How does suffering separate the person going through it from their friends and loved ones? Priscilla Gilman [https://www.priscillagilman.com/] joins the podcast to talk about a poem that takes on that question in literal terms—it tells the tragic story of a sailor who drowns as his shipmates are forced to sail away—and that sees it, at the same time, as a question we all have to face, William Cowper's "The Castaway [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44027/the-castaway]." Priscilla Gilman is the author of two books: The Anti-Romantic Child: A Memoir of Unexpected Joy [https://www.priscillagilman.com/book/the-anti-romantic-child] (Harper, 2011) and The Critic's Daughter: A Memoir [https://www.priscillagilman.com/book/the-critics-daughter] (Norton, 2023). She's a former English professor, first at Yale University and then at Vassar College, during which time she published an important article [https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/40781] on Cowper's letters in ELH. You can follow Priscilla on Twitter [https://twitter.com/priscillagilman]. Please follow, rate, and review the podcast if you like what you hear, and share an episode with a friend. You can also subscribe to my newsletter [https://kamranjavadizadeh.substack.com/], where you'll get occasional updates on the podcast.