WOOL-GATHERER 14

'The Subtext of Murder’: Shakespeare’s deaths re-examined.

‘He Swears by his Green Candle’: Père Ubu uses language.  (see Extracts page)

‘Compass, Waterproofs – and a Chisel’: an Alcaeic ode appears by a Welsh waterfall. 

‘If only they could talk’: getting inside an animal’s head with Ted Hughes and Les Murray.

‘And talk ... and talk’: talkative corvids in Scottish ballads, James Hogg, Ted Hughes and Aesop.

‘New Women’: Eliza Haywood, and a strategy for overcoming male inconstancy.

‘Giving some Lip Service’: worshipping in the House of Rimmon according to the Bible, Saki and Kipling.

‘The Virtuoso of Crotchets’: Peacock, and the novel as conversation piece.  (see Extracts page)

Caronian Carryings-on’: Sydney Horler’s recipe for a thriller.

‘Cut to the Chase’: thrills and satire in Masefield’s novels and ‘Reynard the Fox’.

‘Staple Assumptions’: John Dyer and Iain Banks discuss the behaviour of sheep.

‘He Never Mentioned Green Cheese’: the language of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.