I recently described myself as a ‘former academic’, which brought to mind the last lecture I gave – and its crazy comparisons. Continue reading
At the age of 18, I failed a mock A-Level exam on the seventeenth-century poet, Andrew Marvell. Eleven years later, I submitted a doctoral thesis on him. This is a brief overview of the journey from failure to redemption. Continue reading
Published several decades after the first edition of Johnson’s dictionary, Francis Grose’s ‘A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue’ (1785) contained expressions that were already centuries old. Here’s a short history of a very familiar example, ‘arsy-varsey’. Continue reading
A line of work we don’t think about too often is what happens to the dead when there’s nobody left. A poem by Rory Waterman and Uberto Pasolini’s remarkable ‘Still Life’ (2013) give us plenty of room for thought. Continue reading
My recent work on Marvell and ekphrasis explores several ways in which the poet negotiates the transition between text and visual object to advance his personal and political poetics. Here, I consider how we might view ‘The Gallery’ in light of recent ekphrastic debates. Continue reading
Is it alright to brand yourself a failure in some things if you’re prepared to be a winner at others? Continue reading
Students at UCL have contributed to a gaming project that is designed to engage people with literature and question the stereotypes that ‘demonise’ video-game players. Continue reading
There are many good reasons why I don’t write much about work – one being that you’ve no way of knowing how well you actually know somebody you work with… Continue reading
The seventeenth-century poet Andrew Marvell received a mention in a recent Cosmopolitan article about Tinder. Would he really have approved of it, as its author claims? Continue reading
To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, I asked a panel of experts why we continue to celebrate his life and works in 2016. Continue reading
A glimpse at some of the treasures on display during the press launch night of Shakespeare: Metamorphosis at the University of London’s Senate House Library. Continue reading
Green is the colour of innocence and experience, of sickness and of health. A glimpse at what it means to be ‘green’ in Andrew Marvell and William Shakespeare. Continue reading
Hillary Taylor spoke at the IHR about the ‘transactional language’ that governed social relations in early modern England. This reminded me of a fable by Thomas Fuller about a king who took a trip to the woods… Continue reading
