Critical Readings examines key literary texts using close reading and critical analysis, and explains these approaches in discussion. Listeners will learn about the texts themselves and about how to approach a text for critical analysis.
Episodes
CR Episode 347: Billy Budd, Part II
The panel discusses the second half of Melville's Billy Budd, with special attention to the legal process and potential crimes under the articles of war, and to the structural pressures exerted upon and represented by the characters themselves.Continue reading
CR Episode 346: Billy Budd, Part I
The panel discusses the first half of Melville's unfinished masterpiece, Billy Budd, with close attention to the allegorical narrative framework and the characterisation of the childlike Billy Budd and his antithesis, the naturally depraved John Claggart.Continue reading
CR Episode 345: The Purloined Letter
The panel closes out OctPOEber 2026 with another C. Auguste Dupin story, examining its gothic roots, considering the views of both Lacan and Derrida, and questioning how it fits alongside Rue Morgue within the then-novel idea of 'detective fiction'.Continue reading
CR Episode 344: The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The panel discusses Poe's first C. Auguste Dupin story, and examines it as the first detective novel, with special attention to its literary context and the influence that it has had on later authors, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to J.K. Rowling.Continue reading
CR Episode 343: The Fall of the House of Usher
The panel discusses Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Ashes, with special attention given to the floridity of its descriptions and the duplication of language and imagery, and to the nature of the malady that afflicts the twin siblings of Usher.Continue reading
CR Episode 342: The Cask of Amontillado
The panel reads The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, with attention to its structure of vengeance, its gothic genre features, the presence of literal echoes and narrative recurrence, and particularly the reliability—and sanity—of the narrator.Continue reading
CR Episode 341: Beowulf, Part III
The panel discusses the conclusion of Beowulf—including Beowulf's final battle and his victorious death—with particular attention given to the didactic purpose of the poem, its framing of leadership and loyalty, and its function in historical context.Continue reading
CR Episode 340: Beowulf, Part II
The panel discusses the second of Beowulf's battles—this time, against Grendel's vengeful mother—with special attention to the nature of his foe and the particularly fantastic setting of the battle, which takes place deep beneath the water of the fens.Continue reading
CR Episode 339: Beowulf, Part I
Dr. Madeline Potter joins the panel just in time for the first-ever Readers' Choice series: the Old English poem, Beowulf. The panel reads of Beowulf's battle with Grendel, with special attention to how honour is won and defended by Geats and Danes.Continue reading
CR Episode 338: The Once and Future King, Part XIV
The panel discusses the conclusion of The Candle in the Wind, with a look at Mordred's unreal motivations, Arthur's ultimate victory or failure, Guenever's personal agency, and the development of Gawaine beyond the initial limits of his character.Continue reading
CR Episode 337: The Once and Future King, Part XIII
The panel discusses chapters 6–10 of the final book in The Once and Future King, with attention to Arthur's philosophical character, particularly whether his political theories serve as a prison which prevents the kind of action that could save his realm.Continue reading
CR Episode 336: The Once and Future King, Part XII
The panel discusses the first five chapters of The Candle in the Wind, the last of the four books in the tetralogy, with a look at White's historical overview of the mediæval period, and a thorough study of his villainous duo of Agravaine and Mordred.Continue reading
CR Episode 335: The Once and Future King, Part XI
The panel discusses the closing chapters of The Ill-Made Knight, with attention to the circumstances of Guenever's increasingly frenzied behaviour towards Lancelot, and to his growth as a character—from self-glorifying to self-abasing—across the book.Continue reading
CR Episode 334: The Once and Future King, Part X
The panel discusses chapters 26–33 of The Ill-Made Knight, examining the violent deaths of Morgause and Lamorak, Arthur's solution to the problem of 'games-mania' in the Round Table, Guenever's festering jealousy, and Lancelot's spiritual devotions.Continue reading
CR Episode 333: The Once and Future King, Part IX
The panel addresses reader questions and discusses chapters 19–25 of The Ill-Made Knight, with an examination of Lancelot's pitiable condition and an investigation into its causes, whether due to internal contradiction, or because of external pressures.Continue reading
CR Episode 332: The Once and Future King, Part VIII
The panel discusses chapters 9–18 of The Ill-Made Knight, with special attention given to the development of Lancelot's relationships with the wily Elaine and the imperious Guenever, particularly in the savage denouement that leads to Lancelot's madness.Continue reading
CR Episode 331: The Once and Future King, Part VII
The panel discusses chapters 1–8 of The Ill-Made Knight, with special attention given to the characterisation and Freudian psychology of Lancelot, contrasting humility with narcissism, and examining the beginning of his relationship with Guenever.Continue reading
CR Episode 330: The Once and Future King, Part VI
The panel reads the second half of The Queen of Air and Darkness, giving special consideration to Arthur's vision of the Round Table and total war, the need for Might to support Right against wickedness, the Aristotelian (or not) nature of the tragedy.Continue reading
CR Episode 329: The Once and Future King, Part V
The panel discusses the first half of The Queen of Air and Darkness (also known as The Witch in the Wood), with particular attention both to the Freudian characterisation of Morgause and her children, and to Merlyn's 'just war' political philosophy.Continue reading
CR Episode 328: The Once and Future King, Part IV
The panel discusses the concluding chapters (20–24) of The Sword in the Stone, with special attention to Arthur's martial inclinations (and what they mean for a broader society), Kay's personal failings (and fundamental goodness), and Merlin's robes.Continue reading
CR Episode 327: The Once and Future King, Part III
The panel discusses chapters 14–19 of The Sword in the Stone, with special attention to White's romanticised depiction of feudalism and the historical setting of the action, and with a comparison of the pacifistic views of the geese vs. the warlike ants.Continue reading
CR Episode 326: The Once and Future King, Part II
The panel reads chapters 8–13 of The Sword in the Stone, with a focus on the precise nature of Merlin's magic and the 'transformations' experienced by the Wart (but not by Kay), and a detailed examination of the episode of the Ants and their collectivism.Continue reading
CR Episode 325: The Once and Future King, Part I
The panel reads the first seven chapters of The Sword in the Stone, with attention given to the modern and medieval aspects of the setting, White's own narratorial voice, the differing metaphors and parallels of characterisation, and the original sources.Continue reading
CR Episode 324: The Poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson
The panel reads three poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson—"Uriel", "Ode Inscribed to William H. Channing", and "The Snow Storm"—with special attention to the role of the poet-philosopher's transcendentalist, romanticist, and abolitionist views in the poems.Continue reading
CR Episode 323: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V
The panel discusses the concluding act and scene of the play, with special attention to the linguistic wordplay and the Shakespearean critique of players, audiences, and critics alike in the both the play-within-a-play device and in Puck's epilogue.Continue reading
CR Episode 322: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act IV
The panel discusses the resolution of the love quadrangle, as Puck puts right the enchantments in order to bring Oberon's original plan to fruition, before turning to consider Titania's relationship to her husband in the wake of her own enchantment.Continue reading
CR Episode 321: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III
The panel discusses the deployment of additional fairy magic, with the transformation of Bottom and the confounding of Helena, and the confusion that results when both Bottom and Helena misbelieve that they are subject of their friends' pranks.Continue reading
CR Episode 320: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II
The panel discusses the second act and the moment in the play when the plans of the characters begin to go astray due to mischance, with special attention to the tension between Titania and Oberon, and the expanding geographical knowledge of the time.Continue reading
CR Episode 319: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I
The panel discusses the setting and form of the play, before discussing the first act and its complicated love quadrangle, with attention given to love and the threat of violence, and the characters' creation of overlapping plans that threaten to collide.Continue reading
CR Episode 318: Paradise Regained, Book IV
The panel discusThe panel discusses the end of the second temptation, with Satan's exasperation and the exhaustion of his intellect, followed by his less cunning and crafty final temptation, set high atop the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, whence he falls anew.Continue reading
CR Episode 317: Paradise Regained, Book III
The panel discusses the continuation of the second temptation in the desert, with Satan's various presentations of worldly power, and the explication that acceptance of any of his 'gifts' is tantamount to acknowledging his sovereignty over the recipient.Continue reading
CR Episode 316: Paradise Regained, Book II
The panel discusses the second book, with special attention to the newest appearance of Satan, his confusion, and the difference between his first temptation (bread) and this second temptation (a feast), before shifting to his offer of worldly powers.Continue reading
CR Episode 315: Paradise Regained, Book I
The panel discusses the first book of Paradise Regained, the sequel (or continuation) of Paradise Lost, with special attention paid to the particular qualities of the first temptation in the desert, and to the poet's references to the earlier poem.Continue reading
CR Episode 314: W.H. Auden and Mediaevalism
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 the Crossroads", "Ode to the Medieval Poets", and the 'Bombing Run' excerpt from "The Age of Anxiety."Continue reading
CR Episode 313: Sense and Sensibility, Part IV
The panel discusses the closing chapters of the novel, with special attention to the quasi-reformation of Willoughby's character, the depths of villainy attained by Lucy Steele, the triumph of Col. Brandon, and Elinor's emotional displays: grief and joy.Continue reading
CR Episode 312: Sense and Sensibility, Part III
The panel discusses chapters 30–39, with the unveiling of secrets including Edward and Lucy's engagement, and Colonel Brandon's connexion to Willoughby, and featuring a discussion of Colonel Brandon's good character and Willoughby's extravagant villainy.Continue reading
CR Episode 311: Sense and Sensibility, Part II
The panel discusses chapters 18–29, with a omparison of the relationship of Elinore and Edward versus that of Marianne and Willoughby, a discussion of the role of leisure or industry in happiness, and a consideration of the failures of civility on show.Continue reading
CR Episode 310: Sense and Sensibility, Part I
The panel discusses the first seventeen chapters of Sense and Sensibility, with special attention given to contemporary inheritance law, the character faults of the Dashwoods, and the opposition between Elinore's 'sense' and her family's 'sensibility'.Continue reading
CR Episode 309: The Vanity of Human Wishes
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 academic life, with special attention given to the difference lying between imitation and translation.Continue reading
CR Episode 308: The Hobbit, Part V
The panel discusses the closing chapters—the battles against Smaug and between the five armies, and the journey home—with special attention to the influence of great wealth, the difference between leaders amongst the Lake-men, and Bilbo's significance.Continue reading
CR Episode 307: The Hobbit, Part IV
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 attention to the contrast between rationalism and romanticism, particularly in the Master of Lake-Town.Continue reading
CR Episode 306: The Hobbit, Part III
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 amongst the dwarves, the role of hunger and darkness in creating tension, and the timeframe of events.Continue reading
CR Episode 305: The Hobbit, Part II
The panel discusses chapters 5–7, with examination of Tolkien's sources and the chronology of its composition, discussion about the different phases of the story's development, and a conversation about the chapter structure and roles of different races.Continue reading
CR Episode 304: The Hobbit, Part I
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 to the genres of fairy tales and bedtime stories, and its careful use of narrative foreshadowing.Continue reading
CR Episode 303: Romeo and Juliet, Act V
The panel closes out Romeo and Juliet, and the year 2025, with a discussion of Friar Laurence's cowardly culpability, Romeo's impassioned importunity, Juliet's happy dagger, Paris' finest hour, and Shakespeare's interest in people of all walks of life.Continue reading
CR Episode 302: Romeo and Juliet, Act IV
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 courses of action in favour of one which helps him avoid scrutiny for his role in their relationship.Continue reading
CR Episode 301: Romeo and Juliet, Act III
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 Juliet's nurse from the action, and with both Romeo and Juliet considering death rather than separation.Continue reading
CR Episode 300: Romeo and Juliet, Act II
The panel discusses the second act, including the secret marriage plans facilitated by Friar Laurence, with attention given to the impetuous behaviour of Romeo and Juliet, and the dangerously enabling conduct of those around them, Mercutio excepted.Continue reading
CR Episode 299: Romeo and Juliet, Act I
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 given to the love-violence parallels, characterisation of the feuding families, and bawdy use of puns.Continue reading
CR Episode 298: The Dunciad, Part IV
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 position within the canon of early modern literature and examining his critical appraisal of his culture.Continue reading
CR Episode 297: The Dunciad, Part III
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 rampant spirits of ignorance and commercialism that threaten the survival of the arts from opera to poetry.Continue reading
CR Episode 296: The Dunciad, Part II
The panel discusses the second book of Alexander Pope's final Dunciad (of 1743), with attention to the historical personages who are satirised, including Flecknoe and Blackmore, and the effects that they had on later poets and on the English stage.Continue reading
CR Episode 295: The Dunciad, Part I
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 personal depictions in the poem, along with a look at the parodic critical footnotes provided by the author.Continue reading
CR Episode 294: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Celebrating Halloween, the panel discusses one of Washington Irving's best-known works—The Legend of Sleepy Hollow—with special attention to the role of characterisation, historical detail, and descriptive imagery in a near contemporary to Jane Austen.Continue reading
CR Episode 293: Pride and Prejudice, Part IV
The panel discusses the concluding chapters and a series of insightful reader questions about the influence of Austen's religion, the role of romance in her novels, and her development of realistic, compelling characters with flaws and areas of growth.Continue reading
CR Episode 292: Pride and Prejudice, Part III
The panel discusses chapters 35–49, with special attention to the rational development of Elizabeth's appreciation of Mr. Darcy, and to Jane Austen's reformist, but not revolutionary, attitude to the social mores and expectations of Regency-era England.Continue reading
CR Episode 291: Pride and Prejudice, Part II
The panel discusses chapters 18–34, with topics of interest including Mr. Darcy's concealed gallantry, whether Mr. Collins has any goodly qualities, Elizabeth's sensible regard for her family's reputation, and her internally conflicted personal values.Continue reading
CR Episode 290: Pride and Prejudice, Part I
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 biographical connexions between Austen's life and her novels, and the initially peripheral nature of the protagonists.Continue reading
CR Episode 289: E.A. Robinson’s Gothic Verse
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 their response), and particularly their formal qualities seen across three villanelles and two sonnets.Continue reading
CR Episode 288: Edwin Muir’s Narrow Place
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 version of Nietzsche's philosophy, and their opposed characterisation of the civilised and natural worlds.Continue reading
CR Episode 287: The Beginnings of English Poetry
The panel discusses two of the earliest examples of English poetry—Caedmon's Hymn and The Dream of the Rood (sometimes attributed to Cynewulf)—with a discussion of translation theory, Saxon influence, and the development of English poetry and language.Continue reading
CR Episode 286: The Rape of the Lock, Part II
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 references to his own involvement in the real-life events enacted by the poem's fictional protagonists.Continue reading
CR Episode 285: The Rape of the Lock, Part I
The panel discusses the first two cantos of Alexander Pope's heroi-comical peacemaker poem, with special attention to its use of foreshadowing, the style and tenor of its dialogue, and its allegedly Rosicrucian spiritology (and its textual origins).Continue reading
CR Episode 284: Poetry and Music
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, "Most Glorious Lord of Life" by Edmund Spenser, and "Three Songs for St. Cecilia's Day" by W.H. Auden.Continue reading
CR Episode 283: Tristram Shandy, Part XIV
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 the Widow Wadman, with special attention to Toby's wound, Trim's knee, and Mrs. Shandy's constant purity.Continue reading
CR Episode 282: Tristram Shandy, Part XIII
The panel reads the conclusion of the eighth book, with attention to metaphorical fortifications and battle plans, a tale of one-sided love between Corporal Trim and a Nursing Nun, and a budding romance between Uncle Toby and the Widow Wadman.Continue reading
CR Episode 281: Tristram Shandy, Part XII
The panel discusses the books seven and eight, with particular attention to the parallel narratives used to describe the approach to Lyons, the different forms of bad luck Tristram encounters there, and the Widow Wadman's love for Uncle Toby.Continue reading
CR Episode 280: Tristram Shandy, Part XI
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 Auxerre: as a child, as a young man, and in the narrative 'present' when the book is being written.Continue reading
CR Episode 279: Tristram Shandy, Part X
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, the mode of classical dress, and the rise of the novel in both its historical and literary contexts.Continue reading
CR Episode 278: Tristram Shandy, Part IX
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 the potential truth in ancient knowledge and the pedagogical value of learning fundamental texts by rote.Continue reading
CR Episode 277: Tristram Shandy, Part VIII
The panel discusses the beginning of book five, including the extreme discomfort of riding post-chaise, the concupiscent meanings which attach to ordinary words thereby rendering them unusable, and the highly irregular manner of Tristram's circumcision.Continue reading
CR Episode 276: Tristram Shandy, Part VII
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 nose (or noes), and the inflexible irrevocability of all of the mishaps that occur during the narrative.Continue reading
CR Episode 275: Tristram Shandy, Part VI
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 opportunity to examine how Dr. Slop and Walter Shandy can be compared to Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim.Continue reading
CR Episode 274: Tristram Shandy, Part V
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 of mix-ups involving the words 'mortar' and 'bridge' with dire implications for the unhappy newborn.Continue reading
CR Episode 273: Tristram Shandy, Part IV
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 delivery of his forceps, free them from their knotted bag, and demonstrate their usage on Uncle Toby.Continue reading
CR Episode 272: Tristram Shandy, Part III
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 elisions, the need to fill in details or leave them to readerly imagination, and the use of real-world sermons.Continue reading
CR Episode 271: Tristram Shandy, Part II
The panel discusses Tristram's father's theories about nominative determinism, the different translations of identical biblical names, and the latest contemporary French developments regarding pre-natal baptism and its theological justifications.Continue reading
CR Episode 270: Tristram Shandy, Part I
The panel begins the summer reading of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman with a biographical overview of Laurence Sterne, followed by the first eighteen chapters, with a focus on the novel's metatextual moves and discursive structure.Continue reading
CR Episode 269: Pygmalion, Act V
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 over romanticism, the utilitarian mindset of Higgins towards other people, and the role of equal treatment.Continue reading
CR Episode 268: Pygmalion, Act IV
The panel reads the fourth act in full, with a discussion of Prof. Higgins' narcissism and its collision with his deepening feelings, an examination of the contemporary social strata in British society, and a review of Shaw's later additions to the act.Continue reading
