A combined reading and analysis of the anonymous medieval lyric Wanne Mine Eyhnen Misten, a short contemplation on death and mortality written in Middle English.
A combined reading and analysis of the anonymous medieval carol I Syng of a Mayden, examining its Marian devotion, its delicate imagery of the Annunciation, and its carol form.
A combined reading and analysis of the anonymous medieval lyric Westron Wynde, exploring its expression of love, longing, and desire for homecoming in just four lines.
An experimental jazz reading of Yeats’s Sailing to Byzantium, bringing the poem’s themes of aging, art, and the soul’s journey toward immortality to life through music.
A combined reading and analysis of Yeats’s Mad as the Mist and Snow, exploring its themes of aging, madness, and the passing of time in the context of his later poetry.
A reading of Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress, one of the finest carpe diem poems in English, urging the beloved to seize the pleasures of life before time runs out.
A combined reading and analysis of Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress, examining its carpe diem argument, witty conceits, and the urgency of love in the face of mortality.
A combined reading and analysis of Donne’s The Sun Rising, exploring its witty metaphysical conceit, themes of love and the transcendence of time, and its characteristically bold opening.
A combined reading and analysis of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, exploring its themes of beauty, love, and the power of poetry to confer immortality.
An illustrated reading of Hopkins’s Spring and Fall, accompanied by images of autumn that complement the poem’s meditation on childhood, sorrow, and mortality.