Victoria Moul
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victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul
@victoriamoul.bsky.social
1.7K followers 820 following 460 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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victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 2d
I'm delighted to have edited the first publication for a new press. "Poems Beautiful and Useful" is a pamphlet of verse from the 16th and 17th century -- a taste of the kind of thing that was most read at the time, some in print for the first time. www.headlesspoet.com/shop/p/poems...
Poems Beautiful & Useful — HEADLESS POET
A choice of popular EARLY MODERN VERSE made by VICTORIA MOUL with an introduction and notes PRE-ORDERS OPEN How we should react to the vagaries of love and desire; the allure of power or fam...
www.headlesspoet.com

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 3d
Yes you're right. For most people who have (typically) read mainly Virgil and Ovid while learning Latin, the "Satires" are quite hard. I remember finding that too. I think if you'd had a more Renaissance-style Latin education and read e.g. a lot of Roman comedy early on it would prob be easier.

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 3d
Thanks Dean! Glad you enjoyed it. Yes it's odd how those two almost simultaneous collections tend to sit quite far apart in people's mental maps of Latin poetry. But I think reading them together is very helpful for trying to think yourself back into that pre-Georgics, pre-Horatian lyric moment.

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 4d
Today I have written about Horace’s first satire. (Honestly, mostly about the first two words of Horace’s first satire — but you do get some Wyatt and Jonson as well.)
How come, Maecenas?
Today’s post is mostly about Horace — with some Wyatt and Jonson at the end.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Victoria Moul

davebonta.bsky.social
Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 7d
This week in the poetry blogs with @alinaetc.bsky.social @robmclennan.bsky.social @emmalee1.bsky.social @wendypratt.bsky.social @pearlpoet.bsky.social @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @victoriamoul.bsky.social @suefinch.bsky.social @myheadtheforest.bsky.social
1/2 www.vianegativa.us/2026/02/poet...
Poetry Blog Digest 2026, Week 5
A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.
www.vianegativa.us

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 10d
It's very enjoyable to read and refreshing to see A Position. I don't agree with it exactly but I don't think it's complete nonsense either. I think you're (or rather, you were) right about the politics.

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 10d
Fantastic review, wherever you stand on Hill. (Wherever on the Hill you stand.)
johnmelhughes.bsky.social John Hughes @johnmelhughes.bsky.social · 10d
Peter McDonald's review of Geoffrey Hill's Collected Poems in a 1987 issue of North Magazine.

Reposted by Victoria Moul

johnmelhughes.bsky.social
John Hughes @johnmelhughes.bsky.social · 10d
Peter McDonald's review of Geoffrey Hill's Collected Poems in a 1987 issue of North Magazine.

Reposted by Victoria Moul

saloneurope.bsky.social
European Writers Salon @saloneurope.bsky.social · 10d
EWS is turning 2! And to celebrate, we’re hosting parties across Europe for writers to meet, share work, and be part of our wonderful community, online or in person.

Read what's happening below:
White text on a teal background. Decorations in peach. EWS logo with a birthday hat in top right. Across the top, birthday bunting and across the bottom confetti and a cake Text: European Writers Salon is turning 2! Join us 11 February for one of 9 Europe-wide parties! AMSTERDAM | BERLIN | LONDON | MADRID | PARIS | VALENCIA | VENICE PLUS 2 ONLINE SESSIONS

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 11d
Today I’ve written about poetry and compasses c. 1620. Featuring Jonson, Bacon, John Borough, his wife and their twin sons.
Love and compasses
Featuring Jonson, Bacon, John Borough, his wife and their twin sons
open.substack.com

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 12d
Yes. Often decent Greek too if they did the final couple of years, but Sh. almost certainly didn't. He will have been able to speak, read and write Latin though, including Latin verse.

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 12d
Almost certainly very similar. (I have looked probably at more actual Elizabethan schoolwork than anyone else.) Shakespeare's range of ref is in fact pretty much exactly what you'd expect for someone who'd done c. 3 years of grammar school. Obviously what he does with it isn't.

Reposted by Victoria Moul

davebonta.bsky.social
Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 14d
Falling snow, a broken country, and more with
@victoriamoul.bsky.social @saudaminideo.bsky.social @suefinch.bsky.social @alinaetc.bsky.social @jntod.bsky.social @myheadtheforest.bsky.social @dharmabam.bsky.social 2/4 www.vianegativa.us/2026/01/poet...
Poetry Blog Digest 2026, Week 4
A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.
www.vianegativa.us

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 17d
Thanks Graeme.

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 18d
Today I have written about Berryman, Cardinal Rinuccini and the consolations of reading.
Gift us with long cloaks & adrenaline: on reading and its consolations
With unexpected bonus content courtesy of Cardinal Rinuccini
open.substack.com

Reposted by Victoria Moul

davebonta.bsky.social
Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 21d
This week in the poetry blogs with @victoriamoul.bsky.social @emmalee1.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @pearlpoet.bsky.social @billymills.bsky.social @kent-nj.bsky.social @salenagodden.bsky.social @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @linarvitvideopoet.bsky.social
1/3 www.vianegativa.us/2026/01/poet...
Poetry Blog Digest 2026, Week 3
A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.
www.vianegativa.us

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 25d
Ah yes, thanks Danielle, it's a very good poem. And it does stay with you I've found.

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 25d
Today I have written about improvised poetry — featuring Souleymane Diamanka, Daniel Heinsius and our old friend Adrian Schoell.
On improvisation and the poetic occasion
Featuring Souleymane Diamanka, Daniel Heinsius and our old friend Adrian Schoell
open.substack.com

Reposted by Victoria Moul

davebonta.bsky.social
Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 28d
Reacting to a poet's murder & more w/ @victoriamoul.bsky.social @suefinch.bsky.social @alinaetc.bsky.social @myheadtheforest.bsky.social @lisabrockwell.bsky.social @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social @velveteenrabbi.bsky.social @rmhaines.bsky.social
2/3 www.vianegativa.us/2026/01/poet...
Poetry Blog Digest 2026, Week 2
A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.
www.vianegativa.us

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 28d
A little bonus post about translating poetry for this Monday afternoon, a copy of a piece written originally for Marginalia Review of Books. There’ll be a longer piece on Thursday as usual.
In the translator's workshop: a poem from the "Subhāsitaratnakosha"
A brief extra piece to start this week: this is a copy of an essay commissioned last year for the ‘in the translator’s workshop’ feature in Marginalia Review of Books. It discusses my translation of a...
open.substack.com

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · 28d
I was reading Frog and Toad to our youngest just last night. I didn't grow up with these books at all but one of my PhD students passed a set on to me years ago when our older children were small. They are charming and very beautifully written.
jntod.bsky.social Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 28d
"Frog, are you the speaker of your poem?" asked Toad
frogandtoadbot.bsky.social Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 29d
Toad sipped his tea. “Frog,” he asked, “are you making this up?”

“Maybe yes and maybe no,” said Frog.

Reposted by Victoria Moul

jntod.bsky.social
Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 28d
"Frog, are you the speaker of your poem?" asked Toad
frogandtoadbot.bsky.social Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 29d
Toad sipped his tea. “Frog,” he asked, “are you making this up?”

“Maybe yes and maybe no,” said Frog.
Toad leans forward in his chair, sipping tea, transfixed by Frog's ghost story. From "Shivers" In *Days with Frog and Toad*

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Jan 8
This week I have written about Crabbe, Lowestoft and authenticity in contemporary narrative verse. (And a bit about soft play centres, which Crabbe would certainly have included in The Borough had they existed in 1800.)
The freckled flower upon the flinty base: whither the narrative poem?
We spent the week after Christmas in north-east Suffolk, where my mother lives.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Victoria Moul

jwikeley.bsky.social
Jeremy Wikeley @jwikeley.bsky.social · Jan 6
New edition of Peter Didsbury's "new and collected poems" this April. I am very excited. Poetry's best kept secret.

www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/...
Scenes from a Long Sleep | Bloodaxe Books
www.bloodaxebooks.com

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Jan 4
A third Christmas poem, while we’re still in the season.
A Christmas poem, no. 3
Today’s Christmas poem is ‘A Christmas Carol’ by G.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Victoria Moul

davebonta.bsky.social
Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · Dec 29
This week in the poetry blogs w/ @johnsiddique.bsky.social @jamesmcconachie1.bsky.social @myheadtheforest.bsky.social @clareshawpoet.bsky.social @alinaetc.bsky.social @victoriamoul.bsky.social @shotscarecrow.bsky.social @pearlpoet.bsky.social
1/3 www.vianegativa.us/2025/12/poet...
Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 52
A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.
www.vianegativa.us

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Dec 29
A seasonal post about Jonson’s Christmas masque, performed at this time of year in 1616/1617.
Did Ben Jonson invent Father Christmas?
Christmas his Masque
open.substack.com

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Dec 23
Up today, the first in a short series of favourite Christmas poems. Merry Christmas everyone!
A Christmas poem, no. 1
Over the Christmas break, I’m sending out several brief messages with Christmas poems I particularly like, starting today with a poem I’ve been saving since the summer: Janet Lewis’s ‘A Lullaby’:
open.substack.com

Reposted by Victoria Moul

davebonta.bsky.social
Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · Dec 23
The poetry of snow, brilliance in the dark & more w/ @shotscarecrow.bsky.social @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @victoriamoul.bsky.social @alinaetc.bsky.social @elcurwen.bsky.social @myheadtheforest.bsky.social @webbish6.bsky.social @velveteenrabbi.bsky.social 2/3 www.vianegativa.us/2025/12/poet...
Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 51
A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.
www.vianegativa.us

victoriamoul.bsky.social
Victoria Moul @victoriamoul.bsky.social · Dec 19
My grandfather who died before I was born was Anglo-Indian but after he moved to London after the First World War he pretended not to be in order to “pass” and told people he was “Welsh” instead. I actually believed it as my Dad had told me it too until I saw a picture of him!