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Victoria Moul

@victoriamoul.bsky.social

1.7K followers 820 following 410 posts

Critic, scholar, translator and poet in Paris. Recent reviews in the TLS and The Friday Poem. Most recent books from CUP & Palgrave. Poems in various places. Weekly substack on poetry & translation https://vamoul.substack.com/ https://www.victoriamoul.com .. more

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 14h

Today I’ve written about a poem by Michael Longley and the questions it raises about obscurity, in-jokes and what makes a poem work.

The poet's joke

Does it matter if we don't get it?

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Victoria Moul

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 3d

This week in the poetry blogs with @jntod.bsky.social @robmclennan.bsky.social @pearlpoet.bsky.social @willsjack.bsky.social @salenagodden.bsky.social @shotscarecrow.bsky.social @victoriamoul.bsky.social @suefinch.bsky.social @saudaminideo.bsky.social 1/3
www.vianegativa.us/2025/10/poet...

Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 41

A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

www.vianegativa.us

1 4 7

Reposted by Victoria Moul

Pete Selby @peteselby.bsky.social · 3d

One of my mum’s last wishes was that she wasn’t remembered for the way that the cancer had brutalised her. So today, four years gone, I choose to remember:
1) she was accepted into the Royal Ballet
2) she saw The Beatles, twice
3) she loved Higher State of Consciousness by Josh Wink

Love you Mum x

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 6d

And also roasted pumpkin seeds, which are delicious.

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 7d

This week half the family (including me) are a bit ill, and French politics has gone even madder than usual, so it has been a comfort to remind myself of the vagaries of fortune with one of my oldest and wisest poet friends, Ben Jonson.

When I am down at Hackney Brook

The poetry of friendship

open.substack.com

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 9d

In translation, where as you point out there's more of this, Ancient Exchanges prints notes on the poems (which are broadly translations, but some very broadly -- more 'after' or imitation poems and the comments on the process are often quite personal). exchanges.uiowa.edu/ax-beyond

Reviews 1 — Exchanges

exchanges.uiowa.edu

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 9d

Outside translation as such, the book "The Process of Poetry" prints a draft and the final poem with some commentary by the author. Fascinating! www.flyonthewallpress.co.uk/product-page...

The Process of Poetry Edited by Rosanna McGlone | flyonthewallpress

A rare inside look into the creative process of acclaimed poets. Through exclusive interviews, The Process of Poetry offers unprecedented access into the minds of literary greats like Don Paterson and...

www.flyonthewallpress.co.uk

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 9d

Oh we did (play it I mean). Always found it a bit dull myself but it was definitely a family staple.

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 9d

It's not just him though is it, there's at least one cameraman up there too. What about his equipment?!

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 9d

My mother remembers doing turnips. She says they were jolly hard work.

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 9d

Hilarious total lack of any kind of safety equipment in this classic clip. You have to wonder about the insurance situation.

Marie Phillips @mariephillips.bsky.social · 9d

Having just watched this for the first time, OH MY FUCKING GOD and also I now have a massive crush on John Noakes, is that OK?

youtu.be/tMrB_3wq2ak?...

1977: JOHN NOAKES scaling Nelson's Column is TERRIFYING | Blue Peter | Classic clips | BBC Archive

YouTube video by BBC Archive

youtu.be

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Reposted by Victoria Moul

Marie Phillips @mariephillips.bsky.social · 9d

Having just watched this for the first time, OH MY FUCKING GOD and also I now have a massive crush on John Noakes, is that OK?

youtu.be/tMrB_3wq2ak?...

1977: JOHN NOAKES scaling Nelson's Column is TERRIFYING | Blue Peter | Classic clips | BBC Archive

YouTube video by BBC Archive

youtu.be

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Reposted by Victoria Moul

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 10d

A gun utters a death wish; a spare poem spares us nothing— @victoriamoul.bsky.social @suefinch.bsky.social @alinaetc.bsky.social @clareshawpoet.bsky.social @myheadtheforest.bsky.social @dharmabam.bsky.social @vanopticon.bsky.social @richfergusonpoet.bsky.social 2/3
www.vianegativa.us/2025/10/poet...

Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 40

A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

www.vianegativa.us

1 2 4

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 10d

Ah the distant (but not that distant) scent of yet another French election. I've been French for about six years and it has been really excellent value, electorally speaking.

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 13d

Haha, I'm not sure if anyone else will empathise with you Francis but I do -- I have a couple of scholarly articles that I wrote like that plus honestly pretty much the whole of my enormous last monograph. Truly a flow state!

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Reposted by Victoria Moul

Laura Ashe @lauraashe.bsky.social · 13d

I was once hungover at Heathrow, after an unplanned night of excess that included inexplicably watching the World Darts Championship. In the horrible pub in departures at 7am was the guy who came second, chain-downing pints of lager. I wanted to sympathize but I know nothing at all about darts so

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 14d

Today I have written about some of the many poetry books people have sent me over the last year (plus one fabulous one that I bought myself). Featuring James Appleby, David Bleiman, Graeme Richardson, Suzannah V. Evans, Reagan Upshaw, Alex Wylie, Henry Gould and Souleymane Diamanka (pictured).

On confidence and self-consciousness in poetry

A review of books people have sent me

open.substack.com

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 17d

Up on the substack today is an essay I wrote for PNR on translation, grace and (according to me) one of the great unexpected love poems to the English language.

Bad Latin, Barbarous Inglishe and Broken French: Translation, Grace, and the Stone of Stumbling

This is a copy of a slightly unusual essay that was commissioned for PN Review’s special issues on ‘living between languages’; it was published in PNR 283 (May-June 2025—subscribers to PNR can of cour...

open.substack.com

Reposted by Katrina Navickas, Victoria Moul

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 17d

The modern world in old Ladybird books.

"Carriages get very dirty inside from all the tobacco ash"

(On the Railways, 1972)
Artist: John Berry

A photo realistic illustration of a woman in overalls, hoovering and deep cleaning the fabric seats of a railway carriage

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 21d

Today I’ve written about some of my favourite mid-length poems, responding to @jwikeley.bsky.social's piece from last week. vamoul.substack.com/p/middle-dis...

Middle-distance death

Last week Jeremy Wikeley (Jem) wrote an excellent, thought-provoking piece on the near-disappearance of what he calls the ‘middle-distance poem’ — the sort of thing exemplified by Larkin’s ‘Whitsun We...

vamoul.substack.com

Reposted by Victoria Moul

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 24d

This week in the poetry blogs with @victoriamoul.bsky.social @matriches.bsky.social @shawnalemay.bsky.social @robmclennan.bsky.social @emmalee1.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @richardjnewman.bsky.social @billymills.bsky.social 1/3
www.vianegativa.us/2025/09/poet...

Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 38

A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

www.vianegativa.us

5 5 13

Reposted by Magnus Johansson, Duncan Bell, Mary Burke , and 1 more Magnus Johansson, Duncan Bell, Mary Burke, Victoria Moul

Anna Alexandrova @annaalexandrova.bsky.social · 24d

I hope Melvin Bragg's retirement will not end In Our Times. He has a lovely voice and manner but it's the people he invites that hold the show. I'll take this chance to post a thread of some of the more memorable episodes for me. Starting with Schaffer, Worrall, and @michelamassimi.bsky.social

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Scientific Method

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Scientific Method.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Victoria Moul

IHR Tudor and Stuart Seminar @tudorstuartseminar.bsky.social · 24d

The IHR Tudor and Stuart seminar has joined Bluesky! Please follow and RT!

Our programme for the year is starting NEXT WEEK on Monday 29 September with Alison Knight @aeknight.bsky.social speaking on 'Certificates of Religion: Early Modern Belief on Paper'.
Online and in-person, 5.30pm
Book here:

Certificates of Religion: Early Modern Belief on Paper

www.history.ac.uk

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 28d

I enjoyed writing this piece so much that it is absolutely bound to be my least-popular essay ever and prompt a flood of de-subscribers. Go on, prove me wrong! (NB, those are mules, not horses; at least, they’re supposed to be.)

Finding the door of words: on originality

One day last week I saw a circular announcing a small academic conference or colloquium at Cambridge in December on the Pindaric fragments.

open.substack.com

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Sep 16

I've just read Bernard Noël, "Le poème des morts", which I found pretty extraordinary. Has anyone else read it?

Je viens de lire Bernard Noël, "Le poème des morts", que j'ai trouvé assez extraordinaire. Quelqun d'autre l'a-t-il lu?

Reposted by Victoria Moul

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · Sep 16

Poetry as the darkness grows @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @victoriamoul.bsky.social @jntod.bsky.social @velveteenrabbi.bsky.social @garybarwin.bsky.social @thepoetslizard.bsky.social @webbish6.bsky.social @lesleymwheeler.bsky.social @jillpearlman.bsky.social 2/2
www.vianegativa.us/2025/09/poet...

Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 37

A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

www.vianegativa.us

1 2 7

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Sep 12

One for the #classicists -- what's the best thing you've ever read on Euripides, Alcestis?

Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Sep 11

One of my readers asked for something about Dante in early modern England and I’ve written about this fun (and evergreen) bit of invective from the 1550s against corrupt bankers who charge too much interest.

Now buried in hell with Dante

Some lively anti-banker invective from the 1550s

open.substack.com

Reposted by Victoria Moul

Gilbert White @gilbertwhite.bsky.social · Sep 11

1776: Stoparolae still remain. Young swallows continue to come forth. Much corn housed.

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Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Sep 10

Gosh it's just like that bit in Iliad 6 -- the message in "baleful signs", i.e. writing from the perspective of the non-literate.