This month I conversed with Sukanta Chaudhuri, Professor Emeritus at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Sukanta is an expert in English Renaissance pastoral poetry, and among many other publications, he has brought forth ‘Renaissance Pastoral and Its English Developments’ and more recently ‘English Renaissance Pastoral Poetry: An Anthology and Companion’, from Manchester University Press. It is wonderful to listen as he brings that knowledge of the entire genre to this relatively short eclogue in the series. Interspersed with that you’ll hear the generous and thoughtful voices of members of the Hollingdean Community Poetry Group, who sustain this project in many different ways. And I’ve included a small insight into how sleepy Joseph Minden and I can sometimes be when I remember that we urgently need to record ourselves reading a dense Spenser poem. You’ll also hear Femi Oriogun-Williams, folk musician, sound artist, and another integral part of this project, singing a song called ‘the rustler,’ in a voice note that he sent to me which made my day. Massive thanks to the International Spenser Society for their support and some hugely generous funding that has refloated this podcast in its sixth month. Overall, this episode is my version of an ode to all the people I admire who are building social worlds around poetry - including this small one. Thank you to Seamus for an opening reflection on the point of poetry, to Susanne, Ralph and Lucy for a tripartite ekphrastic description of the woodcut, to Sukanta Chaudhuri for a lovely conversation, to Joseph Minden as always for playing the morose shepherd to my brash, jolly one, to Karen, Susanne, Niki, Julia, Joanna, Christopher, and Reanna for letting me put their thoughts into this episode, to NH Chaundler for the sixth installment of her poetic response from the borderlands, to Ella Mahony for the art, and to Femi Oriogun-Williams for singing ‘the rustler,’ as well as mixing and mastering the episode. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit occasionoftheseason.substack.com
