Poems For People Who Hate Poetry

Send us a textOn this special episode I will read The Idiot Boy by William Wordsworth. This poem was published in the 1798 Lyrical Ballads and it was very controversial. Yet, it is a beautifully written poem. I spend the majority of the time simply reading the poem. I hope you enjoy the reading! At the end I give a small critique of Wordsworth's philosophy, but mostly I defend him and Romanticism from the cliche attacks toward Romanticism.THE IDIOT BOYBy William Wordsworth‘Tis eight o’clock, – a clear March night,The moon is up– the sky is blue,The owlet in the moonlight air,He shouts from nobody knows where ;He lengthens out his lonely shout,Halloo ! halloo ! a long halloo !–Why bustle thus about your door,What means this bustle, Betty Foy?Why are you in this mighty fret?And why on horseback have you setHim whom you love, your idiot boy?Beneath the moon that shines so bright,Till she is tired, let Betty FoyWith girt and stirrup fiddle-fiddle;But wherefore set upon a saddleHim whom she loves, her idiot b

Send us a textAh to love is to be a fool, to tell your love is to be a double fool. But to be  a triple fool? How does one do that?John Donne will show you how.In this special episode I go in to this poem with no prep. That means you will experience a live analysis and exploration of this poem. There will be times when I say "oh I was wrong about that interpretation, I'm quite sure it means this." And, "hmm what does this mean!?" I hope by the end you will see that there is intense exercise for the mind in exploring great poetry.

Send us a textWhat is the purpose of a penal system? Is it strictly to punish or can it be to reform? If it can reform what are the best methods of accomplishing this?The romanticist Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote a poem called The Dungeon, which is a soliloqouy from a man who resides in a medieval dungeon. He is lamenting more than his own personal situation, but the idea of what man has made of man. Do dungeons and prisons truly work for the guilty? Or do they make their souls even more rotted than when they entered? And, of course, in the heart of a romanticist is an answer to the proper way to reform those souls plagued from within. Listen to find out Coleridge's proposed solution.

Send us a textI had the pleasure of visiting the Quent Cordair Fine Art Gallery in Napa Valley and chatting with poet, painter, author, novelist, Marine, businessman (etc etc!) Author Quent Cordair. William Wordsworth said that a poet is a "man speaking to men." This is certainly true of Quent Cordair's poetry. We chatted about his poetic influences and fiction and we dissected a Robert Frost poem along with two poems in Quent's latest book My Kingdom (https://www.amazon.com/My-Kingdom-other-stories-screen-ebook/dp/B07SVGNQG6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=my+kingdom+quent&qid=1569908576&sr=8-1)It was a great conversation with a talented man.

Send us a textDo you know that annoying couple that is always so lovey dovey? You know the type, they wear matching clothes and finish each other's sentences? Well get prepared to meet a man who believes he is so in love that he believes they should be canonized forever.In "Canonization" John Donne makes a bizarre argument. Why can't two ideal lovers become canonized (made into saints by the Catholic Church?)This is bizarre because by ideal lovers, he does not mean platonic lovers. These are lovers in sex and romance. These are the K I S S I N G type of lovers, but probably without a baby in a crib. The only people to be canonized are those who are selfless and often ascetic (abscond from the pleasures of the body) and yet Donne argues for the exact opposite. If you are in love or ever have been, you need to read The Canonization by John Donne.

Send us a textIn this episode I will give you two extreme models of education. One is best represented in the tale of Petronilla and the other is best represented in that of #gretathunbergA theme that runs throughout the 1798 Lyrical Ballads by Coleridge and Wordsworth is that of nature as educator for a child. In this poem—a fragment from a theatrical play by Coleridge—we see multiple viewpoints on education. One critical question we must answer is how much, if any, of the outside world and its social ills should a child know about?Education, knowledge and moral upbringing were of paramount importance to many of the romantics. This is a key theme not only in Lyrical Ballads but in much of the philosophers of this time as well as literary writers such as Mary Shelley. This poem is a first in exploring important ideas in action of sibling affection, taboo and the morality imposed upon young children.

Send us a textHave you ever laid in bed with your significant other and just wished you could lay there all day but the cares of the world kept fighting their way into your life? Well, John Donne knows how ya feel and he proposes you do something about it.As a Metaphysical Poet, witty and conceited, he proposes you start to command the sun, rather than the other way around.In this episode you will learn a bit about Medieval Cosmology and the Chain of Beings Theory of the universe. And you'll see how a great poet uses language in all its glory to intellectually dissect a powerful emotion we all feel at some time in our lives.P.S. Guys, there are a few lines in here which might make for a good one-liner to your lady friends (though no guarantees!)

Send us a textWilliam Wordsworth changed the way we use language. He changed the way we investigate human beings. This is the romantic legacy. The usage of imagination to delve into the inner world of man. As Hugo put it "There is one thing grander than the ocean, that is the sky; there is one thing grander than the sky that is the interior of man's soul."This is one of the major projects of the romantics, to illustrate the depth of man's inner world. How, for instance, an event can cause a schism in ones values in this world.That's exactly what happens to the main character in Wordsworth's ballad, "The Last of the Flock." He has to butcher a single sheep in order to feed his growing family, but in dong so we learn about the values of christianity, modernism, industrialism and more. And we learn of the conflicts that arise in these systems.Increase your imaginative faculty with "The Last of the Flock."

Send us a textOpposing his own view in "Go and Catch a Falling Star," Donne explains to us how to be braver than one of the nine worithes (Hector, Alexander the Great, Julius Ceasar, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus, King Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Boullion.)To be greater then these men, in one area at least, we must simply love a woman for her inner virtues as opposed to her outer virtues. Oh and it's even better to not tell anyone about it!

Send us a textIn this balladic poem, Wordsworth tells the tale of a "solitary thorn," or British Hawthorn Bush, that "marks the spot where a pregnant woman, driven from town and forced to give birth alone on the heath, died from famine, pain and cold and anguish." In typical Wordsworthian fashion, however, he was not at all interested in the tale of the woman. he was interested in how a tale like that, a stormy night and a solitary thorn can have a deep impact on the mind and soul of a certain type of man.For Hawthorn, his main purpose for many of his poems was "to illustrate the manner in which our feelings and ideas are associated in a state of excitment. But, speaking in language somewhat more appropriate, it is to follow the fluxes and refluxes of the mind when agited by the great and simple affections of our nature."Before listening to this poem it is important to note the narrator. In this case, it is NOT WIlliam Wordsworth. Instead, Wordsworth is projecting the character o

Send us a textOn today's episode you'll learn how a 16th century poet delivers a punch line!

Send us a textWhat does contemplation look like and how can we know it when we are doing it? This will be one of the themes to be explored on this episode. On this Sunday Morning Poetry I'll be reading not only the Lines poem but a passage from Wordsworth's The Prelude and a poem from Robert Burns. We will learn much about a pivotal shift in the early Wordsworth's philosophy and poetry. It is the shift that made Romanticism... Well... Romanticism.In Lyrical Ballads there are several poems by Wordsworth with the title simply "lines" and then a subtitle like (written in early spring) or (left upon a yew tree...). The most famous of these, and the most famous of all Wordsworth's poetry is the finale of the 1798 Lyrical Ballads, Lines (written a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the banks of the Wy during a tour, July 13th, 1798). These "lines" poems have at their core a certain way of contemplation reality. It is one that has changed English writing and thinking

Send us a text@jJeff Britting and Kirk Barbera will be peering at a special page of a manuscript from the Ayn Rand's Archives.Jeff was instrumental in the building of the Ayn Rand archives. He worked with Rand's materials for over 25 years. And today we will be exploring her unique writing process and the writing process of many other famous (and some non-famous!) writers.

Send us a textAre women innately fickle?In episode 2 of Metaphysical Mondays we covered the poem The Good Morrow by Donne, where Donne waxes poetical about the eternality of romantic love. This is a very different poem. Here Donne speaks like an anxious teenager after a passionate night with a women he believes he is in love with.On this episode we'll talk about metaphysical conceit and more far fetched imagery.

Send us a textWho among the big six Romantic Poets was the greatest of all Romantic artists? To me this is like asking which part of the Pacific Ocean is wettest.However, in this discussion I explain some differences among all 6 and I discuss several advantages that William Wordsworth had over fellow poets like John Keats.Today's poem was based on an incident that Wordsworth experienced while on a walking tour in 1793. He had been forced to flee France after the country was heating up. During this time he did not write as much as other poets of a similar age, but he did have numerous experiences that would be the seeds for future poems, including "We Are Seven."

Send us a textOn this special episode of Troubadour, I sat down in Hollywood with Jeff Britting. Jeff is an accomplished composer (including an Oscar nominated movie), play-wright, historian, author, and producer. He has lived in West Hollywood for the past 30 years.We chatted about Quentin Tarantino's most recent movie Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. We discussed the changing role of Hollywood in America, how the stars used to wait around for roles (and what they did while they were waiting) and we spent a lot of time discussing Tarantino's movie and its impact on our culture.We would love to hear your thoughts about this impactful movie.*NOTE: With this podcast we do refer to some visuals. But the bulk of the show is a discussion of Tarantino's movie, with no visuals needed.

Send us a textAre we truly ALIVE before we fall in love?This is a question John Donne asks his girl one morning while waking up beside her.In this episode I explain the concept of "Metaphysical Conceit," which is often leveled at John Donne, and I also explain more about the differences in worldview between the Romantics and the Metaphysical Poets.

Send us a textA flaw in all parents, and one not easily rectified, is the inadvertent expectation of cohesion between your child's view of the world and the parents.In this poem by Wordsworth he gives you a hint as to how to identify and even rectify this mistakeIn the discussion of this poem I also explain an important principle regarding romantic literature and poetry. Hint: It has to do with the way we look at waterfalls!

Send us a textThomas the Rhymer, or True Thomas, was a real person -- Thomas of Ercildoune, who lived probably between 1210 and 1297.Thomas was supposed to have the power to see into the future. This power was given to him by the Fairy Queen, during his 7 year stay in the Fairy World. The story about his meeting with the Fairy Queen was believed by the Scottish peasants for many centuries. 

Send us a textThis short story is what Poe called a 'Tale of Ratiocianation;" one where we look for reasons to solve a mystery. It is also an early science fiction thriller.In previous podcasts I read and discussed Hawthorne and the birth of Sci-fi, now we turn to Edgar Allan Poe.Hawthorne wrote science fiction in a romantic style, with elevated even poetic language; Poe, on the other hand, wrote science fiction in the precise literature of empirical science.In this episode I give you a brief history of the first five years of the Royal Society of Science in the mid 17th century, and how that has shaped our minds through fiction to this day.