Once again we encourage readers to throw themselves in at the deep end and have another go at the books that seemed difficult or alien to them. Pull down off the top shelf those dusty ‘classics’ that seem completely inaccessible from outside of university, and discover how real and significant they could be.
Bel Mooney revisits Beowulf and finds ‘the life of man revealed’:
‘All things pass and yet are the more precious because threatened by darkness’.Ralph Pite holds open a gateway to Dante’s Commedia:
‘"Living in the present" has become a cliché; for Dante, living is the present’.Alan Davis discovers Ruskin in unexpected places:
‘As I idly flipped the leaves…I found myself suddenly staring at the words “EX LIBRIS/ JOHN RUSKIN/ BRANTWOOD” in bold capitals.
ALSO: Poetry by Elizabeth Jennings and Neil Curry, Jane Davis talks to Michael Schmidt, Susan Wicks fits together writing and teaching, and Sarah Coley reviews Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf.
Features
Elizabeth Jennings – Thee Poems
Bel Mooney – Beowulf – A Reassessment
Alan Gould – Two Poems
Alan Davis – on Ruskin: Moonlight in a Rage
Michael Symmons Roberts – Thee Poems
Ralph Pite – Dante: Some Ways of Starting
Steve Newman – A poem: Passing Through
Raymond Tallis – Not True Vertigo
Mike Hoy – A poem: Four
Jane Davis – talks to Michael Schmidt
Neil Curry – Two poems: Religuaries I & II
Dave Hall – Two Poems
Sheila Parry – A poem: Last Rites
Regulars
Editorial
Reviews
The Reader Recommends
Second Hand
Susan Wicks – Continuing Education
Literary Problems? – Ask The Reader
Contributors
Buck’s Quiz