22. Modern Love: Carol Ann Duffy and Edwin Morgan

About this Lecture

Lecture

This final module forms something of a conclusion to the whole course, but we still find time to talk about the poetry Carol Ann Duffy and Edwin Morgan – evidence that love is still a rich subject for poets today. In her poem ‘Valentine’, Duffy presents us with a familiar object (an onion), but in an unfamiliar setting (as a symbol of love) – and this de-familiarisation of the familiar might be seen as one of the hallmarks of post-modernist writing. With Edwin Morgan, no commentary is needed; only his incredibly moving poem ‘When You Go’

Course

This course explores the theme of love from the earliest English literature to the present day – from authors that you have likely heard of, such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Byron and Keats, to authors that are perhaps less well-known. This is a course that celebrates love in all it forms and between all kinds of people.

Lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.