Keith 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 appreciation by making a donation, however small, to https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland

EnglishReadings

Aristocrats, by Keith Douglas

A 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

An extract from The South Country by Edward Thomas, read by Michael Blackburn

Edmund 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.

"Was it a dream?" - An amorous sonnet by Edmund Spenser (Amoretti LXXVII) read by Michael Blackburn.

This 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 Erotic Nerve; from A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys

B 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 Poet Holds His Future In His Hand, a poem by B S Johnson read by Michael Blackburn

The 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 Spectator, the first article (1711), read by Michael Blackburn.

"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.

The Little Dancers by Binyon: a reading and microlecture

The 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 Soviet-Nazi pact and how they found ways of deceiving themselves about the truth. Image c/o Wikipedia, Fair Use. 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

Scum of the Earth by Koestler: an extract read by Michael Blackburn

This 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Higgins_(poet) 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

A brief intro to the poet, Brian Higgins.

Given 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

The Necessity of Freedom of Speech - J S Mill, On Liberty (a brief extract)

This 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 British Library https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/burtons-anatomy-of-melancholy-1628 Text for this extract: Everyman’s Library 887, Dent, London, 1968, ed. Holbrook Jackson. 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

John 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 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke 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

John Locke on reading properly (Of the Conduct of the Understanding)

Thomas 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

Stella, the social justice warrior; in Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818)

This 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 appreciation by making a donation, however small, via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SunkIsland

Ken Smith, poet: a personal recollection and two poems.

Merry 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, better known for her novels and other writings. The Decline of Merry England, Cassel and Company, London, 1930. Storm Jameson - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Jameson Merry England/Deep England - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_England The image is ℅ ALAMY. 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 fierce joy of Merry England (from Storm Jameson's The Decline of Merry England)

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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EnglishReadings

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