Although I am recovering, my violent and fatiguing cold has lingered, so, with many regrets, I have to cancel the Shakespeare book club this weekend. You can discuss the play in this chat, where I will answer questions etc. I’ll try and rearrange the meeting soon. I have also started a general chat where you can ask or discuss anything you want, for all subscribers.
Moul has been reading and memorising poetry since she was nine. She recites it at the dentist (‘Aubade’, rather alarmingly) and she recited poems all through her labours when she gave birth. We talked about all sorts of poetry, from ancient to living poets. What I really admire about Victoria is how at ease she is with poems across many centuries and how she can read as a scholar and with great personal emotion. Her Substack is one of my favourites. For the last quarter of this interview, Victoria recited poems which we discussed very briefly, mostly from memory. She must know hundreds by heart.
We talked about
Horace
Shakespeare
Ovid
Claudian
Prudentius
Homer
Pindar
Sophocles
George Herbert
John Milton
Ben Jonson
Thomas Hardy
W. H. Auden
Keith Douglas
A. E. Housman
Basil Bunting
Ezra Pound
François de Malherbe
Philip Gross
Chris Childers (anthologist)
Michael Schmidt (anthologist)
Donald Davie
Gillian Allnutt
Marcel Proust
Diana Wynne Jones
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