The Classic English Literature Podcast

Encountering the Divine: Medieval Dream Vision Poetry

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 showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

Avian Agitation: ”The Owl and the Nightingale”

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 showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

”Wise, Worthy, and Belle”: Marie de France’s ”Lanval” (The Matter of Arthur, Part 2)

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 showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

The King Arthur of Pseudo-History (The Matter of Arthur, Part 1)

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 MacleodSupport the showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

1066 and All That: Anglo-Norman English

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 ObeyedMusic: "Rejoice" (GF Handel) perf.  Advent Chamber Orchestra; "Medieval Flute" (Carlos Carty)Support the showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

Black and White and Read All Over: The Exeter Book Riddles

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 findthe 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 toughand the stones allow me to hold fastagainst unrelenting force. Ask what I am called.  __________________________________________________________A moth ate words. It seemed to mea strange occasion, when I inquired about that wonder,that the worm swallowed the riddle of certain men,a thief in the darkness, the glorious pronouncementand its strong foundation. The stealing guest was notone whit the wiser, for all those words he swallowed.   ____________________________________________________________I saw four wondrous creaturestravelling 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 waysover decorated gold, all four of them. __________________________________________________________ I am a wonderful thing, a pleasureto 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 ,dares to grapple me,molesting me by the redness,ravishing my head,affixing me in her fastness.She feels my forcingright away, she whoapproaches me,a woman with braided locks.Her eye will be wet—  ____________________________________________________________Music: "Rejoice" (G.F. Handel) perf. Advent Chamber OrchestraText: Muir, Bernard James, ed. The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry, 1994.Support the showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

Those Who Wander: The Anglo-Saxon Elegies

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 showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

Wherefore Beowulf?

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. CottagerSupport the showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

Why Think About Literature?

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 OrchestraSupport the showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org

The Coming of the Anglo-Saxons

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 MediaInterstitial Announcement: She Who Must Be ObeyedSupport the showPlease like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen. Thank you!Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.comFollow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.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 OrchestraSubcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish GuardsSound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org