An episode from 11/19/21, where I read about two disasters separated by nearly two thousand years: the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in the year 79, and the earthquake that destroyed so much of San Francisco in 1906. A letter from Pliny the younger (read it here) describes Vesuvius and Pompeii, while an article by Jack…
Category: 20th Century Poetry
Advice from Beethoven, Joseph Campbell, & W. S. Merwin
An episode from 7/3/21: Here, with the help of a few quotations, I ask: should poets and writers be able to cook themselves a decent meal, or is a life of the mind (with a side of fast food) the best we can expect? Is it a relief to hear Beethoven admit that everything he…
How Did Picasso Do It?
An episode from 11/16/21: Tonight I read from a few books on Pablo Picasso, where he talks about how the power behind his own paintings, and his huge output, remained a mystery for him as much as anyone else. For most of the time, Picasso seems to have been along for the ride, and the…
Witches in America, Napoleon in Egypt, & the Invention of the Printed Book
An episode from 7/19/22: Tonight I read from & comment on three sections from Jacques Barzun’s book From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life: You can join Human Voices Wake Us on Patreon, or sign up for our newsletter, by clicking here.
Anthology: Is Poetry Important?, & Poems by Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, Virgil, & R. S. Thomas
An episode from 1/1/22: The first eleven minutes of this episode are probably the best job I’ve done yet, talking about poetry’s lagging popularity these days. For those would like to reverse this trend, I suggest that we ought to study the kinds of poetry that did have an immediate, popular, and lasting influence. Taking…
Cecil Day Lewis: “My Mother’s Sister” (podcast)
You can support this podcast here, or by buying any of my books. Please consider subscribing to the podcast here. It is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, Amazon Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Radio Public Other Readings of Poetry:
Seamus Heaney, from “Squarings”
The center of Seeing Things—and perhaps the very center of his poetry, and maybe even his greatest achievement—is the sequence called “Squarings,” which consists of forty-eight twelve-line poems. He never wrote about nature, history, myth, other poets, or his own rural upbringing so well. This week I will post my favorite poems from each of…
Seamus Heaney, from “Crossings”
The center of Seeing Things—and perhaps the very center of his poetry, and maybe even his greatest achievement—is the sequence called “Squarings,” which consists of forty-eight twelve-line poems. He never wrote about nature, history, myth, other poets, or his own rural upbringing so well. This week I will post my favorite poems from each of…
Seamus Heaney, from “Settings”
The center of Seeing Things—and perhaps the very center of his poetry, and maybe even his greatest achievement—is the sequence called “Squarings,” which consists of forty-eight twelve-line poems. He never wrote about nature, history, myth, other poets, or his own rural upbringing so well. This week I will post my favorite poems from each of…
Seamus Heaney, from “Lightenings”
The center of Seeing Things—and perhaps the very center of his poetry, and maybe even his greatest achievement—is the sequence called “Squarings,” which consists of forty-eight twelve-line poems. He never wrote about nature, history, myth, other poets, or his own rural upbringing so well. This week I will post my favorite poems from each of…