# 792 Death and Decay in Early Modern Lyric Poetry (with Eileen Sperry) | My Last Book with Bruce Gordon

An episode of [The History of Literature](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1048375034), 13 Apr 2026, 1 h 02 min.

Audio: https://prefix.up.audio/s/www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/swap.fm/track/tcQd6Q6C0RUUlOHq1Ytj/mgln.ai/e/51/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/TPG4887000428.mp3?updated=1775396817

In this episode, Jacke talks to author Eileen Sperry about her book This Body of Death: Form and Decay in Early Modern Lyric, which examines how the lyric poetry of Shakespeare and his contemporaries shaped our understanding of what it means to be mortal. PLUS a skeleton discovered under a collapsed church floor in the Netherlands might answer a longstanding literary mystery. AND Biblical scholar Bruce Gordon discusses his choice for the last book he will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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