Is Brexit another Revolution?
March 15, 2019
A touch of history, frustrations with Brexit, regret for my family, and coming from Sunderland. … More Is Brexit another Revolution?
Tag: English Revolution
Christopher Hill, Andrew Marvell, and the Dissenting Tradition
November 6, 2018
I owe much of my interest in the seventeenth century to the late historian, Christopher Hill (1912-2003). I went to see Justin Champion deliver an impassioned defence of Hill and his work at a memorial lecture in Newark. … More Christopher Hill, Andrew Marvell, and the Dissenting Tradition
Marvell, Dryden, and the Horatian Ode
February 16, 2017
There is no hard evidence that Andrew Marvell’s ‘Horatian Ode’ ever left his hands. Yet, it may have come to John Dryden’s attention. How is Dryden the privileged one? A brief study of hard and soft evidence. … More Marvell, Dryden, and the Horatian Ode
British Milton Seminar (March 2016)
March 13, 2016
The 53rd British Milton Seminar took place at the Birmingham and Midland Institute on Saturday 12th March 2016, featuring papers on laughing, smiling, ‘erring’ and commercialising in Paradise Lost. … More British Milton Seminar (March 2016)
Falling Arse Over Tit Through History – A Lexical Journey
September 20, 2015
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’. … More Falling Arse Over Tit Through History – A Lexical Journey
British Milton Seminar / Milton and America (2015)
March 17, 2015
A summary of the 51st British Milton Seminar held in Birmingham in March 2015, and the fourth annual Milton lecture, ‘Milton and America’, delivered by Thomas Corns at the Mercers’ Hall in London. … More British Milton Seminar / Milton and America (2015)
Reading the Small Print: Marvell’s Horatian Ode
September 27, 2012
New material on Marvell’s ‘Horatian Ode’ excites me more than any other subject, I would wager. It is one of the iconic poems upon which every Marvellian faces his or her own judgement day. … More Reading the Small Print: Marvell’s Horatian Ode
The Fairfax 400 Anniversary Conference
July 6, 2012
The Fairfax 400 Conference took place at the Centre for English Local History, University of Leicester, on June 30th and July 1st, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the birth of Thomas, Lord Fairfax (1612-1671). … More The Fairfax 400 Anniversary Conference
Resourcefulness: Marvell’s ‘The Character of Holland’
February 25, 2012
Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Character of Holland’ was composed, though not published, in early 1653. So who was it written for, and why? A brief exploration. … More Resourcefulness: Marvell’s ‘The Character of Holland’
Privacy and Parliamentary Privilege
June 14, 2011
This recent period has been plagued with privacy issues, the biggest of which, no doubt, has been the issue of super-injunctions and the exercising of parliamentary privilege. So, what is parliamentary privilege? … More Privacy and Parliamentary Privilege
Writing Privacy 