A year’s subscription costs £10, and subscribers receive newsletters, at least two editions of ‘The Wool-gatherer’ ( a magazine containing short articles on miscellaneous literary topics), and three or four longer essays or selections from writers who are not well-known or readily accessible. Many of the articles spring from courses which I have taught, but it is not necessary to have attended these; my optimistic belief is that there exists, at least potentially, a substantial minority of people who might be described as ‘general readers’, and that they are hardly being catered for at all these days.

I don’t write for academics – I am not one myself, and, for good or ill, am confined  mainly to the resources of my bookshelves (I am an I.T. Luddite, despite this uncharacteristic exploration of cyberspace). If you are interested in that old and unfashionable pursuit, reading, and are willing to explore the writing of the past, then you should find something that will intrigue or amuse you, and, if an article stimulates (or goads) you into a reaction, ‘The Wool-gatherer’ will offer you space in which to have your say.

Individual copies of ‘The Wool-gatherer’ may be ordered for £2.50. Other publications are £2.00. Prices include postage within the U.K. To buy any of these, or to receive all the 2011 issues (£10), please send a cheque payable to D.H. Parry at:

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Summaries follow of some of the topics which I have included in recent publications.


WOOL-GATHERER 1


‘Cast Sorrow to the Cock’: the mental breakdown and recovery of Thomas Hoccleve.

‘Confounding Elysium’: the geography of the afterlife – Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy and Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus.

‘Monsters in Cupid’s Pageant’: the tentative courtship of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida.

‘And are there Neanderthals still in Scotland?’: Samuel Johnson’s journey to the Western Isles.

‘Transvestism and the Pursuit of Happiness’: cross-dressing themes in Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters.

‘Oh to be in England (or perhaps somewhere much nicer)’: mixed messages about the relative merits of home and abroad from Robert Browning.

‘Women’s Page’: poems by women writers – Maura Dooley, Fleur Adcock, Mary Alcock.

‘And now – a Commercial Break’: poems by Hugh Parry; short stories by Margaret Wakefield.

‘Roll over, Beethoven’: musical aversion therapy in A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

‘George Herbert and “The Forerunners”’: does literary skill in a religious poem dignify the subject or feed the writer’s vanity?

‘Apolonius and Silla’: the stories of Barnabe Riche; Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and its source; the Elizabethan treatment of lunacy; ambiguous punctuation.

‘Publish and be Cuckolded’: translations of Ovid’s Amores compared.

‘Rites of Passage’: the coming-of-age of Telemachus in Homer’s The Odyssey.



WOOL-GATHERER 2

‘A Beginning, a Middle and a Choice of Endings’: Malcolm Bradbury, Charlotte Bronte and Tom Stoppard play narrative games with their readers.

‘To Knot or Not To’: landscape gardening in Paradise Lost and Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.

‘A Gourd of Grape-Juice...’: gardening as moral behaviour – John Milton, George Herbert and Ruth Pitter.

‘Harping On’: cultural conflicts in Wales – R.S. Thomas and G.M. Hopkins.

‘Orcus Porcus and Good Times in Keighley’: the eccentric 17th century picaresque poem of Richard Brathwait.

‘Young Men Hanging Around’:  unrequited love in Ovid, Theocritus and Emile Gaboriau.

‘Cut the Philosophy, Mister Spock...’: the dangers of travel, and the loss of innocence it entails – the Roman lyric poets.

‘The Greatest Sophist...’: the pronouncements of Samuel Johnson.

‘Fleecing the World’: John Dyer’s The Fleece – a poetic epic of the wool trade.

‘Country-lover Seeks Peasants for Rustic Fun’: rural jollity not altogether what it seems? – Milton, Robert Bloomfield, George Crabbe.

‘Thorfinn Skullsplitter woz ere’: runes in Viking graffiti and a didactic alphabet poem.

‘Now all we need is a Certainty for the 3.30 at Haydock Park’: magic horses in Milton, Chaucer and Orcadian and Breton mythology.



WOOL-GATHERER 3

‘Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it’s off to t’Workhouse we go’: early model factories in literature – John Dyer and Thomas Deloney.

‘The Universal Dartboard’: Heaven as a series of concentric circles – Andreas Capellanus, Dante and the Monk of Evesham.

‘They Bisect Horses, Don’t They?’: from Sir Ywain to Baron Munchausen to Alice in Wonderland...

‘The Cricket Test’: observations on a poem by Christine Evans.

‘Universal Export: Still a Good Investment?’: James Bond examined; cheating at cards down the ages.

‘Always Read the Wrapping Paper...’: new discoveries in a poem by Sappho.

‘It’s the Way they Tell em’: the connection between Sherlock Holmes, Les Dawson and modern inarticulacy.

‘Chez Nous’: Shakespeare’s problem with an invasion of England in King Lear.

‘Treating those Two Impostors Just the Same?’: Tom Stoppard’s Professional Foul and the changing British psyche.

‘Oh no, Miss, not The Waste Land again’: problems of literature syllabuses in schools.




WOOL-GATHERER 4


‘A Voice in the Wilderness’: an introduction to George Borrow’s Wild Wales; the story of Davy Gam.

‘The Gamut of Emotion’: can one analyse the emotional effect of music? – Alan Bennett, E.M. Forster and Jack Buchanan.

‘Tips for Fledgling Bards’: a tentative investigation of the Welsh poetic form, the englyn.

‘What Dramatists Found in the Underdowne’: a Greek novel by Heliodorus in translation; its impact on Elizabethan dramatists.

‘Riding the Tiger’: narrative trickery in Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

‘Split Personalities’: the battle between soul and body – Andrew Marvell, W.B. Yeats and Margaret Atwood.

‘In a Byzantine Garden Centre’: the golden bird, and escape from a mundane world – The Achilleis, W.B. Yeats and Thomas Nashe.

‘Smart as Paint and so Forth’: seeing humanity from a distance – Tom Stoppard, Lucretius, Samuel Johnson and James Hervey.

‘More Men than Sheep’: some aspects of Yorkshire life – Camden’s Britannia and Thomas Fuller’s The Worthies of England.

‘A Holiday Romance’: an intriguing clash of cultures in the Orkeyinga Saga and the poems of George Mackay Brown.

‘Mr Bluebeard? It’s the Locksmith here’: the tale of Mister Fox, and how it links Shakespeare, Dante, Chaucer, Edmund Spenser and Bob & Carole Pegg.

‘School Poetry Crisis Probe’: readers comment.




WOOL-GATHERER 5


‘What shall I Swear by?’: bad language in English and Welsh compared by George Borrow.

‘Ay, Leeks is Good’: who was the inspiration for Fluellen in Henry V?

‘The Laurel, of course, is a Poisonous Shrub’: poet laureates, featuring Andrew Motion and Nahum Tate.

‘It’s, Like, Language, Innit?’: new conventions – texting, informal register, and making the classics ‘accessible’.

‘The Value of Pie’: G.M. Hopkins and the therapeutic effect of Nature’s colours.

‘This Hurts Me More Than It Hurts You’: two fathers have qualms about punishing their children – Thomas Fuller and Coventry Patmore.

‘Everything Tastes Better...’: celebrating the picnic – Cuthbert Bede, Kenneth Grahame, E.M. Forster and The Beano.

‘Poetry: a Branch of Arboriculture’: Ben Jonson and one of his influences, the Roman poet, Statius; the verse of King James I and echoes of Virgil.

‘The National Debt’: political themes and undercurrents in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.

‘The Itch, the Pitch, the Palsy and the Gout’: mummers’ plays, including one in Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native.

Various Miniature Literary Forms: including the limerick, the clerihew, the pentelope, the 50-word short story and song lyrics.

WOOL-GATHERER 6

‘Verbal Embranglements’: inkhorn terms come under fire.

‘But is it Art?’: the relationship between great art and technical difficulty.

'Here Be Dragons': St George, Beowulf and others give a poor reptile no peace.

'If The Huns Don't Get you ...': the poetry of 'Woodbine Willie'.

'Lucky Dip': St Winefride and her shrine, commemorated by Thomas Gent, Hopkins and Celia Fiennes.

'Ripe and Unripe the Reaper Reaps': Ben Jonson and Statius lament the death of a child.

‘Or Would Sir Prefer the Sirloin?': pressurised widows spring surprises; tureens with secrets.

'His Delights were Dolphin-like': moral ambiguities in Shakespeare's King John.

'Des Res Requiring Refurbishment': literary ideal homes, including fantasies by Leigh Hunt, Samuel Rogers, Clare and Fielding.

WOOL-GATHERER 7


‘Queen's Pawn Gambit': embellishment borrowing or plagiarism? Roald Dahl steals an idea from a naughty scandal.

'All the Same in the Dark': the bed-trick in Shakespeare, Middleton, Aphra Behn, Malory and Roald Dahl.

'Is Formicide Still on your Garden Centre Shopping List?': ants come to the gallant rescue in Apuleius's The Golden Ass.

'A Domestic Science Lesson': Ray Bradbury's sci-fi predictions begin to come true.

'Cuckoo-talk': daft or shrewd, mocking or cheery, the cuckoo echoes through literature.

'He's Behind Yer': the curriculum vitae of a busy demon.

'Virtuous Circle': what do the gods want and need from us mortals?

'Follow the Arrows': Apollo the archer, and the challenge of Eros to his pre-eminence.

'The Importance of Good Grooming': discussion of Houseman's poem, 'The Oracles'.

'An Outbreak of German Bight': U.A. Fanthorpe and Carol Ann Duffy tune in to the shipping forecast.

'Hello Sky Hello Trees': a match-making hint offered to P.G. Wodehouse.

'Headhunting': beheading and its effects, as observed by Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare and Roald Dahl.

IN MEMORIAM ROGER FRITH

An introduction to the lyric poet who died in 2008, with a selection of his work.

‘YOU WHAT?'

Shakespeare’s pronouns: an investigation of formal and informal language in King Lear.

THE LETTERS OF GEORGE WOODWARD

A selection of extracts from the letters of the rector of East Hendred, Oxfordshire, written between 1753 and 1761.

THE DIARIES OF BENJAMIN ARMSTRONG

A selection from the diaries of a 19th century Norfolk parson.

'ONLY FOUL WORDS - AND THEREUPON I WILL KISS THEE'

Formal and informal language in Much Ado About Nothing. Coupled with 'I am as like to call thee so again', which discusses the same topic in The Merchant of Venice.

MORALIA BY MOONLIGHT