The panel discusses chapters 35-42, exploring Melville's purpose in adopting a multigeneric style, and paying special attention to Ahab's motivations, including his conception of malice and universal evil, and his understanding of justice and vengeance.Continue reading

The panel discusses chapters 26-34, with a particular focus on the effect of genre considerations in framing the novel, its shift into Shakespearean tonality and structure, and Melville's use of humour amidst grave and existential subject matter.Continue reading

The panel discusses chapters 16-25, with a particular attention to characterisation beyond Ishmael and Queequeg--particularly that of Peleg, Bildad, Elijah, and Bulkington--and to the overarching Old Testament Biblical influences upon the narrative.Continue reading

The panel reads chapters 5-15, with a special focus on the description and narrative use of religious symbolism and devotional practice, contrasting the Christian Ishmael and the pagan Queequeg to illustrate Ishmael's welcoming, fraternal worldview.Continue reading

The panel reads the prologues and first four chapters of Moby Dick, provides an overview of the publication history of the text, and discusses the character and reliability of the jocular, circuitous narrator, who commands the reader to 'Call me Ishmael.'Continue reading

The panel concludes with an examination of Lucrece's central role as a Shakespearean protagonist, addressing her attitude towards the conflict between Roman shame and the natural law, and how her speech is situated across historical contexts.Continue reading

The panel reads the second third of Shakespeare's Lucrece, with particular attention to the paradoxical presentation of light and darkness, and to the dual nature of guilt and shame in the poem, as situated within a putatively historical Roman context.Continue reading

In the first of a three-part series on Shakespeare's Lucrece, the panel explores the Roman history and sources for the poem, before reading and examining its metaphors with a focus on Sextus Tarquinius' internal debate and final, abhorrent resolution.Continue reading

The panel reads three poems by the courtier, soldier, privateer, and poet, Sir Walter Raleigh, examining their formal (and informal) qualities, and discussing their connexions to other poetic endeavours and movements, and to contemporary events.Continue reading

The panel reads and discusses the connexions between three poems by Seamus Heaney: "Blackberry Picking", "Three-Piece", and "Mycenae Nightwatch", with attention to their formal aspects, and their use of highly emotive imagery and references to the past.Continue reading