Eric Weiskott, "Cycle of Dreams" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2021) and "Piers Plowman: A New Annotated Edition of the A-Text" (U Exeter Press, 2025)

My guest today is Eric Weiskott, Professor of English at Boston College. Eric has previously published Meter and Modernity in English Verse, 1350-1650 (U Pennsylvania Press, 2021) and English Alliterative Verse: Poetic Tradition and Literary History (Cambridge University Press, 2016), as well as a chapbook titled Chanties: An American Dream (Bottlecap, 2023). Eric is also a co-editor for the Yearbook of Langland Studies. Today, we are discussing two of Eric’s recent books that share a connection to the fourteenth-century English poem Piers Plowman. The first is Cycle of Dreams (Punctum, 2024), a poetry collection that uses motifs, literary devices, and themes of William Langland’s surreal poem as a springboard to meditate on the equally surreal experience of political and social life in the twenty-first century. Cycle of Dreams is published by Punctum Books. The second book we are discussing is a new edition of the A-version of Piers Plowman: A New Annotated Edition of the A-Text (U Exeter Press, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/poetry