Afleveringen
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Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella. Over the course of the sixteenth century English poets experimented with the sonnet form invented by their Italian neighbours, and the Petrarchan conventions that came with it. The goal was a long sequence of many short poems which chronicle the emotional chaos springing from unrequited love. Sir Philip Sidneyâs sequence Astrophil and Stella is one of the great examples of the form in English. The male speaker is enthralled by a beautiful, virtuous, cultured noblewoman who hardly knows he exists. The record of his passion, full of obsession, idealization and self-loathing, not only gives us a window into this dimension of Elizabethan culture but also allows us to appreciate the nature of poetic craftsmanship.
PRODUCER'S NOTE: This show was recorded during tornadic Oklahoma storms, but we persevered because literature matters that much to us here at Professing Literature. We had to cut a few times during recording to keep an eye on the weather, so please excuse any edits that aren't seamless. As always, thanks for listening!
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked Cinema
Opening Segment Music: "Odonata" by Jakob AhlbomSend us a Text Message.
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John Keats, âThe Eve of St. Agnes,â (Part Two). Today we conclude our examination of Keatsâ poem, looking at three pairs of stanzas that describe the strange courtship of Porphyro and Madeline and their escape from the castle.
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked Cinema
Opening Segment Music: "Careful Consideration" by John BjorkSend us a Text Message.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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John Keats, âThe Eve of St. Agnesâ (Part One). The first of a two-part episode that considers John Keatsâ gorgeous poem. Set in a dreamy medieval world of castles, blood feuds and esoteric folk rituals, Keats gives us a love story with some of the lushest and most opulent imagery in all of English poetry. However, we begin in a very different atmosphere marked by darkness, death and piercing cold.
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked Cinema
Opening Segment Music: "At Sea" by In This WorldSend us a Text Message.
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On the day the Nazis invade Poland, beginning the Second World War, a poet nurses a drink in a New York bar. The unwarlike Auden has just immigrated to the United States from England, yet he feels a shadow rising behind him in the east that no one will be able to escape. Auden looks without and within, contemplating the primordial destructive urge that seems to be in control of the nations, the way modern life exacerbates it, and the only possible solution.
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked Cinema
Opening Segment Music: "les rues la nuit seul" by RenderingsSend us a Text Message.
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Flannery OâConnor, The Lame Shall Enter First. Sheppard is a high-minded liberal. Norton is his disappointing young son, who seems indifferent to Sheppardâs moral crusades. In the opening paragraphs of this short story Flannery OâConnor presents the two of them at breakfast. Every detail of the depiction alludes to just what is wrong within this little family, highlighting Sheppardâs âtelescopic philanthropismâ which neglects what is right in front of him as he attempts to prove his goodness and fails utterly.
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked Cinema
Opening Segment Music: "Steep Climb" by Martin KlemSend us a Text Message.
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William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act Four, Scene Five. Lear has lost his kingdom, his family, his security and his sanity. When he encounters his old friend the Earl of Gloucester, who has been savagely blinded, we witness one of the strangest and yet richest conversations in all of literature. Choked with both rage and guilt, Lear intercuts fantasies of revenge with flashes of moral clarity, and fumbles toward a profound articulation of what it means to suffer.
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William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act One, Scene Four. Looking forward to an easy retirement, where he can maintain the honours of kingship with none of the responsibilities, King Lear abdicates, and banishes the wrong daughter. His loyal fool attempts to show him the error of his ways.
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked CinemaOpening Passage Music: "Minuet in D Minor (BWV Anh. 132)" - Traditional
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Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses. Homer tells of how the mighty king of Ithaca arrived home after twenty years of war and wandering. However, in Tennysonâs monologue, one of the best-loved poems of the nineteenth century, we hear that he is restless and longs for the companionship and adventure that had come to define him.
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked CinemaOpening Passage Music: "Lord of the Dead" by CJ-0
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Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, Chapter 12. Late on a winter afternoon a young woman is walking from the country manor where she works toward the neighbouring village. Jane Eyre has known great sadness. She is poor and friendless but also strong and wise, possessed of high integrity and deep faith. When she shortly encounters a strange man on horseback the meeting will change her, but it will change him even more.
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked CinemaOpening Passage Music: "Thoughts in A Minor" by Ian Kelosky
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St. Lukeâs Gospel 8:40-56. In this episode Professing Literature tackles the New Testament. We discuss two intertwined miracle stories in Lukeâs Gospel: a healing and a resurrection. Though the stories are short and seemingly simple Luke artfully deploys a handful of key details to help us understand the character of Jesus and the nature of his mission.
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked CinemaOpening Passage Music: "From the North" by Wicked Cinema
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David and Eric look back over the first series (episodes 1-10) of Professing Literature and David answers some listener questions. We got a great response from listeners and some great questions about episodes 1-10.
David also gives a few clues as to what's coming in the next series of episodes (Eric presses him on when there will be more Macbeth!).
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or otherwise, send us an email at [email protected].
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked CinemaOpening Passage Music: "An Afternoon at the Versailles" by Cercles Nouvelles
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A Midsummer Nightâs Dream, Act Four, Scene One. When four young aristocrats and a weaver spend a night in the forest outside of Athens they cross into the world of the faeries. The next morning they struggle to understand what happened.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. Please reach out with questions, comments, or critiques to [email protected]. We enjoy hearing from you!
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked CinemaOpening Passage Music: "An Afternoon at the Versailles" by Cercles Nouvelles
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T. S. Eliot, âThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrockâ (Part Two). The conclusion of our discussion of âPrufrock,â Eliotâs seminal exploration of modern alienation.
Professing Literature is officially back! Thanks for your patience during our hiatus. We've got more episodes coming. Thanks so much for your support!
We'd love to hear what you think about this episode or any of the others. Please send questions, comments, or otherwise to [email protected].
------------Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked Cinema
Opening Passage Music: âA Short Storyâ by Andrea Colella
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T. S. Eliot, âThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrockâ (Part One). This is the first of two episodes devoted to one of the most famous poems of the twentieth century, wherein Eliotâs enigmatic speaker invites us on an evening stroll through his memories, his fears and his inhibitions.
We'd love to hear what you think about this episode or any of the others. Please send questions, comments, or otherwise to [email protected].
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked Cinema
Opening Passage Music: âIf My Companionâ by John Dowland, performed by Jon Sayles
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Beowulf. A shining young warrior has crossed the water and saved the Danish people from a dreadful monster and his scarcely less dreadful mother. As the Danes honour Beowulf with feasting, gifts and music their aged king offers him some counsel. Hrothgar has ruled the Danes for fifty years, in times of triumph and adversity, and he wants to make sure his young friend can profit from his own hard-won wisdom.
Professing Literature is back! We'd love to hear what you think about this episode or any of the others. Please send questions, comments, or otherwise to [email protected].
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Theme Music: "Nobility" by Wicked Cinema
Opening Passage Music: "The White Birch" by Moorland SongsSend us a Text Message.
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J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 11. Jane Gallagher had been the sort of girl who kept her kings in the back row. Is she still? As sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield unravels over the course of a few days in Manhattan his thoughts often return to Jane, who haunts his memory and is connected to so many of his most pressing obsessions: sex, vulnerability, change and authenticity.
As always, thanks for listening. Please send us your questions, comments, or otherwise to [email protected]. We love hearing from listeners!Send us a Text Message.
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John Milton, âWhen I Consider How My Light Is Spent.â In the early 1650s John Milton lost his eyesight. Blindness forced him out of politics, where he had been an important figure in Oliver Cromwellâs government, and into retirement where he wrote some of the greatest poetry in all of literary history. In this sonnet, though, he wonders if he has anything left to offer God at all.
As always, thanks for listening! We'd love to hear from you, so please send your questions, thoughts, or otherwise to [email protected].Send us a Text Message.
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George Orwell, 1984, Chapter One. The opening paragraphs of George Orwellâs novel seem innocuous, as a man named Winston Smith returns to his apartment building for lunch. However, from the first sentence onward Orwell estranges us from the world we take for granted and begins hinting at the nature of the totalitarian state which he feared might one day come into being.
As always, thanks for listening! We'd love to hear from you. Send us your questions, comments, or otherwise to [email protected].Send us a Text Message.
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Seamus Heaney, âBlackberry-Picking.â Today we consider a lyric poem from Death of a Naturalist, Seamus Heaneyâs first collection (1966). In âBlackberry-Pickingâ Heaney recounts a memory from his childhood, or perhaps from the beginning of his childhoodâs end.
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We started recording episodes about a year ago and are just now releasing them. We have a handful more of them to publish before we catch up. We hope you enjoy and thanks for listening!
If you have questions for Dr. Anderson, please email us at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you.Send us a Text Message.
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Emma, Vol 3, Chapter 7. A bright summer day in Surrey offers a sharp contrast to emotional storms. In this episode we discuss one of Jane Austenâs great set pieces, the picnic at Box Hill. Emma gets herself into deep trouble when she embarrasses an old friend, and the man who secretly loves her has to summon up the courage to tell her she was wrong.
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We started recording episodes about a year ago and are just now releasing them. We have a handful more of them to publish before we catch up. We hope you enjoy and thanks for listening!Send us a Text Message.
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