Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

Sanitized For Public Viewing: Review Of William Shakespeare’S The Tempest, Allison Meyer

Best Integrated Writing

This review analyzes the Stratford Festival’s 2026 production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, directed by Antoni Cimolino, and argues that the production minimizes the play’s political and colonial themes. The article examines how specific production choices, including Caliban’s costume design, the comic treatment of Stephano and Trinculo, and Prospero’s final interaction with Ariel, obscure questions of power and colonization. Through detailed analysis of staging, characterization, and directorial decisions, the review evaluates the consequences of presenting Shakespeare’s play as a story of personal forgiveness rather than political conflict. It interrogates this erasure of colonial power struggles within the framework of the Stratford …

Best Integrated Writing Fall 2026 - Complete Edition, Wright State University School Of Humanities And Cultural Studies, Kristie Mckiernan

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University.

J.R.R. Tolkien And G. B. Smith: With Wind In Our Ears, Edited By Giuseppe Pezzini (2026), Gabriel Schenk

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by Gabriel Schenk, of J.R.R. Tolkien and G. B. Smith: With Wind in Our Ears (2026), edited by Giuseppe Pezzini

Tolkien’S Glee: A Reading Of The Songs In The Hobbit And The Lord Of The Rings By John R. Holmes, Glenn R. Gray

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This is a review of "Tolkien's Glee: A Reading of the Songs in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings" by John R. Holmes.

The Gospel Of Gollum By Ivano Sassanelli, Gabriela Clarke

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This review evaluates Ivano Sassanelli’s exploration of what Gollum represents and whether he is a personification of the biblical claim that where one’s heart is, there also will their treasure be. As current scholarship focuses on secondary The Lord of the Rings characters, from Galadriel to Tom Bombadil, this book provides fascinating insights regarding perhaps the most anomalous figure in the canon.

Sassanelli brings together a unique body of international scholarship, especially works from his native Italy, and discusses several niche topics relating to Gollum, such as the character’s grandmother, film portrayal, and Italian-dubbed voice. Comparative reading between early editions …

J.R.R. Tolkien And G.B. Smith: With Wind In Our Ears, Edited By Guiseppe Pezzini, Mercury Natis

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Oxford At War: “Leaf By Niggle” As A Wartime Work, Part 1, Josh B. Long

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

J. R. R. Tolkien suggested that "Leaf by Niggle" was written around 1938-1939; however, Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull argue that it was actually composed in 1942. This corrected date changes how one reads the story: often viewed as an autobiographical allegory of art and faith, “Leaf by Niggle” falls into place as a wartime work, informed and transformed by the World War II pressures of Tolkien’s Oxford—the city and the University. This article situates the story within WWII and analyzes how that context influenced the imagery, characterization, symbols, and motifs of "Leaf."

Dreaming Of Bag End: The Hobbit And Medieval Dream-Poetry, Samuel A. Masters

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Medieval dream-poetry has had a profound impact upon the structure, character development and escapism effect in Tolkien's The Hobbit. As a professor of medieval literature, Tolkien was highly knowledgeable on such dream-poems and the late-antique dream theory of Macrobius. Imitating the structure behind the dream-poems of Chaucer, Dante and Langland, Tolkien presents Bilbo's adventure as comparable to a dream (although is careful not to present it as an actual dream). Within his journey, Bilbo also has several symbolic actual dreams. Through both the dream-like structure and the episodic actual dreams, Tolkien both foregrounds Bilbo's character change as his Tookish …

Barrel-Rides And She-Elves: Audience And Anticipation In Peter Jackson’S Hobbit Trilogy [Note], Janet Croft

Faculty Publications

Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, to the audience that loved the Lord of the Rings films, is an exciting opportunity to revisit Tolkien’s fantastic world and see favorite characters acting out their earlier adventures. The reader of the books, though, is often likely to find the difference in tone between the children’s book and the vastly expanded films jarring. This essay will explore audience expectations, the difficulties of filming a “prequel” after a “sequel,” and issues of “anticipation” in relation to character development.

Forest Ecology And Fantasy Fiction: Morris, Tolkien, Le Guin (2026), By Dion Dobrzynski, Martin Simonson

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by Martin Simonson, of Forest Ecology and Fantasy Fiction: Morris, Tolkien, Le Guin (2026), by Dion Dobrzynski

Shakespeare Adapts, Grace C. Tiffany

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Shakespeare’S Troilus And Cressida And The Genre Of Comical Satire, Robert B. Pierce

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

“Shall I Always Keep Below Stairs?”: The Waiting-Gentlewoman On The Margin Of Much Ado About Nothing, Daniel F. Gates

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

A Mouth Too Full: Domination, Consumption, Kitchens And Witches In Macbeth, Bethany Decker

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Emily Isaacson

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Moral Ecology In Shakespeare's Tragedies: Nature, Animals, And Conscience As Ethical Agents In Hamlet, Macbeth, And King Lear, Md. Abu Bakkar

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

Shakespeare's tragedies repeatedly dramatize a universe in which moral transgression produces consequences that extend beyond individual psychology to affect society, nature, and the non-human world. This study examines how Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear construct a system of moral ecology, understood as a framework of ethical causality in which human actions generate interconnected consequences across psychological, social, and natural orders. Using qualitative close reading informed by moral criticism, ecocriticism, animal studies, and early modern cosmology, the study analyzes selected passages representing natural disturbance, animal imagery, and conscience as forms of ethical response. The findings show that the three …

Finding The Numinous: An Ecocritical Look At “Dune” And “The Lord Of The Rings” (2025), By Willow Wilson Dipasquale, Douglas Charles Kane

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by Douglas Charles Kane, of Finding the Numinous: An Ecocritical Look at “Dune” and “The Lord of the Rings” (2025), by Willow Wilson DiPasquale

Miscellaneous, Bruce R. Johnson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

The Tragicomedy Of C. S. Lewis The Bald: Reflections On An Unpublished Play, Jahdiel Perez

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

"Within the pages of a Vice-President’s Register (1920–1984), held in the Old Library archives of his Oxford College, Lewis handwrote, in mock Shakespearean English, 'The Tragicomicall Briefe Reigne of Lewis the Bald.' As far as we know, this is the only complete play in his corpus. Mostly unpublished until the recent release of C. S. Lewis’s Oxford (2024) by Simon Horobin, this piece has yet to receive the scholarly attention it deserves. In what follows, I seek to address this gap through a close analysis of portions of the text and its broader implications for Lewis’s approach to writing."

A Moving Image Of Eternity: Exploring C. S. Lewis's Philosophy Of Time, Brian C. Roden

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

"The “Time Graph,” as it will be labeled in this essay, is obscurely nestled in C. S. Lewis’s personal manuscripts held in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. Comprised of mathematical sketches and cryptic commentary, the document has apparently escaped formal study regarding why Lewis produced it or how it might relate to his published works. More broadly, does it have any bearing on a coherent philosophy of time that Lewis may have held? The aim of this essay is to demonstrate that the Time Graph is very likely an early draft of the mechanics of time travel …