burns to the face and hands. He recovered well enough to fly again, but not fighters. He was killed in a training accident while flying a Bristol Blenheim. He was just 24. This short extract describes two encounters Hillary has with the enemy on one sor...
Thomas Hardy's "Drummer Hodge" and the Loss of Home
March 17, 2018 17:18Thomas Hardy wrote this poem in 1899, just after the start of the Boer War. It is one of a number of poems written in response to that war. This interpretation considers the importance of the idea of home with regard to Hodge's fate. Image: c/o the internet. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
In Parenthesis (David Jones): "Out of the vortex, rifling the air it came..."
January 06, 2018 19:38Michael Blackburn reads a section of Part 2 of David Jones's modernist poem about the First World War, In Parenthesis. In this excerpt John Ball, the poem's protagonist, experiences for the first time the close explosion of a shell. The text is from the 1978 Faber edition. Image: "Frontispiece" to In Parenthesis. The David Jones Society - http://www.david-jones-society.org/david-jones.html If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by makin...
The Hound of the Baskervilles: a microlecture
December 24, 2017 16:05The Hound of the Baskervilles is not just a tale of good versus evil but also one of the ancient world meeting the modern. The atavistic part of the human psyche as represented by the natural world of Dartmoor versus the enlightened modernity of Holmes and the new Lord Baskerville. With a touch of Gothick. A microlecture by Michael Blackburn. For other podcasts on English literature subscribe to my channel. Images c/o Wikipedia and other open sources. If you enjoyed this or other videos on...
There Must Be A Heaven For Edward Thomas
December 16, 2017 15:02References: “Edward Thomas in Heaven” by P J Kavanagh; and Now All Roads Lead to France by Matthew Hollis. Photograph c/o Special Collections and Archives, Cardiff University. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Four Victorian Thinkers In Three Minutes: A Microlecture
December 13, 2017 20:29Concerning individual liberty and the state: Samuel Smiles, John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold, Herbert Spencer. Reading List: Self-Help, Samuel Smiles On Liberty, J S Mill Culture and Anarchy, Matthew Arnold The Man versus the State, Herbert Spencer If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
"Analogy", a poem by Brian Higgins, read by Michael Blackburn
November 28, 2017 15:17Brian Higgins (1930 - 1965) is now forgotten as a poet but published three collections of poetry during his lifetime. This poem, “Analogy” comes from his second, Notes While Travelling (Longmans, London, 1964). His first collection, The Only Need, was published by Abeland-Schuman (New York - London - Toronto) in 1960, and the final one (posthumously), The Northern Fiddler, by Methuen (London) in 1966. His death was ascribed to a ”rare heart condition”. More on Higgins available on Wikipedia...
Nostalgia (The Iron Music) a poem by Ford Madox Ford, read by Michael Blackburn
November 24, 2017 22:02Ford Madox Ford, 1873 - 1939. Best known as the author of such novels as The Good Soldier and No More Parades, Ford was also an accomplished modernist poet. He enlisted with the Welch Regiment in 1915 at the age of 41, served at the front and was wounded. “Nostalgia” (with the alternative title, "The Iron Music”) is one of a number of poems that take their rise from his experiences of the Great War. Image of Ford c/o The Ford Madox Ford Society (http://www.fordmadoxfordsociety.org). The te...
Ulysses The Deceiver: the Dantean Origin of Tennyson's Poem
November 14, 2017 19:46In this second podcast on Tennyson's "Ulysses" I explain the origin of Tennyson's poem in Dante's Inferno. Image: The Procession of the Trojan Horse into Troy by Tiepolo, c/o Wikipedia/National Gallery. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Tennyson's "Ulysses": Hero or Egotist?
September 24, 2017 18:28A brief look at Tennyson's poem, discussing the complexity of Ulysses with regard to heroism and the ego. This is the first of two podcasts, the second concerning Dante's version of the fate of Ulysses, as used in Tennyson's poem. Cover image: Adventures of Ulysses by Apollonio, courtesy of Wikipedia. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
The Victorian Class System
September 13, 2017 18:58A brief outline of the class system in Victorian Britain. Image: A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881, by William Powell Frith; c/o Wikipedia. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Close reading of first paras of The Fox by D H Lawrence
July 04, 2017 16:37An introduction to close reading - which I demonstrate by analysing the first four paragraphs of The Fox by D H Lawrence. Poster image of the 1967 film c/o Wikipedia. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Chesterton's The Flying Inn, Progressives, and Islam
June 12, 2017 12:28A brief talk about G K Chesterton's novel, The Flying Inn, and religion. In this bizarre novel (published in 1914) Chesterton envisages how the progressives team up with religious zealots to radically change Britain. Image courtesy of Amazon.
Look To Your Moat.
April 08, 2017 11:05A reading of an extract from A Rough Draft of a New Model at Sea by Sir George Savile, Marquess of Halifax (1633 - 1695). Text from The Oxford Book of English Prose, Sir Arthur Quiller Couch (ed.), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1958. Image c/o Wikipedia. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
The Bell Tolls For Thee: John Donne
April 03, 2017 18:49This is an extract from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions by the poet, John Donne, and contains the well-known caution, “therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” The text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Prose, Sir Arthur Quiller Couch (ed.), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1958. Image of John Donne c/o Wikipedia. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via Pay...
Peter Pan: Why Lost Boys Need Mothers
March 23, 2017 20:33The importance of mothers, memory and family in Peter Pan. A 3-minute lecture by Michael Blackburn. Image c/o Wikipedia. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Three Men in a Boat: a microlecture by Michael Blackburn
March 07, 2017 14:32A 3-minute lecture on Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome (but nothing about the dog). If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
An Air That Kills: Housman's Blue Remembered Hills
February 19, 2017 16:41A 3-minute lecture by Michael Blackburn on poem 40 of Housman's A Shropshire Lad. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Dowson's Cynara: a microlecture by Michael Blackburn
February 12, 2017 12:05A microlecture on Ernest Dowson's poem, "Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae". Image c/o Wikipedia. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Silas Marner: Absent Mothers and Bad Fathers
January 22, 2017 20:17A 3-minute lecture on the theme of absent mothers and bad fathers in George Eliot's novel, Silas Marner. Please note that "patriarch" is used in a traditional sense here, as in a father, founder or head of a family or clan; a venerable old man, ideally symbolising or embodying the positive virtues of the male (its complement being the matriarch). It does not refer to the fashionable use of "patriarchy". Image: "Silas finds Eppie" courtesy of The Jenson Society, NY (Wikipedia). If you enjoy...
Of Studies by Francis Bacon, read by Michael Blackburn
January 10, 2017 16:35Of Studies, from the collected Essays of Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was an English philosopher, scientist and statesman. He wrote a number of influential works, including The Advancement of Learning, New Atlantis and, more notably, a series of pieces simply collected under the title, Essays. Abeunt studia in mores = studies become habits. Cymini sectores = "splitters of cumin seeds," ie, hair splitters, pedants. Apologies for the occasional background noise in this recordin...
Dracula As The Jew; a microlecture.
February 12, 2014 20:18A microlecture/podcast on the idea that the figure of Bram Stoker's Dracula is based on antisemitic stereotypes of the Jew. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
The Sigh by Edmund Blunden
March 18, 2013 16:38A short descriptive sketch by Edmund Blunden from his book, The Face of England, published in 1949. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro": microlecture.
February 12, 2013 17:25A microlecture by Michael Blackburn on Ezra Pound's Imagist poem, "In a Station of the Metro". If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland
Part of Thomas Traherne's "Centuries of Meditation".
January 23, 2012 14:16Thomas Traherne, 1637-1674, born in Hereford, England, was a poet and writer of religious works. He was ordained a minister of the Church of England. For nearly two hundred years his writings had remained in manuscript until their were finally published in 1908. This particular section of the meditations concerns the visionary nature of childhood. If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https...
Urn Burial by Sir Thomas Browne
December 21, 2011 11:59A reading of selected paragraphs from the minor English classic, Urn Burial (or Hydriotaphia) by Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682). If you enjoyed this or other videos on my channel please consider showing your appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland