Teaching Nightmares
This was taken from You Can’t Scare Me I’m A Teacher. It doesn’t just happen at school. I recall a seminar with 30 students: 22 late, 5 very late. 0 had attended all the previous sessions. At best they had … Read More
5 Things You Will Probably Like about Milton
Milton was a rebellious student Milton went to Cambridge but was expelled after just one term for fighting with a tutor and was one of the last Cambridge students to be publicly flogged. Milton was a political rebel James II … Read More
Milton and the Epic Hero
What is an epic hero and do they have to do with Paradise Lost? When Milton was writing epic conventions were readily understood. Epic heroes still attract audiences (see films like Thor for an obvious example) but for some reason … Read More
Milton and the Epic
What is epic and what does it have to do with Milton? Paradise Lost, you will no doubt have been told, is an epic poem – not ‘because it is long’ (as a student once informed me ingeniously in an … Read More
Does Moll Flanders Repent & Does It Matter?
Moll is a variation on the biblical parable of the prodigal son (see below). He wants to be free to do his own thing so asks his father for his share of the inheritance in advance. He spends the money … Read More
University Reading too Complicated?
‘I don’t really know what’s relevant – I just get lost and the set texts don’t help because they’re too complicated’. There are two issues here: you find the set texts difficult to read and you’re not sure how to … Read More
Website Help with Grammar
I’ve just had an interesting query about websites to help with grammar. There are no websites that can check grammar for you reliably, although Microsoft insists that its software can help :-). The real answer of course lies in studying … Read More
Austen and Money
Full marks to anyone who sees how appropriate it is to have Jane Austen on a bank note given her practical concern with money in all its forms in her novels. Feel free to go and educate the BBC 🙂 … Read More
Jane Austen to Feature on New Bank Note
It’s just been announced that Jane Austen will feature on the new £10 bank note. This is part of an ongoing debate about why so few women feature on UK bank notes and whether or not this means that our … Read More
Women and the Eighteenth-Century Novel
The eighteenth-century canon is still largely dominated by male writers but researchers have shown increasing interest since the 1980s in eighteenth-century women not only as readers but as writers. My students are often surprised to learn that freedom of speech … Read More
18thc Women and Education
Extract from my free lecture on eighteenth-century literature, the Literature of Sensibility, women writers and readers: Women’s education was much debated throughout the century, not least in women’s novels but the generally accepted ideal was to educate women not for … Read More
Is Austen’s Persuasion a Romantic novel?
Some time ago I was asked to give a lecture on Persuasion as a Romantic novel – a bit of a challenge because I’d never really seen it as such :-). However, I was lecturing on a Romantic Literature course … Read More
Gulliver & 18thc Europeans as ‘pernicious odious vermin’!
Swift was a humanitarian, deeply concerned with the political issues of his day and practically involved in supporting the poor and fighting for change. Gulliver’s Travels, much loved by children for its fantastical figures, tells us much about the political … Read More
Eighteenth-Century England and Education
Taken from my lecture on Gulliver’s Travels. There are some good things about Lilliputian society – Gulliver is impressed by their education system because they actually educate women. The thought of educating women may not cause too many ripples in … Read More
Devon Council To Ban the Apostrophe?
No, it’s not April Fools’ Day… Extract from The Huffington Post: Councillors in Devon are considering banning apostrophes from their street signs because of the “potential confusion” the punctuation causes… Council communications manager Andrew Lacey said: “Our proposed policy on … Read More
Who was Petrarch?
Who was Petrarch and why do lecturers in English Literature talk so much about him? Petrarch is a particularly important figure in Renaissance culture. Campbell argues that ‘Petrarch was responsible for the idea of romantic love which was celebrated in … Read More
What was the ‘Renaissance’?
Students are often rather put off by the term ‘Renaissance’, yet surprised to find themselves becoming fans of Elizabeth I and enjoying Renaissance literature in spite of the language… Stick with it guys. I don’t know who told you that … Read More
Shakespeare & Storm Imagery
Taken from my lecture on The Tempest. The full Tempest Lecture text is available here. The Sea / Storm The sea can act as a powerful image of destructive power, as in Titus Andronicus: ‘I stand as one upon a … Read More
Richardson, Aubin & rape in 18thc novels
Taken from my essay, ‘”Minerva’s favourite Sholar”: Penelope Aubin Reconsidered’ – full text available here. Bizarrely, the terms ‘rape’ and ‘seduction’ are often used pretty much interchangeably in eighteenth-century writings. Women were often accused of passive consent in rape cases, … Read More
Christmas, Presents & Dickens
So why do people celebrate Christmas with presents? The Bible presents Christ coming to earth as God’s gift to humanity: ‘he will save his people from their sins’(Matthew 1:21). The Bible consistently stresses the need to share the love of … Read More