The Troubadour Podcast

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 ever since. And it is a way of contemplation that will make your life worth living.

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."

Exploring Hollywood's evolution from a rural landscape to a film capital, rebel icons like James Dean and youth movements, masculinity in western films, character transformation in the face of danger, drug experiences, and reflecting on Manson murders

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. 

Explore the influence of Edgar Allan Poe on science fiction and the great detective genre, contrasting his style with Hawthorne's romantic language. Dive into a harrowing tale of survival in a massive vortex, analyzing the use of scientific descriptions and poetic language. Delve into the narrator's intense journey through a violent maelstrom at sea, facing impending doom and chaotic forces of nature.