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Political Literature
This section brings together resources from the across the Great Writers Inspire site to illustrate how these can be used as a starting point for exploration of or classroom discussion about the political aspects of literature.
The 'Approaching Political Literature' essay introduces a series of topics and questions and gives examples of resources to explore. It is aimed at teachers, students and anyone who is interested in literature who wants to put text into context and be inspired by Great Writers.
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| # | Title | Description | Contributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Are traditional texts always what they seem? Great Expectations pt2 (lecture) |
Video lecture by Simon Swift, University of Leeds and discussion board. In this second... |
Simon Swift |
| 2 | The Victorians: Gender and Sexuality (lecture) |
Free public lecture by Professor Sir Richard Evans FBA. From Gresham College. Available as video... |
Richard Evans |
| 3 | Literature and Politics in Seventeenth Century London (lecture) |
Free public lecture by Anna Beer, held at Gresham College.
|
Anna Beer |
| 4 | Ezra Pound |
Dr Rebecca Beasley explains why we should read Pound, someone she considers as the central... |
Rebecca Beasley |
| 5 | DH Lawrence 7. Reception History |
Catherine Brown gives the Seventh and final lecture in the DH Lawrence series |
Catherine Brown |
| # | Title | Description | Contributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ezra Pound |
Dr Rebecca Beasley explains why we should read Pound, someone she considers as the central... |
Rebecca Beasley |
| 2 | DH Lawrence 7. Reception History |
Catherine Brown gives the Seventh and final lecture in the DH Lawrence series |
Catherine Brown |
| 3 | Why Dickens? |
Dr Robert Douglas-Fairhurst talks of Dickens' life and influences and why these have made... |
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst |
| 4 | King John |
At the heart of King John is the death of his rival Arthur: this fifteenth lecture in the... |
Emma Smith |
| 5 | Richard III |
In this thirteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series the focus is on the... |
Emma Smith |
| 6 | Henry IV part 1 |
Like generations of theatre-goers, this lecture concentrates on the (large) figure of Sir John... |
Emma Smith |
| 7 | Richard II |
Lecture eight in the Approaching Shakespeare series asks the question that structures Richard II... |
Emma Smith |
| 8 | Henry V |
The second lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series looks at King Henry V, and asks whether... |
Emma Smith |
| 9 | The Shoemaker's Holiday: Thomas Dekker |
Like a Busby Berkeley depression-era musical, Dekker's comedy is a feel-good antidote to a... |
Emma Smith |
| # | Essay Title | Description | Contributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approaching Political Literature |
This essay offers suggestions for how material on the Great Writers Inspire site can be used... |
Kate O'Connor |
| 2 | The Art of Mourning in First World War Poetry |
The poetry written during the First World War was often created as an elegiac response to the... |
Charlotte Barrett |
| 3 | Derek Walcott |
... |
Dominic Davies |
| 4 | The Importance of Being Wilde |
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all" ... |
Kate O'Connor |
| 5 | Jonathan Swift and 'A Tale of a Tub' |
This essay is the first of two distilled from a lecture series on Jonathan Swift given by Dr... |
Abigail Williams, Kate O'Connor |
| 6 | Who Killed Christopher Marlowe (and Why)? | Kate O'Connor |
| # | Title | Description | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Tragedy of Richard the Third: with the Landing of Earle Richmond, and the Battell at Bosworth Field. |
ebook version of The Tragedy of Richard the Third: with the Landing of Earle Richmond, and the... |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
| 2 | Lady Chatterley's lover |
ebook version of Lady Chatterley's lover |
Lawrence, D.H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930 |
| 3 | The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, Containing his Death: and the Coronation of King Henry the Fift. |
ebook version of The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, Containing his Death: and the Coronation... |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
| 4 | Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus |
ebook version of Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus |
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 |
| 5 | Areopagitica |
ebook version of Areopagitica |
Milton, John, 1608-1674 |
| 6 | The shoemakers' holiday |
ebook version of The shoemakers' holiday |
Dekker, Thomas, ca. 1572-1632 |
| 7 | The Life of Henry the Fift. |
ebook version of The Life of Henry the Fift. |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
| 8 | The Tragedy of Coriolanus. |
ebook version of The Tragedy of Coriolanus. |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
| 9 | The life and death of King Iohn. |
ebook version of The life and death of King Iohn. |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
| 10 | THE TRAGEDIE OF IVLIVS CAESAR. |
ebook version of THE TRAGEDIE OF IVLIVS CAESAR. |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
| 11 | The life and death of King Richard the Second. |
ebook version of The life and death of King Richard the Second. |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
| 12 | The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of HENRY Sirnamed HOT-SPVRRE. |
ebook version of The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of HENRY Sirnamed... |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
| 13 | Tale of a Tub |
ebook version of Tale of a Tub |
Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745 |
| 14 | The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | |
| 15 | Heart of Darkness | Joseph Conrad | |
| 16 | The White Man’s Burden |
Poem from 'The Five Nations' |
Ruyard Kipling |
| 17 | Sons and Lovers | D. H. Lawrence | |
| 18 | The Soul of Man under Socialism | Oscar Wilde | |
| 19 | The Prose Works of John Milton |
With a Biographical Introduction by Rufus Wilmot Griswold. In Two Volumes (Philadelphia: John W... |
John Milton |
| 20 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde | |
| 21 | The Ballad of Reading Gaol | Oscar Wilde | |
| 22 | The Manifesto of the Communist Party |
[From the English edition of 1888, edited by Friedrich Engels] |
Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels |
| 23 | On the Origin of Species |
Publisher info: London: John Murray, 1859. |
Charles Darwin |
| 24 | Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave | Aphra Behn | |
| 25 | Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World | Jonathan Swift | |
| 26 | Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
Publisher: London : Longmans, Green |
Robert Louis Stevenson |
| 27 | Poetry in Context: The First World War Poetry Digital Archive (article) |
Kate Lindsay and Stuart Lee describe how primary source material is enriching teaching and... |
Stuart Lee, Katharine Lindsay |
| # | Resource Title | Description | Contributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reading and World War I |
Essay from the Open University course unit 'History of reading: An introduction to reading in... |
|
| 2 | Course: Milton (Open Yale) |
Open Yale course with Professor John Rogers.
|
John Rogers |