Study Notes

Welcome to the Study Notes page on my website. I often circulate Study Notes in my courses, i.e., detailed explorations of a selection authors, texts, and issues designed to supplement my remarks in class. 

  1. If you cite the Study Notes in your own work, please provide a proper citation, for example: Clark, David L., “Study Notes for Plato’s Republic,” https://bit.ly/dlclark.  Accessed 24/6/2026.
  2. Under no circumstances share Study Notes with Peer-to-Peer Sharing Platforms (like Studocu or Course Hero). Copying course materials to these platforms is strictly prohibited since it constitutes unauthorized use of intellectual property.
A colour photograph of Dr. Clark's library shelves.

Authors

Please click the link(s) beneath each author to view the Study Notes for that title.

A painting of a man bent over using a mathematical instrument.

William Blake

“The Chimney Sweeper”
(Songs of Innocence)
“London“
(Songs of Experience)

Henri Cole

“Torso“

A photograph of a boat full of refugees.

Jacques Derrida

Of Hospitality

A painting of a woman fainting, held up by a man and being stared at by many other men.

Michel Foucault

“Society Must be Defended,”
Lectures 1-4 and 11

Palestinians fleeing rubble

Suheir Hammad

“What I Will” and
“(break) clustered”

An illustration of a man standing on a ledge in all black with a pair of grey and white angel wings. He looks down.

Donald Justice

“The Wall”

John Keats

“Ode to a Nightingale” and
“Ode on a Grecian Urn”

A detailed black and white illustration of the execution of King Charles.

John Locke

Second Treatise on Civil Government

Sylvia Plath

“Daddy“

A colour painting of the death of Socrates.

Plato

Republic

A black and white illustration of Mary Prince

Mary Prince

History of Mary Prince

A black and white image of the sunken Titanic.

Adrienne Rich

“Diving into the Wreck”

A colour painting of Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney

Defence of Poetry