My Own Essays on Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Humanities

I used to have these published on Themestream, but Themestream went belly-up. This seems as good a place to self-publish my old college essays as any. Some I wrote as an undergraduate, some I wrote in grad school. Most of my grad school essays are, alas, in the attic of my former lover. At Oxford, they let you submit hand written work, because you read everything aloud during your tutorial sessions and seminar presentations anyway. I never type rough drafts. I write them longhand. In the old days, if I could also get away with hand writing a revision, I did so, usually sitting at a table in the back of the Eagle and Child, sucking down a pint of cider or Pimms. For some reason, mild inebriation actually improved the quality of my writing. (Yes, I checked everything over after I'd had a chance to sober up.)

Because Renaissance literature did not exist in a vacuum, I have included essays on medieval culture as well. If I dig up anything on classical studies, I'll probably post it here as well.

It should go without saying that these essays are copyrighted. Do not plagiarize them, if you are a student who has somehow stumbled onto my site looking for material. Quoting me is great, and I'll be suprememly flattered if you do that. Claiming my work as yours is a form of cheating. It might look tempting, but think of this: if you can surf the internet, so can your teachers and professors. If you are caught, there will be hell to pay. To quote Dirty Harry, "Do you feel lucky, punk?"