Poems For People Who Hate Poetry

Send us a textHow does a 17th century poet ask a woman for sex? Join in for episode 1 of Metaphysical Mondays where we explore Donne's most famous poem, The Flea, and we see him do just that.In this new series I'll be exploring a poetic school that preceded the Romantic Movement: The Metaphysical school. This refers to what Samuel Johnson called a "race of writers that may be terrmed the metaphysical poets," they were writers who were "rather as beholders than partakers of human nature; as beings looking upon good and evil, impassive and at leisure, asEpicurean deities making remarks on the actions of men and the vicissitudes of life, without interest and without emotion."Now a broader understand of this school is actually that it "expresses emotion within an intellectual context."It is impossible to understand the world we live in without a grasp on the words, thoughts and actions of other societies and other eras. This allows us to transcend our own era and compare th

Send us a textHow do we treat athletes after they have grown old and infirm? What does it feel like to once have been powerful and then to lose all power and strength?In Wordsworth's Ballad, published in the 1798 Lyrical Ballads, he explores an incident he had with an old, one-eyed man named Christopher Trickey.In his youth Trickey had been a strong huntsman with a wealthy family. Now they are all dead and he is impoverished and weak. One day he is attempting to upturn a root with a farm tool, but he cannot do it. Wordsworth walks by and offers his help. In a single blow Wordsworth breaks the root and upturns it. Trickey, in tears, thanks Wordsworth. "Alas! the gratitude of menHas oftner left me mourning"

Send us a textToday I explain why ballads are important for everyone to read. Our ballad today is a traditional one about an old peasant woman who sends her three sons all out to sea, and they all die. Then she curses the sea. The sons return for Martinmas (November 11th). Martinmas was a celebration of St Martin. On this day, the town would get together while they killed the animals needed to survive the winter. It was hard work and singing ballads made it more bearable. At this point of the year, the nights were lang and mirk (long and dark.) Which is perfect for a good ghost story.You can hear a modern rendition of this very old ballad sung by the UK rock band Steeleye Span: https://open.spotify.com/track/4fPaMYuy5KfwXiaKcNrLOzThere lived a wife at Usher’s Well,And a wealthy wife was she;She had three stout and stalwart sons,And sent them o’er the sea.They hadna been a week from her,A week but barely ane,Whan word came to the carlin wifeThat her three sons were gane.They hadna been a week from her,A week b

Send us a textIn the spring of 1798 William Wordsworth was going through a reckoning. His work on his elusive life project, The Recluse, was draining him. He had set out to study ALL knowledge up to that point in human history, and use it in an epic poem greater than The Iliad, Aeneid, Paradise Lost and all epics before it.But Wordsworth began to question the relevance of his project and his ability to accomplish it. In this poem, he challenges the idea of learning from books alone and advocates for putting down your books and leaving the joyless world of the mundane and entering an awe-filled, joyful world of nature and love.Special thanks to Don Watkins for his article "The Reckoning: Why 'Serving a cause greater than yourself' cannot give life meaning." https://medium.com/@dwatkins3/the-reckoning-why-serving-a-cause-greater-than-yourself-cannot-give-life-meaning-d886bc56e116

Send us a textAt the end of Game of Thrones, Tyrion Lannister tells the council that the stories we tell unite us.Is he correct? In this episode I argue that he is, and I give examples as to how stories we tell unite us as a country and they can unite us in our conception of our deepest values.In this traditional Scottish ballad, a knight comes to a wistful young woman in a castle. He is there to woo her. But she sees him as beneath her, due to the clothes he wears. After asking him three riddles, she discovers that he is more than her match, so she agrees to be his. But then he reveals that he is actually her brother, who has been "beyond the sea." She wants to join him, but he tells her that she cannot, for he is dead. The knight is a ghost in disguise.Lastly, he tells her that the reason for his journey from the land of the dead to her own land is to stop her from being so prideful.We'll talk about pride, stories, ballads and more. Join in!

Send us a textWhy do we cease to teach through the medium of verse? In children we happily sing songs and tell stories to convey moral tales and even astronomy, math, and economics.We know how effective this is in teaching young children ("My Very Evil Mother Just Swatted Uncle's Nose" -- for the planets) and yet why not teach the theory of evolution in metre and rhyme?Great poets, in fact, do teach in this manner.  In this very simple ballad, Wordsworth conveys a complex theoretical proposition from Erasmus Darwin's Zoonomia: The Laws of Organic Life."

Send us a textWith special Guest Joe Tabor of www.advancethenarrative.com.There are of course spoilers!In this wide-ranging discussion of GoT Joe Tabor and Kirk Barbera discuss the 8 season arc of the show, the arcs of the major characters, and the themes in the show.We also discussed the backlash against the show and why the producers did the right thing in the end.Overall, our discuss was about the show as a total work of art, rather than a piecemeal discussion, which is how everyone treats this work.

Send us a textA ballad is a song that tells a story. The oldest ballads, some say, are older than the alphabet even, having been composed and sung far, far back in man's history at old tribal dances for which they were the only music.In this series I will be reading a variety of traditional, modern and intellectual ballads. Some of these will be well known such as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and some, like today's ballad are lesser known.Ballads are especially great for middle schoolers. It is a great introduction to advanced English and they are also fun stories to contemplate. Enjoys today's tale of a jealous King who believes his Abbott is cheating him. The only way he can leave without losing his head is if the abbott can answer three questions posed by the king.  

Send us a textIt is said that Coleridge's greatest achievement was William Wordsworth. There is some truth to this. But he was also a great poet in his own right. In Lyrical Ballads he and Wordsworth changed English sensibilities (and American) completely. While Wordsworth was the greater poet, Coleridge was the greater philosopher. It is Coleridge's insights as a critic which encapsulates English Romanticism.In this poem published in 1798, he not only conveys a new style of sensualness but also critiques the literarati before him. It is a truly Literary poem in that it is very aware of the literature that came prior. The Nightingale opens with Colerdge painting a picture of a nighttime scene with friends. They sit on a "mossy bridge," where they will think on nature. Then, almost on cue, "the Nightingale begins its song." This bird causes him to reflect on the writers of yore. Men who wrote that the nightingale's song was a melancholy one. To which Coleridge replies "A

Send us a textGreat men can battle many things, jealousy, hate, scorn, dissolute tongues, but what about neglect? Can a great man or woman perservere in the face of utter lifelong neglect?What would Einstein be like in old age, had no one taken his theory of relativity seriously? What about Dostoevsky's novels? Galileo famously was locked in a tower. At least he was not neglected!Neglect it not scorn or hatred. It is to be ignored, unacknowledged, ghosted. This is something profoundly worse than fear or fury.In this haunting poem, Wordsworth writes about a man he knew at Hawkshead school. The man was educated, a genius even. But something made him abscond from humanity. The only monument were some lines left upon a seat in a yew-tree which stands near the lake of Esthwaite on a desolate prt of the shore, yet commanding a beautiful prospect.Listen in to hear these powerful lines.Visit https://www.troubadourmag.com/ to subscribe to the podcast.

Send us a textOne element we miss in reading poetry today is context. We often read poems isolated and alone (the poems that is...) They were meant to be read as a totality. Wordsworth and Coleridge carefully selected the poems they would publish and in what order. To fully understand Wordsworth's haunting "Lucy" poems, we must explore them as they were meant to be read, in the context of "Lyrical Ballads."Lyrical Ballads was initially published in 1798 and it effectually launched the Romantic movement in England. In fact, it had profound effect on all the romantics including the French romantics. It is impossible for us to understand the magnatitude of the change, unless we think of it in our modern context. Imagine for a moment that the next Marvel movie featured one of the characters, perhaps Captain America or Iron Man, who came out and who spoke in Shakespearean language. For instance:"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,Quite o

Send us a textHere is a special fourth of July poem. Longfellow, writing during the build-up to the civil war, is encouraging the north to remember that the ship of state is not fully built. It is up to the next generation to fully institute the vision of the founders: This means ending slavery.This is a poem that is primarily analogistic. It is a supremely patriotic and American poem.If you prefer to listen to the poem, go to www.troubadourmag.comwhere you can subscribe to the podcast on itunes, spotify, or wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts.

Send us a textI recorded this the day after a life altering two lectures by Lisa VanDamme at Objectivist Conference 2019 "Literature and the Quest for Meaning," and "John Keats Life and Poetry." They should be up on youtube soon, I'll get the links.In this Sunday Morning Poetry I compare one of the poems she taught us with a poem by William Wordsworth. There are several recommendations for other resources by Lisa and Dr. Leonard Peikoff that helped guide me in reading poetry. Make sure to join Lisa's group and download her app at www.readwithmebookgroup.com.

Send us a textThis is the 4th of the "Lucy" poems by William Wordsworth. In this one we get another poem about Wordsworth's view of death. Wordsworth kicked off the English Romantic movement. He, like the romantics that proceeded him, was heavily focused on the internal world of humans. As the French Romanticist, Victor Hugo put it, "There is one thing grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one thing grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul." The lucy poems taken as a whole are very helpful in understanding how unique this viewpoint really is. Why do we have the thoughts in our heads that we do? Where do those thoughts come from? What associations do we make in moments of high passion and why those associations? And, most importantly, how does the external world affect our internal one?If you have not listened to the other episodes, then listen to this one! I give a brief overview at the beginning of the key points. ---Three Years She Grew in Sun and Showerby Wi

Send us a textOf the 5 Lucy poems this one is the prime example of the Wordsworthian endeavor to trace the associations we make in a state of excitement. Doubtless, there has been a time when you were passionately in love with someone and they you. In the height of your love, while you made your way to your lovers house, you had a moment's terror that they wouldn't be there or that they would leave you. Maybe, they have lost interest in you or found someone else to love. Or possibly, they inexplicably die. This is the experience of Wordsworth's strange fit of passion. The aim of the poem is to explore the origins of the associations which led to this strange conclusion: that his lover Lucy would be dead.

Send us a textSunday Morning Poetry: "I Travelled Among Unknown Men" by William Wordsworth.This is our next "lucy" poem. The lucy poems deal with death and the emotions surrounding death. In this poem, Wordsworth connects his homesick feeling about England to his love for a woman who died.As Wordsworth put it in a letter to a friend "... a great poet out... to a certain degree to rectify men's feelings, to give them new compositions of feeling, to render their feelings more san pure and permanent."In this poem and all the Lucy Poems, Wordsworth accomplishes this.

Send us a textWordsworth was a poet worthy of being uttered in the same breath as Shakespeare. His ballads and sonnets are both simple and profound in a way that even transcends the bard. More, his manner of stirring the imagination of his reader is unprecedented.Our poem today is the first of the FIVE Lucy poems. (note: some people believe there are more than 5 LUCY poems, but, alas, they are wrong.) :) In the show I explain why.These five poems should be experienced and understood together, so each week we will explore the Lucy Poems. We will also be exploring Wordsworth's and Coleridge's philosophy of poetry, with special emphasis on the Preface to the 1802 Lyrical Ballads. Here we will find surprising insights into the nature of poetry and life, and, even more intriguing, a connection between Wordsworth's philosophy and that of author Ayn Rand. Tune in here for the video or go to troubadourmag.com and subscribe to the audio podcast there.

Send us a textWhether or not you are a lover of fine art, Linda Cordair can help you discover personal pieces that will change your life.Linda is the co-owner of Cordair Fine Art Gallery in Napa Valley, California. https://cordair.com/The Cordair's have a special showing of over 100 pieces this summer for Objectivist http://ocon.aynrand.org/ We talked about some of the pieces they will be bringing, as well as ways to make art more personal in your life, even if you don't believe yourself to be an art lover.

Send us a textFor those familiar with Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, imagine for a moment what Roark's childhood might have been like. He talked a great deal about his love of the material world and, equally, his love of his own ability to transform that material as he saw fit.I believe some of Wordsworth's poetry, particularly Nutting, illustrates a similar view.In this simple poem, a young boy enters an unvisited nook in the woods. After appreciating and reveling in his own power, he suddenly and maniacally tears, rips and sullies the hazel nut bower. In this discussion, I explain the importance of this poem, how it is emblematic of Romanticism and, most importantly, how the essential interest of Wordsworth was the development of consciousness--our faculty of awareness.

Send us a textThis year is a very special Objectivist Conference. It's the 50th anniversary of Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto!This work of nonfiction has not had the loud cultural impact of her political and economic work, but I believe it has impacted many artists in very personal ways.More importantly, it has impacted many individuals in helping to bring to life the art around them.This is a conference not to be missed. And I was able to chat with Anu Seppala of the Ayn Rand Institute to discuss the value of art in our lives and the value of OCON 2019.Oh and be prepared for some recommendations on courses, books, articles and plays that will change your whole existence!