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In this episode, James Marriott and I discuss who we think are the best twenty English poets. This is not the best poets who wrote in English, but the best British poets (though James snuck Sylvia Plath onto his list…). We did it like that to make it easier, not least so we could base a lot of our discussion on extracts in The Oxford Book of English Verse (Ricks edition). Most of what we read out is from there. We read Wordsworth, Keats, Hardy, Milton, and Pope. We both love Pope! (He should be regarded as one of the very best English poets, like Milton.) There are also readings of Herrick, Bronte, Cowper, and MacNiece. I plan to record the whole of ‘The Eve of St. Agnes' at some point soon.Here are our lists and below is the transcript (which may have more errors than usual, sorry!)HOGod Tier* Shakespeare“if not first, in the very first line”* Chaucer* Spenser* Milton* Wordsworth* Eliot—argue for Pope here, not usually includedSecond Tier* Donne* Herbert* Keats* Dryden* Gawain poet* Tom O'Bedlam poetThird Tier* Yeats* Tennyson* Hopkins* Coleridge* Auden* Shelley* MarvellJMShakespeareTier* ShakespeareTier 1* Chaucer* Milton* WordsworthTier 2* Donne* Eliot* Keats* Tennyson* Spencer* Marvell* PopeTier 3* Yeats* Hopkins* Blake* Coleridge* Auden* Shelley* Thomas Hardy* Larkin* PlathHenry: Today I'm talking to James Marriott, Times columnist, and more importantly, the writer of the Substack Cultural Capital. And we are going to argue about who are the best poets in the English language. James, welcome.James: Thanks very much for having me. I feel I should preface my appearance so that I don't bring your podcast and disrepute saying that I'm maybe here less as an expert of poetry and more as somebody who's willing to have strong and potentially species opinions. I'm more of a lover of poetry than I would claim to be any kind of academic expert, just in case anybody thinks that I'm trying to produce any definitive answer to the question that we're tackling.Henry: Yeah, no, I mean that's the same for me. We're not professors, we're just very opinionated boys. So we have lists.James: We do.Henry: And we're going to debate our lists, but what we do agree is that if we're having a top 20 English poets, Shakespeare is automatically in the God Tier and there's nothing to discuss.James: Yeah, he's in a category of his own. I think the way of, because I guess the plan we've gone for is to rather than to rank them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 into sort of, what is it, three or four broad categories that we're competing over.Henry: Yes, yes. TiersJames: I think is a more kind of reasonable way to approach it rather than trying to argue exactly why it should be one place above Shelly or I don't know, whatever.Henry: It's also just an excuse to talk about poets.James: Yes.Henry: Good. So then we have a sort of top tier, if not the first, in the very first line as it were, and you've got different people. To me, you've got Chaucer, Milton, and Wordsworth. I would also add Spenser and T.S. Eliot. So what's your problem with Spenser?James: Well, my problem is ignorance in that it's a while since I've read the Fairy Queen, which I did at university. Partly is just that looking back through it now and from what I remember of university, I mean it is not so much that I have anything against Spenser. It's quite how much I have in favour of Milton and Wordsworth and Chaucer, and I'm totally willing to be argued against on this, but I just can't think that Spenser is in quite the same league as lovely as many passages of the Fairy Queen are.Henry: So my case for Spenser is firstly, if you go through something like the Oxford Book of English Verse or some other comparable anthology, he's getting a similar page count to Shakespeare and Milton, he is important in that way. Second, it's not just the fairy queen, there's the Shepherd's Calendar, the sonnets, the wedding poems, and they're all highly accomplished. The Shepherd's Calendar particularly is really, really brilliant work. I think I enjoyed that more as an undergraduate, actually, much as I love the Fairy Queen. And the third thing is that the Fairy Queen is a very, very great epic. I mean, it's a tremendous accomplishment. There were lots of other epics knocking around in the 16th century that nobody wants to read now or I mean, obviously specialists want to read, but if we could persuade a few more people, a few more ordinary readers to pick up the fairy queen, they would love it.James: Yes, and I was rereading before he came on air, the Bower of Bliss episode, which I think is from the second book, which is just a beautifully lush passage, passage of writing. It was really, I mean, you can see why Keats was so much influenced by it. The point about Spenser's breadth is an interesting one because Milton is in my top category below Shakespeare, but I think I'm placing him there pretty much only on the basis of Paradise Lost. I think if we didn't have Paradise Lost, Milton may not even be in this competition at all for me, very little. I know. I don't know if this is a heresy, I've got much less time for Milton's minor works. There's Samuel Johnson pretty much summed up my feelings on Lycidas when he said there was nothing new. Whatever images it can supply are long ago, exhausted, and I do feel there's a certain sort of dryness to Milton's minor stuff. I mean, I can find things like Il Penseroso and L'Allegro pretty enough, but I mean, I think really the central achievement is Paradise Lost, whereas Spenser might be in contention, as you say, from if you didn't have the Fairy Queen, you've got Shepherd's Calendar, and all this other sort of other stuff, but Paradise Lost is just so massive for me.Henry: But if someone just tomorrow came out and said, oh, we found a whole book of minor poetry by Virgil and it's all pretty average, you wouldn't say, oh, well Virgil's less of a great poet.James: No, absolutely, and that's why I've stuck Milton right at the top. It's just sort of interesting how unbelievably good Paradise Lost is and how, in my opinion, how much less inspiring the stuff that comes after it is Samson Agonistes and Paradise Regained I really much pleasure out of at all and how, I mean the early I think slightly dry Milton is unbelievably accomplished, but Samuel Johnson seems to say in that quote is a very accomplished use of ancient slightly worn out tropes, and he's of putting together these old ideas in a brilliant manner and he has this sort of, I mean I guess he's one of your late bloomers. I can't quite remember how old he is when he publishes Paradise Lost.Henry: Oh, he is. Oh, writing it in his fifties. Yeah.James: Yeah, this just extraordinary thing that's totally unlike anything else in English literature and of all the poems that we're going to talk about, I think is the one that has probably given me most pleasure in my life and the one that I probably return to most often if not to read all the way through then to just go over my favourite bits and pieces of it.Henry: A lot of people will think Milton is heavy and full of weird references to the ancient world and learned and biblical and not very readable for want of a better word. Can you talk us out of that? To be one of the great poets, they do have to have some readability, right?James: Yeah, I think so, and it's certainly how I felt. I mean I think it's not a trivial objection to have to Milton. It's certainly how I found him. He was my special author paper at university and I totally didn't get on with him. There was something about his massive brilliance that I felt. I remember feeling like trying to write about Paradise Lost was trying to kind of scratch a huge block of marble with your nails. There's no way to get a handle on it. I just couldn't work out what to get ahold of, and it's only I think later in adulthood maybe reading him under a little less pressure that I've come to really love him. I mean, the thing I would always say to people to look out for in Milton, but it's his most immediate pleasure and the thing that still is what sends shivers done my spine about him is the kind of cosmic scale of Paradise Lost, and it's almost got this sort of sci-fi massiveness to it. One of my very favourite passages, which I may inflict on you, we did agree that we could inflict poetry on one another.Henry: Please, pleaseJames: It's a detail from the first book of Paradise Lost. Milton's talking about Satan's architect in hell Mulciber, and this is a little explanation of who or part of his explanation of who Mulciber is, and he says, Nor was his name unheard or unadoredIn ancient Greece; and in Ausonian landMen called him Mulciber; and how he fellFrom Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry JoveSheer o'er the crystal battlements: from mornTo noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,A summer's day, and with the setting sunDropt from the zenith, like a falling star,On Lemnos, th' Aegaean isle. Thus they relate,ErringI just think it's the sort of total massiveness of that universe that “from the zenith to like a falling star”. I just can't think of any other poet in English or that I've ever read in any language, frankly, even in translation, who has that sort of scale about it, and I think that's what can most give immediate pleasure. The other thing I love about that passage is this is part of the kind of grandeur of Milton is that you get this extraordinary passage about an angel falling from heaven down to th' Aegean Isle who's then going to go to hell and the little parenthetic remark at the end, the perm just rolls on, thus they relate erring and paradise lost is such this massive grand thing that it can contain this enormous cosmic tragedy as a kind of little parenthetical thing. I also think the crystal battlements are lovely, so wonderful kind of sci-fi detail.Henry: Yes, I think that's right, and I think it's under appreciated that Milton was a hugely important influence on Charles Darwin who was a bit like you always rereading it when he was young, especially on the beagle voyage. He took it with him and quotes it in his letters sometimes, and it is not insignificant the way that paradise loss affects him in terms of when he writes his own epic thinking at this level, thinking at this scale, thinking at the level of the whole universe, how does the whole thing fit together? What's the order behind the little movements of everything? So Milton's reach I think is actually quite far into the culture even beyond the poets.James: That's fascinating. Do you have a particular favourite bit of Paradise Lost?Henry: I do, but I don't have it with me because I disorganised and couldn't find my copy.James: That's fair.Henry: What I want to do is to read one of the sonnets because I do think he's a very, very good sonnet writer, even if I'm going to let the Lycidas thing go, because I'm not going to publicly argue against Samuel Johnson.When I consider how my light is spent,Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,And that one Talent which is death to hideLodged with me useless, though my Soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and presentMy true account, lest he returning chide;“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”I fondly ask. But patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, “God doth not needEither man's work or his own gifts; who bestBear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His stateIs Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speedAnd post o'er Land and Ocean without rest:They also serve who only stand and wait.”I think that's great.James: Yeah. Okay. It is good.Henry: Yeah. I think the minor poems are very uneven, but there are lots of gems.James: Yeah, I mean he is a genius. It would be very weird if all the minor poems were s**t, which is not really what I'm trying… I guess I have a sort of slightly austere category too. I just do Chaucer, Milton, Wordsworth, but we are agreed on Wordsworth, aren't we? That he belongs here.Henry: So my feeling is that the story of English poetry is something like Chaucer Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot create a kind of spine. These are the great innovators. They're writing the major works, they're the most influential. All the cliches are true. Chaucer invented iambic pentameter. Shakespeare didn't single handedly invent modern English, but he did more than all the rest of them put together. Milton is the English Homer. Wordsworth is the English Homer, but of the speech of the ordinary man. All these old things, these are all true and these are all colossal achievements and I don't really feel that we should be picking between them. I think Spenser wrote an epic that stands alongside the works of Shakespeare and Milton in words with T.S. Eliot whose poetry, frankly I do not love in the way that I love some of the other great English writers cannot be denied his position as one of the great inventors.James: Yeah, I completely agree. It's funny, I think, I mean I really do love T.S. Eliot. Someone else had spent a lot of time rereading. I'm not quite sure why he hasn't gone into quite my top category, but I think I had this—Henry: Is it because he didn't like Milton and you're not having it?James: Maybe that's part of it. I think my thought something went more along the lines of if I cut, I don't quite feel like I'm going to put John Donne in the same league as Milton, but then it seems weird to put Eliot above Donne and then I don't know that, I mean there's not a very particularly fleshed out thought, but on Wordsworth, why is Wordsworth there for you? What do you think, what do you think are the perms that make the argument for Wordsworth having his place at the very top?Henry: Well, I think the Lyrical Ballads, Poems in Two Volumes and the Prelude are all of it, aren't they? I'm not a lover of the rest, and I think the preface to the Lyrical Ballads is one of the great works of literary criticism, which is another coin in his jar if you like, but in a funny way, he's much more revolutionary than T.S. Eliot. We think of modernism as the great revolution and the great sort of bringing of all the newness, but modernism relies on Wordsworth so much, relies on the idea that tradition can be subsumed into ordinary voice, ordinary speech, the passage in the Wasteland where he has all of them talking in the bar. Closing time please, closing time please. You can't have that without Wordsworth and—James: I think I completely agree with what you're saying.Henry: Yeah, so I think that's for me is the basis of it that he might be the great innovator of English poetry.James: Yeah, I think you're right because I've got, I mean again, waiting someone out of my depth here, but I can't think of anybody else who had sort of specifically and perhaps even ideologically set out to write a kind of high poetry that sounded like ordinary speech, I guess. I mean, Wordsworth again is somebody who I didn't particularly like at university and I think it's precisely about plainness that can make him initially off-putting. There's a Matthew Arnold quote where he says of Wordsworth something like He has no style. Henry: Such a Matthew Arnold thing to say.James: I mean think it's the beginning of an appreciation, but there's a real blankness to words with I think again can almost mislead you into thinking there's nothing there when you first encounter him. But yeah, I think for me, Tintern Abbey is maybe the best poem in the English language.Henry: Tintern Abbey is great. The Intimations of Immortality Ode is superb. Again, I don't have it with me, but the Poems in Two Volumes. There are so many wonderful things in there. I had a real, when I was an undergraduate, I had read some Wordsworth, but I hadn't really read a lot and I thought of I as you do as the daffodils poet, and so I read Lyrical Ballads and Poems in Two Volumes, and I had one of these electrical conversion moments like, oh, the daffodils, that is nothing. The worst possible thing for Wordsworth is that he's remembered as this daffodils poet. When you read the Intimations of Immortality, do you just think of all the things he could have been remembered for? It's diminishing.James: It's so easy to get into him wrong because the other slightly wrong way in is through, I mean maybe this is a prejudice that isn't widely shared, but the stuff that I've never particularly managed to really enjoy is all the slightly worthy stuff about beggars and deformed people and maimed soldiers. Wandering around on roads in the lake district has always been less appealing to me, and that was maybe why I didn't totally get on with 'em at first, and I mean, there's some bad words with poetry. I was looking up the infamous lines from the form that were mocked even at the time where you know the lines that go, You see a little muddy pond Of water never dry. I've measured it from side to side, 'Tis three feet long and two feet wide, and the sort of plainness condescend into banality at Wordsworth's worst moments, which come more frequently later in his career.Henry: Yes, yes. I'm going to read a little bit of the Intimations ode because I want to share some of this so-called plainness at its best. This is the third section. They're all very short Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,And while the young lambs boundAs to the tabor's sound,To me alone there came a thought of grief:A timely utterance gave that thought relief,And I again am strong:The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,And all the earth is gay;Land and seaGive themselves up to jollity,And with the heart of MayDoth every Beast keep holiday;—Thou Child of Joy,Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy.And I think it's unthinkable that someone would write like this today. It would be cringe, but we're going to have a new sincerity. It's coming. It's in some ways it's already here and I think Wordsworth will maybe get a different sort of attention when that happens because that's a really high level of writing to be able to do that without it descending into what you just read. In the late Wordsworth there's a lot of that really bad stuff.James: Yeah, I mean the fact that he wrote some of that bad stuff I guess is a sign of quite how carefully the early stuff is treading that knife edge of tripping into banality. Can I read you my favourite bit of Tintern Abbey?Henry: Oh yes. That is one of the great poems.James: Yeah, I just think one of mean I, the most profound poem ever, probably for me. So this is him looking out over the landscape of Tinton Abbey. I mean these are unbelievably famous lines, so I'm sure everybody listening will know them, but they are so good And I have feltA presence that disturbs me with the joyOf elevated thoughts; a sense sublimeOf something far more deeply interfused,Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,And the round ocean and the living air,And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:A motion and a spirit, that impelsAll thinking things, all objects of all thought,And rolls through all things. Therefore am I stillA lover of the meadows and the woodsAnd mountains; and of all that we beholdFrom this green earth; of all the mighty worldOf eye, and ear,—both what they half create,And what perceive; well pleased to recogniseIn nature and the language of the senseThe anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soulOf all my moral being.I mean in a poem, it's just that is mind blowingly good to me?Henry: Yeah. I'm going to look up another section from the Prelude, which used to be in the Oxford Book, but it isn't in the Ricks edition and I don't really know whyJames: He doesn't have much of the Prelude does he?Henry: I don't think he has any…James: Yeah.Henry: So this is from an early section when the young Wordsworth is a young boy and he's going off, I think he's sneaking out at night to row on the lake as you do when you with Wordsworth, and the initial description is of a mountain. She was an elfin pinnace; lustilyI dipped my oars into the silent lake,And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boatWent heaving through the water like a swan;When, from behind that craggy steep till thenThe horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge,As if with voluntary power instinct,Upreared its head. I struck and struck again,And growing still in stature the grim shapeTowered up between me and the stars, and still,For so it seemed, with purpose of its ownAnd measured motion like a living thing,Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned,And through the silent water stole my wayBack to the covert of the willow tree;It's so much like that in Wordsworth. It's just,James: Yeah, I mean, yeah, the Prelude is full of things like that. I think that is probably one of the best moments, possibly the best moments of the prelude. But yeah, I mean it's just total genius isn't it?Henry: I think he's very, very important and yeah, much more important than T.S. Eliot who is, I put him in the same category, but I can see why you didn't.James: You do have a little note saying Pope, question mark or something I think, don't you, in the document.Henry: So the six I gave as the spine of English literature and everything, that's an uncontroversial view. I think Pope should be one of those people. I think we should see Pope as being on a level with Milton and Wordsworth, and I think he's got a very mixed reputation, but I think he was just as inventive, just as important. I think you are a Pope fan, just as clever, just as moving, and it baffles me that he's not more commonly regarded as part of this great spine running through the history of English literature and between Milton and Wordsworth. If you don't have Pope, I think it's a missing link if you like.James: I mean, I wouldn't maybe go as far as you, I love Pope. Pope was really the first perch I ever loved. I remember finding a little volume of Pope in a box of books. My school library was chucking out, and that was the first book of poetry I read and took seriously. I guess he sort of suffers by the fact that we are seeing all of this through the lens of the romantics. All our taste about Shakespeare and Milton and Spenser has been formed by the romantics and hope's way of writing the Satires. This sort of society poetry I think is just totally doesn't conform to our idea of what poetry should be doing or what poetry is. Is there absolutely or virtually nobody reads Dryden nowadays. It's just not what we think poetry is for that whole Augustine 18th century idea that poetry is for writing epistles to people to explain philosophical concepts to them or to diss your enemies and rivals or to write a kind of Duncia explaining why everyone you know is a moron. That's just really, I guess Byron is the last major, is the only of figure who is in that tradition who would be a popular figure nowadays with things like English bards and scotch reviewers. But that whole idea of poetry I think was really alien to us. And I mean I'm probably formed by that prejudice because I really do love Pope, but I don't love him as much as the other people we've discussed.Henry: I think part of his problem is that he's clever and rational and we want our poems always to be about moods, which may be, I think why George Herbert, who we've both got reasonably high is also quite underrated. He's very clever. He's always think George Herbert's always thinking, and when someone like Shakespeare or Milton is thinking, they do it in such a way that you might not notice and that you might just carry on with the story. And if you do see that they're thinking you can enjoy that as well. Whereas Pope is just explicitly always thinking and maybe lecturing, hectoring, being very grand with you and as you say, calling you an idiot. But there are so many excellent bits of Pope and I just think technically he can sustain a thought or an argument over half a dozen or a dozen lines and keep the rhyme scheme moving and it's never forced, and he never has to do that thing where he puts the words in a stupid order just to make the rhyme work. He's got such an elegance and a balance of composition, which again, as you say, we live under romantic ideals, not classical ones. But that doesn't mean we should be blind to the level of his accomplishment, which is really, really very high. I mean, Samuel Johnson basically thought that Alexander Pope had finished English poetry. We have the end of history. He had the end of English poetry. Pope, he's brought us to the mightiest of the heroic couplers and he's done it. It's all over.James: The other thing about Pope that I think makes us underrate him is that he's very charming. And I think charm is a quality we're not big on is that sort of, but I think some of Pope's charm is so moving. One of my favourite poems of his is, do you know the Epistle to Miss Blount on going into the country? The poem to the young girl who's been having a fashionable season in London then is sent to the boring countryside to stay with an aunt. And it's this, it's not like a romantic love poem, it's not distraught or hectic. It's just a sort of wonderful act of sympathy with this potentially slightly airheaded young girl who's been sent to the countryside, which you'd rather go to operas and plays and flirt with people. And there's a real sort of delicate in it that isn't overblown and isn't dramatic, but is extremely charming. And I think that's again, another quality that perhaps we're prone not to totally appreciate in the 21st century. It's almost the kind of highest form of politeness and sympathyHenry: And the prevailing quality in Pope is wit: “True wit is nature to advantage dressed/ What often was thought, but ne'er so well expressed”. And I think wit can be quite alienating for an audience because it is a kind of superior form of literary art. This is why people don't read as much Swift as he deserves because he's so witty and so scornful that a lot of people will read him and think, well, I don't like you.James: And that point about what oft was thought and ne'er so well expressed again, is a very classical idea. The poet who puts not quite conventional wisdom, but something that's been thought before in the best possible words, really suffers with the romantic idea of originality. The poet has to say something utterly new. Whereas for Pope, the sort of ideas that he express, some of the philosophical ideas are not as profound in original perhaps as words with, but he's very elegant proponent of them.Henry: And we love b******g people in our culture, and I feel like the Dunciad should be more popular because it is just, I can't remember who said this, but someone said it's probably the most under appreciated great poem in English, and that's got to be true. It's full of absolute zingers. There's one moment where he's described the whole crowd of them or all these poets who he considers to be deeply inferior, and it turns out he was right because no one reads them anymore. And you need footnotes to know who they are. I mean, no one cares. And he says, “equal your merits, equal is your din”. This kind of abuse is a really high art, and we ought to love that. We love that on Twitter. And I think things like the Rape of the Lock also could be more popular.James: I love the Rape of the Lock . I mean, I think anybody is not reading Pope and is looking for a way in, I think the Rape of the Lock is the way in, isn't it? Because it's just such a charming, lovely, funny poem.Henry: It is. And probably it suffers because the whole idea of mock heroic now is lost to us. But it's a bit like it's the literary equivalent of people writing a sort of mini epic about someone like Elon Musk or some other very prominent figure in the culture and using lots of heroic imagery from the great epics of Homer and Virgil and from the Bible and all these things, but putting them into a very diminished state. So instead of being grand, it becomes comic. It's like turning a God into a cartoon. And Pope is easily the best writer that we have for that kind of thing. Dryden, but he's the genius on it.James: Yeah, no, he totally is. I guess it's another reason he's under appreciated is that our culture is just much less worshipful of epic than the 18th century culture was. The 18th century was obsessed with trying to write epics and trying to imitate epics. I mean, I think to a lot of Pope's contemporaries, the achievement they might've been expecting people to talk about in 300 years time would be his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey and the other stuff might've seen more minor in comparison, whereas it's the mock epic that we're remembering him for, which again is perhaps another symptom of our sort of post romantic perspective.Henry: I think this is why Spenser suffers as well, because everything in Spenser is magical. The knights are fairies, not the little fairies that live in buttercups, but big human sized fairies or even bigger than that. And there are magical women and saucers and the whole thing is a sort of hodgepodge of romance and fairy tale and legend and all this stuff. And it's often said, oh, he was old fashioned in his own time. But those things still had a lot of currency in the 16th century. And a lot of those things are in Shakespeare, for example.But to us, that's like a fantasy novel. Now, I love fantasy and I read fantasy, and I think some of it's a very high accomplishment, but to a lot of people, fantasy just means kind of trash. Why am I going to read something with fairies and a wizard? And I think a lot of people just see Spenser and they're like, what is this? This is so weird. They don't realise how Protestant they're being, but they're like, this is so weird.James: And Pope has a little, I mean, the Rape of the Lock even has a little of the same because the rape of the lock has this attendant army of good spirits called selfs and evil spirits called gnomes. I mean, I find that just totally funny and charming. I really love it.Henry: I'm going to read, there's an extract from the Rape of the Lock in the Oxford Book, and I'm going to read a few lines to give people an idea of how he can be at once mocking something but also quite charming about it. It's quite a difficult line to draw. The Rape of the Lock is all about a scandalous incident where a young man took a lock of a lady's hair. Rape doesn't mean what we think it means. It means an offence. And so because he stole a lock of her hair, it'd become obviously this huge problem and everyone's in a flurry. And to sort of calm everyone down, Pope took it so seriously that he made it into a tremendous joke. So here he is describing the sort of dressing table if you like.And now, unveil'd, the Toilet stands display'd,Each silver Vase in mystic order laid.First, rob'd in white, the Nymph intent adores,With head uncover'd, the Cosmetic pow'rs.A heav'nly image in the glass appears,To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;Th' inferior Priestess, at her altar's side,Trembling begins the sacred rites of Pride.What a way to describe someone putting on their makeup. It's fantastic.James: It's funny. I can continue that because the little passage of Pope I picked to read begins exactly where yours ended. It only gets better as it goes on, I think. So after trembling begins the sacred rites of pride, Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and hereThe various off'rings of the world appear;From each she nicely culls with curious toil,And decks the Goddess with the glitt'ring spoil.This casket India's glowing gems unlocks,And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.The Tortoise here and Elephant unite,Transformed to combs, the speckled, and the white.Here files of pins extend their shining rows,Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux.It's just so lovely. I love a thing about the tortoise and the elephant unite because you've got a tortoise shell and an ivory comb. And the stuff about India's glowing gems and Arabia breathing from yonder box, I mean that's a, realistic is not quite the word, but that's a reference to Milton because Milton is continually having all the stones of Arabia and India's pearls and things all screwed through paradise lost. Yeah, it's just so lovely, isn't it?Henry: And for someone who's so classical and composed and elegant, there's something very Dickensian about things like the toilet, the tortoise and the elephant here unite, transform to combs. There's something a little bit surreal and the puffs, powders, patches, bibles, it has that sort of slightly hectic, frantic,James: That's sort of Victorian materialism, wealth of material objects,Henry: But also that famous thing that was said of Dickens, that the people are furniture and the furniture's like people. He can bring to life all the little bits and bobs of the ordinary day and turn it into something not quite ridiculous, not quite charming.James: And there is a kind of charm in the fact that it wasn't the sort of thing that poets would necessarily expect to pay attention to the 18th century. I don't think the sort of powders and ointments on a woman's dressing table. And there's something very sort of charming in his condescension to notice or what might've once seemed his condescension to notice those things, to find a new thing to take seriously, which is what poetry or not quite to take seriously, but to pay attention to, which I guess is one of the things that great perch should always be doing.Henry: When Swift, who was Pope's great friend, wrote about this, he wrote a poem called A Beautiful Young Lady Going to Bed, which is not as good, and I would love to claim Swift on our list, but I really can't.James: It's quite a horrible perm as well, that one, isn't it?Henry: It is. But it shows you how other people would treat the idea of the woman in front of her toilet, her mirror. And Swift uses an opportunity, as he said, to “lash the vice” because he hated all this adornment and what he would think of as the fakery of a woman painting herself. And so he talks about Corina pride of Drury Lane, which is obviously an ironic reference to her being a Lady of the Night, coming back and there's no drunken rake with her. Returning at the midnight hour;Four stories climbing to her bow'r;Then, seated on a three-legged chair,Takes off her artificial hair:Now, picking out a crystal eye,She wipes it clean, and lays it by.Her eye-brows from a mouse's hide,Stuck on with art on either side,Pulls off with care, and first displays 'em,Then in a play-book smoothly lays 'em.Now dexterously her plumpers draws,That serve to fill her hollow jaws.And it goes on like this. I mean, line after this is sort of raw doll quality to it, Pope, I think in contrast, it only illuminates him more to see where others are taking this kind of crude, very, very funny and witty, but very crude approach. He's able to really have the classical art of balance.James: Yes. And it's precisely his charm that he can mock it and sympathise and love it at the same time, which I think is just a more sort of complex suite of poetic emotions to have about that thing.Henry: So we want more people to read Pope and to love Pope.James: Yes. Even if I'm not letting him into my top.Henry: You are locking him out of the garden. Now, for the second tier, I want to argue for two anonymous poets. One of the things we did when we were talking about this was we asked chatGPT to see if it could give us a good answer. And if you use o1 or o1 Pro, it gives you a pretty good answer as to who the best poets in English are. But it has to be told that it's forgotten about the anonymous poets. And then it says, oh, that was stupid. There are quite a lot of good anonymous poets in English, but I suspect a lot of us, a lot of non artificial intelligence when thinking about this question overlook the anonymous poets. But I would think the Gawain poet and the Tom O' Bedlam poet deserve to be in here. I don't know what you think about that.James: I'm not competent to provide an opinion. I'm purely here to be educated on the subject of these anonymous poets. Henry: The Gawain poet, he's a mediaeval, assume it's a he, a mediaeval writer, obviously may well not be a man, a mediaeval writer. And he wrote Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, which is, if you haven't read it, you should really read it in translation first, I think because it's written at the same time as Chaucer. But Chaucer was written in a kind of London dialect, which is what became the English we speak. And so you can read quite a lot of Chaucer and the words look pretty similar and sometimes you need the footnotes, but when you read Gawain and The Green Knight, it's in a Northwestern dialect, which very much did not become modern day English. And so it's a bit more baffling, but it is a poem of tremendous imaginative power and weirdness. It's a very compelling story. We have a children's version here written by Selena Hastings who's a very accomplished biographer. And every now and then my son remembers it and he just reads it again and again and again. It's one of the best tales of King Arthur in his knights. And there's a wonderful book by John Burrow. It's a very short book, but that is such a loving piece of criticism that explicates the way in which that poem promotes virtue and all the nightly goodness that you would expect, but also is a very strange and unreal piece of work. And I think it has all the qualities of great poetry, but because it's written in this weird dialect, I remember as an undergraduate thinking, why is this so bloody difficult to read? But it is just marvellous. And I see people on Twitter, the few people who've read it, they read it again and they just say, God, it's so good. And I think there was a film of it a couple of years ago, but we will gloss lightly over that and not encourage you to do the film instead of the book.James: Yeah, you're now triggering a memory that I was at least set to read and perhaps did at least read part of Gawain and the Green Knight at University, but has not stuck to any brain cells at all.Henry: Well, you must try it again and tell me what you think. I mean, I find it easily to be one of the best poems in English.James: Yeah, no, I should. I had a little Chaucer kick recently actually, so maybe I'm prepared to rediscover mediaeval per after years of neglect since my degree,Henry: And it's quite short, which I always think is worth knowing. And then the Tom Bedlam is an anonymous poem from I think the 17th century, and it's one of the mad songs, so it's a bit like the Fool from King Lear. And again, it is a very mysterious, very strange and weird piece of work. Try and find it in and read the first few lines. And I think because it's anonymous, it's got slightly less of a reputation because it can't get picked up with some big name, but it is full of tremendous power. And again, I think it would be sad if it wasn't more well known.From the hag and hungry goblinThat into rags would rend ye,The spirit that stands by the naked manIn the Book of Moons defend ye,That of your five sound sensesYou never be forsaken,Nor wander from your selves with TomAbroad to beg your bacon,While I do sing, Any food, any feeding,Feeding, drink, or clothing;Come dame or maid, be not afraid,Poor Tom will injure nothing.Anyway, so you get the sense of it and it's got many stanzas and it's full of this kind of energy and it's again, very accomplished. It can carry the thought across these long lines and these long stanzas.James: When was it written? I'm aware of only if there's a name in the back of my mind.Henry: Oh, it's from the 17th century. So it's not from such a different time as King Lear, but it's written in the voice of a madman. And again, you think of that as the sort of thing a romantic poet would do. And it's strange to find it almost strange to find it displaced. There were these other mad songs. But I think because it's anonymous, it gets less well known, it gets less attention. It's not part of a bigger body of work, but it's absolutely, I think it's wonderful.James: I shall read it.Henry: So who have you got? Who else? Who are you putting in instead of these two?James: Hang on. So we're down to tier two now.Henry: Tier two.James: Yeah. So my tier two is: Donne, Elliot, Keats, Tennyson. I've put Spenser in tier two, Marvell and Pope, who we've already discussed. I mean, I think Eliot, we've talked about, I mean Donne just speaks for himself and there's probably a case that some people would make to bump him up a tier. Henry: Anybody can read that case in Katherine Rudell's book. We don't need to…James: Yes, exactly. If anybody's punching perhaps in tier two, it's Tennyson who I wasn't totally sure belonged there. Putting Tenon in the same tier as Donne and Spenser and Keets. I wonder if that's a little ambitious. I think that might raise eyebrows because there is a school of thought, which I'm not totally unsympathetic to this. What's the Auden quote about Tennyson? I really like it. I expressed very harshly, but I sort of get what he means. Auden said that Tennyson “had the finest ear perhaps of any English poet who was also undoubtedly the stupidest. There was little that he didn't know. There was little else that he did.” Which is far too harsh. But I mentioned to you earlier that I think was earlier this year, a friend and I had a project where we were going to memorise a perva week was a plan. We ended up basically getting, I think three quarters of the way through.And if there's a criticism of Tennyson that you could make, it's that the word music and the sheer lushness of phrases sometimes becomes its own momentum. And you can end up with these extremely lovely but sometimes slightly empty beautiful phrases, which is what I ended up feeling about Tithonus. And I sort of slightly felt I was memorising this unbelievably beautiful but ever so slightly hollow thing. And that was slightly why the project fell apart, I should say. Of course, they absolutely love Tennyson. He's one of my all time favourite poets, which is why my personal favouritism has bumped him up into that category. But I can see there's a case, and I think to a lot of people, he's just the kind of Victorian establishment gloom man, which is totally unfair, but there's not no case against Tennyson.Henry: Yeah, the common thing is that he has no ideas. I don't know if that's true or not. I'm also, I'm not sure how desperately important it is. It should be possible to be a great poet without ideas being at the centre of your work. If you accept the idea that the essence of poetry is invention, i.e. to say old things in a fantastically new way, then I think he qualifies very well as a great poet.James: Yes..Henry: Well, very well. I think Auden said what he said because he was anxious that it was true of himself.James: Yeah, I mean there's a strong argument that Auden had far too many ideas and the sorts of mad schemes and fantastical theories about history that Auden spent his spare time chasing after is certainly a kind of argument that poets maybe shouldn't have as many ideas, although it's just reading. Seamus Perry's got a very good little book on Tennyson, and the opening chapter is all about arguments about people who have tended to dislike Tennyson. And there are all kinds of embarrassing anecdotes about the elderly Tennyson trying to sort of go around dinner parties saying profound and sage-like things and totally putting his foot in it and saying things are completely banal. I should have made a note that this was sort of slightly, again, intensifying my alarm about is there occasionally a tinsely hollowness about Tennyson. I'm now being way too harsh about one of my favourite poets—Henry: I think it depends what you mean by ideas. He is more than just a poet of moods. He gives great expression, deep and strongly felt expression to a whole way of being and a whole way of conceiving of things. And it really was a huge part of why people became interested in the middle ages in the 19th century. I think there's Walter Scott and there's Tennyson who are really leading that work, and that became a dominant cultural force and it became something that meant a lot to people. And whether or not, I don't know whether it's the sort of idea that we're talking about, but I think that sort of thing, I think that qualifies as having ideas and think again, I think he's one of the best writers about the Arthurian legend. Now that work doesn't get into the Oxford Book of English Verse, maybe that's fair. But I think it was very important and I love it. I love it. And I find Tennyson easy to memorise, which is another point in his favour.James: Yeah.Henry: I'm going to read a little bit of Ulysses, which everyone knows the last five or six lines of that poem because it gets put into James Bond films and other such things. I'm going to read it from a little bit from earlier on. I am become a name;For always roaming with a hungry heartMuch have I seen and known; cities of menAnd manners, climates, councils, governments,Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;And drunk delight of battle with my peers,Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.I am a part of all that I have met;Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fadesFor ever and for ever when I move.I think that's amazing. And he can do that. He can do lots and lots and lots of that.James: Yeah, he really can. It's stunning. “Far on the ringing planes of windy Troy” is such an unbelievably evocative phrase.Henry: And that's what I mean. He's got this ability to bring back a sort of a whole mood of history. It's not just personal mood poetry. He can take you into these places and that is in the space of a line. In the space of a line. I think Matthew Arnold said of the last bit of what I just read is that he had this ability in Ulysses to make the lines seem very long and slow and to give them this kind of epic quality that far goes far beyond the actual length of that poem. Ulysses feels like this huge poem that's capturing so much of Homer and it's a few dozen lines.James: Yeah, no, I completely agree. Can I read a little bit of slightly more domestic Tennyson, from In Memoriam, I think his best poem and one of my all time favourite poems and it's got, there are many sort of famous lines on grief and things, but there's little sort of passage of natural description I think quite near the beginning that I've always really loved and I've always just thought was a stunning piece of poetry in terms of its sound and the way that the sound has patented and an unbelievably attentive description natural world, which is kind of the reason that even though I think Keats is a better poet, I do prefer reading Tennyson to Keats, so this is from the beginning of In Memoriam. Calm is the morn without a sound,Calm as to suit a calmer grief,And only thro' the faded leafThe chesnut pattering to the ground:Calm and deep peace on this high wold,And on these dews that drench the furze,And all the silvery gossamersThat twinkle into green and gold:Calm and still light on yon great plainThat sweeps with all its autumn bowers,And crowded farms and lessening towers,To mingle with the bounding main:And I just think that's an amazing piece of writing that takes you from that very close up image that it begins with of the “chestnut patterning to the ground” through the faded leaves of the tree, which is again, a really attentive little bit of natural description. I think anyone can picture the way that a chestnut might fall through the leaves of a chestnut tree, and it's just an amazing thing to notice. And I think the chestnut pattern to the ground does all the kind of wonderful, slightly onomatopoeic, Tennyson stuff so well, but by the end, you're kind of looking out over the English countryside, you've seen dew on the firs, and then you're just looking out across the plane to the sea, and it's this sort of, I just think it's one of those bits of poetry that anybody who stood in a slightly wet and romantic day in the English countryside knows exactly the feeling that he's evoking. And I mean there's no bit of—all of In Memoriam is pretty much that good. That's not a particularly celebrated passage I don't think. It's just wonderful everywhere.Henry: Yes. In Memoriam a bit like the Dunciad—under appreciated relative to its huge merits.James: Yeah, I think it sounds, I mean guess by the end of his life, Tennyson had that reputation as the establishment sage of Victorian England, queen of Victoria's favourite poet, which is a pretty off-putting reputation for to have. And I think In Memoriam is supposed to be this slightly cobwebby, musty masterpiece of Victorian grief. But there was just so much, I mean, gorgeous, beautiful sensuous poetry in it.Henry: Yeah, lots of very intense feelings. No, I agree. I have Tennyson my third tier because I had to have the Gawain poet, but I agree that he's very, very great.James: Yeah, I think the case for third tier is I'm very open to that case for the reasons that I said.Henry: Keats, we both have Keats much higher than Shelly. I think Byron's not on anyone's list because who cares about Byron. Overrated, badly behaved. Terrible jokes. Terrible jokes.James: I think people often think Byron's a better pert without having read an awful lot of the poetry of Byron. But I think anybody who's tried to wade through long swathes of Don Juan or—Henry: My God,James: Childe Harold, has amazing, amazing, beautiful moments. But yeah, there's an awful lot of stuff that you don't enjoy. I think.Henry: So to make the case for Keats, I want to talk about The Eve of St. Agnes, which I don't know about you, but I love The Eve of St. Agnes. I go back to it all the time. I find it absolutely electric.James: I'm going to say that Keats is a poet, which is kind of weird for somebody is sent to us and obviously beautiful as Keats. I sort of feel like I admire more than I love. I get why he's brilliant. It's very hard not to see why he's brilliant, but he's someone I would very rarely sit down and read for fun and somebody got an awful lot of feeling or excitement out of, but that's clearly a me problem, not a Keats problem.Henry: When I was a teenager, I knew so much Keats by heart. I knew the whole of the Ode to a Nightingale. I mean, I was absolutely steeped in it morning, noon and night. I couldn't get over it. And now I don't know if I could get back to that point. He was a very young poet and he writes in a very young way. But I'm going to read—The Eve of St. Agnes is great. It's a narrative poem, which I think is a good way to get into this stuff because the story is fantastic. And he had read Spenser, he was part of this kind of the beginning of this mediaeval revival. And he's very interested in going back to those old images, those old stories. And this is the bit, I think everything we're reading is from the Oxford Book of English Verse, so that if people at home want to read along they can.This is when the heroine of the poem is Madeline is making her escape basically. And I think this is very, very exciting. Her falt'ring hand upon the balustrade,Old Angela was feeling for the stair,When Madeline, St. Agnes' charmed maid,Rose, like a mission'd spirit, unaware:With silver taper's light, and pious care,She turn'd, and down the aged gossip ledTo a safe level matting. Now prepare,Young Porphyro, for gazing on that bed;She comes, she comes again, like ring-dove fray'd and fled.Out went the taper as she hurried in;Its little smoke, in pallid moonshine, died:She clos'd the door, she panted, all akinTo spirits of the air, and visions wide:No uttered syllable, or, woe betide!But to her heart, her heart was voluble,Paining with eloquence her balmy side;As though a tongueless nightingale should swellHer throat in vain, and die, heart-stifled, in her dell.A casement high and triple-arch'd there was,All garlanded with carven imag'riesOf fruits, and flowers, and bunches of knot-grass,And diamonded with panes of quaint device,Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes,As are the tiger-moth's deep-damask'd wings;And in the midst, 'mong thousand heraldries,And twilight saints, and dim emblazonings,A shielded scutcheon blush'd with blood of queens and kings.I mean, so much atmosphere, so much tension, so many wonderful images just coming one after the other. The rapidity of it, the tumbling nature of it. And people often quote the Ode to autumn, which has a lot of that.James: I have to say, I found that totally enchanting. And perhaps my problem is that I need you to read it all to me. You can make an audio book that I can listen to.Henry: I honestly, I actually might read the whole of the E and put it out as audio on Substack becauseJames: I would actually listen to that.Henry: I love it so much. And I feel like it gets, when we talk about Keats, we talk about, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer and Bright Star and La Belle Dame Sans Merci, and these are great, great poems and they're poems that we do at school Ode to a Nightingale because I think The Great Gatsby has a big debt to Ode to a Nightingale, doesn't it? And obviously everyone quotes the Ode to Autumn. I mean, as far as I can tell, the 1st of October every year is the whole world sharing the first stands of the Ode to Autumn.James: Yeah. He may be one of the people who suffers from over familiarity perhaps. And I think also because it sounds so much what poetry is supposed to sound like, because so much of our idea of poetry derives from Keats. Maybe that's something I've slightly need to get past a little bit.Henry: But if you can get into the complete works, there are many, the bit I just read is I think quite representative.James: I loved it. I thought it was completely beautiful and I would never have thought to ever, I probably can't have read that poem for years. I wouldn't have thought to read it. Since university, I don't thinkHenry: He's one of those people. All of my copies of him are sort of frayed and the spines are breaking, but the book is wearing out. I should just commit it to memory and be done. But somehow I love going back to it. So Keats is very high in my estimation, and we've both put him higher than Shelly and Coleridge.James: Yeah.Henry: Tell me why. Because those would typically, I think, be considered the superior poets.James: Do you think Shelly? I think Keats would be considered the superior poetHenry: To Shelly?James: Certainly, yes. I think to Shelly and Coleridge, that's where current fashion would place them. I mean, I have to say Coleridge is one of my all time favourite poets. In terms of people who had just every so often think, I'd love to read a poem, I'd love to read Frost at Midnight. I'd love to read the Aeolian Harp. I'd love to read This Lime Tree Bower, My Prison. I'd love to read Kubla Khan. Outside Milton, Coleridge is probably the person that I read most, but I think, I guess there's a case that Coleridge's output is pretty slight. What his reputation rest on is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan, the conversation poems, which a lot of people think are kind of plagiarised Wordsworth, at least in their style and tone, and then maybe not much else. Does anybody particularly read Cristabel and get much out of it nowadays? Dejection an Ode people like: it's never done an awful lot for me, so I sort of, in my personal Pantheon Coleridge is at the top and he's such an immensely sympathetic personality as well and such a curious person. But I think he's a little slight, and there's probably nothing in Coleridge that can match that gorgeous passage of Keats that you read. I think.Henry: Yeah, that's probably true. He's got more ideas, I guess. I don't think it matters that he's slight. Robert Frost said something about his ambition had been to lodge five or six poems in the English language, and if he'd done that, he would've achieved greatness. And obviously Frost very much did do that and is probably the most quotable and well-known poet. But I think Coleridge easily meets those criteria with the poems you described. And if all we had was the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I would think it to be like Tom O' Bedlam, like the Elegy in a Country Churchyard, one of those great, great, great poems that on its own terms, deserves to be on this list.James: Yeah, and I guess another point in his favour is a great poet is they're all pretty unalike. I think if given Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a conversation poem and Kubla Khan and said, guess whether these are three separate poets or the same guy, you would say, oh, there's a totally different poems. They're three different people. One's a kind of creepy gothic horror ballad. Another one is a philosophical reflection. Another is the sort of Mad Opium dream. I mean, Kubla Khan is just without a doubt, one of the top handful of purposes in English language, I think.Henry: Oh yeah, yeah. And it has that quality of the Elegy in a Country Churchyard that so many of the lines are so quotable in the sense that they could be, in the case of the Elegy in a Country Churchyard, a lot of novels did get their titles from it. I think it was James Lees Milne. Every volume of his diaries, which there are obviously quite a few, had its title from Kubla Khan. Ancient as the Hills and so on. It's one of those poems. It just provides us with so much wonderful language in the space of what a page.James: Sort of goes all over the place. Romantic chasms, Abyssinian made with dulcimer, icy pleasure dome with caves of ice. It just such a—it's so mysterious. I mean, there's nothing else remotely like it at all in English literature that I can think of, and its kind strangeness and virtuosity. I really love that poem.Henry: Now, should we say a word for Shelly? Because everyone knows Ozymandias, which is one of those internet poems that goes around a lot, but I don't know how well known the rest of his body of work is beyond that. I fell in love with him when I read a very short lyric called “To—” Music, when soft voices die,Vibrates in the memory—Odours, when sweet violets sicken,Live within the sense they quicken.Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,Love itself shall slumber on.I found that to be one of those poems that was once read and immediately memorised. But he has this very, again, broad body of work. He can write about philosophical ideas, he can write about moods, he can write narrative. He wrote Julian and Maddalo, which is a dialogue poem about visiting a madman and taking sympathy with him and asking the question, who's really mad here? Very Swiftian question. He can write about the sublime in Mont Blanc. I mean, he has got huge intellectual power along with the beauty. He's what people want Tennyson to be, I guess.James: Yeah. Or what people think Byron might be. I think Shelly is great. I don't quite get that Byron is so much more famous. Shelly has just a dramatic and, well, maybe not quite just as, but an incredibly dramatic and exciting life to go along with it,Henry: I think some of the short lyrics from Byron have got much more purchase in day-to-day life, like She Walks in Beauty.James: Yeah. I think you have to maybe get Shelly a little more length, don't you? I mean, even there's something like Ode to the West Wind is you have to take the whole thing to love it, perhaps.Henry: Yes. And again, I think he's a bit like George Herbert. He's always thinking you really have to pay attention and think with him. Whereas Byron has got lots of lines you can copy out and give to a girl that you like on the bus or something.James: Yes. No, that's true.Henry: I don't mean that in quite as rude a way as it sounds. I do think that's a good thing. But Shelly's, I think, much more of a thinker, and I agree with you Childe Harold and so forth. It's all crashing bore. I might to try it again, but awful.James: I don't want move past Coledridge without inflicting little Coledridge on you. Can I?Henry: Oh, yes. No, sorry. We didn't read Coledridge, right?James: Are just, I mean, what to read from Coledridge? I mean, I could read the whole of Kubla Khan, but that would be maybe a bit boring. I mean, again, these are pretty famous and obvious lines from Frost at Midnight, which is Coledridge sitting up late at night in his cottage with his baby in its cradle, and he sort of addressing it and thinking about it. And I just think these lines are so, well, everything we've said about Coledridge, philosophical, thoughtful, beautiful, in a sort of totally knockout, undeniable way. So it goes, he's talking to his young son, I think. My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heartWith tender gladness, thus to look at thee,And think that thou shalt learn far other lore,And in far other scenes! For I was rearedIn the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim,And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breezeBy lakes and sandy shores, beneath the cragsOf ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,Which image in their bulk both lakes and shoresAnd mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hearThe lovely shapes and sounds intelligibleOf that eternal language, which thy GodUtters, who from eternity doth teachHimself in all, and all things in himself.Which is just—what aren't those lines of poetry doing? And with such kind of confidence, the way you get from talking to your baby and its cradle about what kind of upbringing you hope it will have to those flashes of, I mean quite Wordsworthian beauty, and then the sort of philosophical tone at the end. It's just such a stunning, lovely poem. Yeah, I love it.Henry: Now we both got Yeats and Hopkins. And Hopkins I think is really, really a tremendous poet, but neither of us has put Browning, which a lot of other people maybe would. Can we have a go at Browning for a minute? Can we leave him in shreds? James: Oh God. I mean, you're going to be a better advocate of Browning than I am. I've never—Henry: Don't advocate for him. No, no, no.James: We we're sticking him out.Henry: We're sticking him.James: I wonder if I even feel qualified to do that. I mean, I read quite a bit of Browning at university, found it hard to get on with sometimes. I think I found a little affected and pretentious about him and a little kind of needlessly difficult in a sort of off-puttingly Victorian way. But then I was reading, I reviewed a couple of years ago, John Carey has an excellent introduction to English poetry. I think it's called A Little History of Poetry in which he described Browning's incredibly long poem, The Ring in the Book as one of the all time wonders of verbal art. This thing is, I think it's like 700 or 800 pages long poem in the Penguin edition, which has always given me pause for thought and made me think that I've dismissed Browning out of hand because if John Carey's telling me that, then I must be wrong.But I think I have had very little pleasure out of Browning, and I mean by the end of the 19th century, there was a bit of a sort of Victorian cult of Browning, which I think was influential. And people liked him because he was a living celebrity who'd been anointed as a great poet, and people liked to go and worship at his feet and stuff. I do kind of wonder whether he's lasted, I don't think many people read him for pleasure, and I wonder if that maybe tells its own story. What's your case against Browning?Henry: No, much the same. I think he's very accomplished and very, he probably, he deserves a place on the list, but I can't enjoy him and I don't really know why. But to me, he's very clever and very good, but as you say, a bit dull.James: Yeah, I totally agree. I'm willing. It must be our failing, I'm sure. Yeah, no, I'm sure. I'm willing to believe they're all, if this podcast is listened to by scholars of Victorian poetry, they're cringing and holding their head in their hands at this—Henry: They've turned off already. Well, if you read The Ring and the Book, you can come back on and tell us about it.James: Oh God, yeah. I mean, in about 20 years time.Henry: I think we both have Auden, but you said something you said, “does Auden have an edge of fraudulence?”James: Yeah, I mean, again, I feel like I'm being really rude about a lot of poets that I really love. I don't really know why doesn't think, realising that people consider to be a little bit weak makes you appreciate their best stuff even more I guess. I mean, it's hard to make that argument without reading a bit of Auden. I wonder what bit gets it across. I haven't gotten any ready. What would you say about Auden?Henry: I love Auden. I think he was the best poet of the 20th century maybe. I mean, I have to sort of begrudgingly accept T.S. Eliot beside, I think he can do everything from, he can do songs, light lyrics, comic verse, he can do occasional poetry, obituaries. He was a political poet. He wrote in every form, I think almost literally that might be true. Every type of stanza, different lines. He was just structurally remarkable. I suspect he'll end up a bit like Pope once the culture has tur

In de afgelopen maanden zijn er grote demonstraties geweest tegen de onderwijsbezuinigingen op universiteiten. Er zou 1,2 miljard op onderwijs moeten worden bezuinigd, waarbij de grootste klappen vallen bij de geesteswetenschappen, omdat die het minst goed passen in universiteiten als bedrijven. De aanval op universiteiten wordt gezien als een aanval door uiterst rechts op de zogenaamde “linkse hobbies”, waarbij vooral de geesteswetenschappen ten prooi vallen aan anti-intellectualisme. Dit is geen toeval, zegt onder andere Tommy van Avermaete: “De wereld die Wilders voor ogen staat is er één waarin kritisch vermogen, actief burgerschap, pluriformiteit van ideeën, emancipatie van gemarginaliseerde groepen en openheid van informatie onwenselijke belemmeringen zijn, in plaats van nastrevenswaardige elementen die funderend zijn voor een democratische samenleving.” Juist de nadruk op pluriformiteit van perspectieven en kritisch denken maakt geesteswetenschappen fundamenteel voor een democratisch debat. Asghar Seyed-Gohrab schrijft in zijn column “Als we geen kritische denkers opleiden, gaan we de despoten achterna” dat geesteswetenschappen essentieel zijn voor het bevragen van veranderingen, waardoor dictatoriale machthebbers geesteswetenschappen proberen te verzwakken. Kritisch denken is echter lastig te kwalificeren en te meten, waardoor geestewetenschappen ook moeilijk passen in een neo-kapitalistisch systeem. Studies en studenten zijn het meest waardevol als ze passen in een verdienmodel, waarbij het nut van studeren vooral het bevorderen van economische productiviteit wordt. Het bevragen van het economische systeem en het zoeken naar alternatieven zijn beiden niet winstgevend, en er wordt dus ook geen geld voor vrijgemaakt. Zoals Martha Nussbaum schrijft in Niet voor de winst, worden de geesteswetenschappen al jaren wegbezuinigd, omdat ze niet worden gezien als productief, terwijl ze van fundamenteel belang zijn voor de democractie. Democratisch onderwijs maakt mensen tot kritische burgers die complexe problemen leren begrijpen vanuit verschillende standpunten. Kunst en het bestuderen van kunst zijn daarbij van belang om empathie te ontwikkelen voor andere ervaringen. Vandaag onderzoeken we de aanval op de geesteswetenschappen. Wat is de bredere context van deze onderwijsbezuinigingen? Als de geesteswetenschappen niet voor de winst zijn, waarvoor zijn ze dan wel? Waarom zijn ze het beschermen waard? Te gast is Lieke, mediëvist die al eerder te gast was in aflevering 4, 13 en 21. Intro van Avermaet, Tommy. “Niet buigen maar breken: over onderwijs, bezuinigingen en extreemrechts.” Neerlandistiek.nl. 13 februari 2025. https://neerlandistiek.nl/2025/02/niet-buigen-maar-breken/ de Goede, Agnes. “Estafettestakingen op komst: universiteiten leggen werk neer vanwege onderwijsbezuinigingen.” RLT Nieuws. 6 februari 2025. https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/artikel/5493180/ongekend-protest-op-komst-universiteiten-sluiten-deuren-vanwege Nussbaum, Martha. Niet voor de winst: waarom de democratie de geesteswetenschappen nodig heeft. Vertaling Rogier van Kappel. Ambo, 2012. Seyed-Gohrab, Asghar. “Als we geen kritische denkers opleiden, gaan we de despoten achterna.” NRC Opinie. 13 december 2024. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2024/12/13/als-we-geen-kritische-denkers-opleiden-gaan-we-de-despoten-achterna-a4876614 Merel Robert Pirsig. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - an Inquiry into Values. (1974). Economics Explained. "Adam Smith: Grandfather of Economics." YouTube https://youtu.be/NqUSDi-mvqw?si=82zycPl12qXwCVWx Kate Raworth. "A Healthy Economy Should Be Designed to Thrive, Not Grow." TED https://youtu.be/Rhcrbcg8HBw?si=hSxGg3ZHBSLZ9WEe SnapTale Audiobook Summaries. "A Little History of Economics by Niall Kishtainy." YouTube. https://youtu.be/k1lrOCyRUnw?si=D21ZwGHyomi0EPGo [Adam Smith parafrase 1] Brian Goegan. "A Brief History of Economics." YouTube https://youtu.be/FYFZL0OfE6k?

Becoming more interesting is a great way to improve just about all of your interactions with others. You'll find that people are more willing to hold conversations with you and members of the opposite sex will find you more attractive. But how does one become more interesting? The best way to analyze this simple issue is by first looking at what makes people uninteresting! -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

One of the best places to start if you're trying to get your life back together is by regulating the times you wake up and eat. It may sound simple but the reason actually stems back to the way our brains work on a fundamental level. Inspired by the work of Jordan Peterson - 12 Rules Of Life -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

Motivational speakers often preach about how hard you have to work in order to become successful. But is this really true? Today we're going to talk about how it's not about how hard you work, it's all about how smart you work. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

If you think about it, there are people on this planet right now who are able to predict the future fairly accurately. They are the ones who end up in positions of power, with tons of wealth, and they also tend to live happier/healthier lives. Today I'm going to show you how to obtain this superpower. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

Nino Kalandadze was one of our first guests on this podcast. Then, she spoke about her experience forged as a young politician while her country, Georgia, was fighting a war with Russia. In this conversation, Nino sheds light on the direction Georgian politics have taken, as a capture of state institutions is under way by interests aligned with Russia. The upcoming Parliamentary elections and the question of whether a peaceful transfer of power can occur will mark a turning point in the country's history. Nino argues her country may fall behind a new Iron Curtain, reshaping Europe's future.Recorded on 9 September 2024.Connect with Nino on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ninokalandadze. Nino recommended the book A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich, Yale Books. Instagram: @at.the.coalfaceAnd don't forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!Support the show

This episode: absolute FIRE! Ray Austin, National Champion with Univ. of Tennessee and Retired NFL Veteran of WH host Atul's hometown Chicago Bears and the NY Jets – if you're a fan of sports, NFL history and just a good guy winning at life, this pod is for you. We explore Ray's journey from winning with Peyton Manning at UofT to being drafted into the NFL and playing under the big lights of Chicago and NY. Plus, we dive into locker room stories, NFL history, and how football shapes our culture. Ray also talks about his entrepreneurial ventures with Fan Controlled Football and Athlyt.co. If you're a true sports fan, this episode is a must-listen! 00:00 Introduction 03:40 Discipline is Key 06:40 Acting, EMPIRE, Taraji B. Henson gets flowers.          Chicago gets some love 14:30 Little History of the NFL 15:30 packers 16:30 Bears Love 17:23 University of Tennessee / Peyton Manning 24:22 Devin Hester, Olin Kreutz, Charles ‘Peanut' Tillman Behind the Scenes: life of a Pro Football Player 29:40 Digesting Film Tape, Lovie Smith, Bill Belichick 31:30 Football is like a Frat Community / Walt Harris 33:35 Football Locker room: Testosterone x 1000 35:10 Life after Football: Where is Home? 37:56  Lovie Smith era. Brian Urlacher. Mike Brown. 41:20  Family-owned Sports Teams. Business, Salary Cap. 43:44 Fan Controlled Football 53:15 Media Rights, Technology. Please Rate, Review, Subscribe and Share with a Friend! Means a lot to us - thank YOU! For more info on Venture, Tech, Sports and Investing, visit: ⁠⁠⁠Atul Prashar | LinkedIn

Having low self-esteem can be detrimental to your progress. It can prevent you from taking action. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

Today we're going to be addressing one of the most important questions in the world. Which is how to find your purpose in life. Without a purpose it is very easy to lose motivation and to feel unfulfilled. So today I'm going to show you what I think the answer is. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

Today we're going to be talking about a the Marshmallow Challenge, an interesting experiment conducted by Peter Skillman that teaches us a lot about the way we should approach certain obstacles in our life. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

A hunting, fishing and outdoor history lesson with SD State Historian Dr. Ben Jones.

In this episode, psychologist Nicky Hayes discusses her newly released title, "A Little History of Psychology," which offers an engaging overview of key figures and concepts when it comes to the study of the mind. Hayes explores how psychological research has been applied both positively and negatively throughout history while focusing on the evolution of psychological thought and practice.

"A whistle-stop tour of the major questions posed by economists through the centuries, from Aristotle to Thomas Piketty"

Historian Frank Bongiorno joins us to discuss Scott Morrison, religion and politics, and the history of Labor. What does Scott Morrison's autobiography reveal about his time as Prime Minister? How have Australian political parties tended to characterise the role of government, unions and religion? And what does the history of the Labor tell us about its future? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Frank Bongiorno joins Professor Mark Kenny to talk religion, politics and the new edition of his book, A Little History of the Australian Labor Party. Frank Bongiorno is a Professor at the ANU School of History. He is President of the Australian Historical Association and the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a Whitlam Institute Distinguished Fellow at Western Sydney University. Mark Kenny is the Director the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the University after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

we're going to learn about the 4 factors that determine who your friends are and also how deep these friendships go (also known as the Formula Of Friendship). You will be able to analyze your own friendships and understand what you need to do in order to move up the Tiers of Friendship -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

Pomponius Mela, a Roman geographer, who hailed from the Roman province of Baetica (now Andalusia) in southern Spain writing in 43AD, he described the Ireland and Irish people as “a people wanting in every virtue, and totally destitute of piety”. And yet this country was so “luxuriant in grasses” that if cattle were “allowed to feed too long, they would burst”.Hello! The ancient Greek geographer and explorer Pytheas of Massalia while exploring north west Europe named the land of Ireland "Ierni" and from there Claudius Ptolemaeus ("Ptolemy") called the island Iouerníā . The Roman historian Tacitus, in his book Agricola (c. 98 AD), uses the name Hibernia. It meant "land of winter", and he modern name Eire derives from here.So today's episode, part 1, is all about the food history and food culture of ancient Ireland. I've talked with food historian Regina Sexton who is based in Cork to give me all the fascinating details of the rich ancient food history of Irish people.Regina Sexton is a food and culinary historian, food writer, broadcaster and cook. She is also a graduate of Ballymaloe Cookery School holding a Certificate in Food and Cookery. She is the Programme Manager of UCC's Post-graduate Diploma in Irish Food Culture. She has published widely at academic and popular levels. Her publications include A Little History of IrishFood (Gill & Macmillan, 1998) and Ireland's Traditional Foods (Teagasc, 1997)I hope you'll enjoy my discussion with her and join me soon for part 2!See you soon,Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. If you love to time-travel through food and history why not join us at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a concept that is often referred to as the golden rule of friendship and it's the deciding factor as to whether or not you develop friendships with others or make enemies. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

Essentially how much you are worth. The more you are worth, the more things will start to go your way. Learn about what we humans look for when determining someones worth and also how you can increase your current worth. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

Eli Duckworth of Cabot Guns & Alchemy Custom Weaponry sits down with us at SHOT show to talk all about the one and only 1911 and what variations of the platform you can get from both Cabot Guns & Alchemy Custom Weaponry.   On Today's show with GunBroker.com:  - A Little History of the 1911  - How Some Brands Have Transitioned to Quantity over Quality  - How Cabot & Alchemy Differ from Other 1911s  - The Genius of John Moses Browning  - Custom 1911 Options from Cabot Firearms   The show launches every Tuesday & Thursday morning. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eli Duckworth of Cabot Guns & Alchemy Custom Weaponry sits down with us at SHOT show to talk all about the one and only 1911 and what variations of the platform you can get from both Cabot Guns & Alchemy Custom Weaponry.  On Today's show with GunBroker.com: - A Little History of the 1911 - How Some Brands Have Transitioned to Quantity over Quality - How Cabot & Alchemy Differ from Other 1911s - The Genius of John Moses Browning - Custom 1911 Options from Cabot Firearms  The show launches every Tuesday & Thursday morning. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcast.

Today we're going to be talking about 4 types of books you need to read. This will give you an idea about what sort of content you should be feeding your brain so that you improve at a good sped. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

The average American now spends 2 hours every single day on social media platforms and it's causing a ton of mental health problems. This is how Instagram and other social media platforms is ruining your life. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

A heralded Lifetouch exec, Nathan Pierce, speaks on what an SBO and vendor partnership should look like.

"Discover the thinking that shaped the history of philosophy"

The guys, @mrbenja and @the_real_theo_harvey, talk about Katt Williams having more hot takes, AI Intellectual Property disputes, some Marvel updates from us, and more! Go check-out the whole episode for all the latest and greatest!----------Show vs. Business is your weekly take on Pop Culture from two very different perspectives. Your hosts Theo and  Mr. Benja provide all the relevant info to get your week started right.----------Follow us on Instagram - https://instagram.com/show_vs_businessFollow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/showvsbusinessLike us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ShowVsBusinessSubscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuwni8la5WRGj25uqjbRwdQ/featuredFollow Theo on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@therealtheoharvey Follow Mr.Benja on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@BenjaminJohnsonakaMrBenja --------

We're all making life choices at this time of year – perhaps a few new years' resolutions are in the mix – either way, you'll have a stake in a tussle of big ideas as we debate the motion: Free Will is an Illusion. Our host for this episode is the writer, philosopher and podcaster Nigel Warburton, who is co-host of the popular Philosophy Bites podcast and author of books including A Little History of Philosophy, The Art Question, and Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction. Joining Warburton to debate the motion is psychologist, author and lecturer Susan Blackmore, who is Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth, and Kevin Mitchell, Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. If you'd like to get access to all of our longer form interviews and members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events - Our member-only newsletter The Monthly Read, sent straight to your inbox ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series ... Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more ... Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chapter 1 What's A Little History of the World Book by E.H. Gombrich"A Little History of the World" is a book written by E.H. Gombrich, who was an Austrian-born art historian and writer. The book was originally published in German in 1936 under the title "Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser" and was later translated into English.The book presents a broad overview of world history, covering major events from the Stone Age to the end of World War II. Gombrich aimed to provide a concise and accessible history of humanity that could be easily understood by people of all ages."A Little History of the World" takes a narrative approach, presenting history in a storytelling manner rather than focusing on detailed analysis or scholarly research. Gombrich's writing style is engaging and lively, making complex historical events and concepts more relatable and understandable to readers.The book is often recommended for younger readers and those who are new to the subject of history. However, it can be enjoyed by individuals of all ages who are interested in gaining a general understanding of world history.Overall, "A Little History of the World" is a popular and widely acclaimed book that provides a concise introduction to the major events and developments that have shaped humanity throughout history.Chapter 2 Is A Little History of the World Book A Good BookYes, "A Little History of the World" by E.H. Gombrich is widely considered to be a good book. It offers a concise and engaging overview of world history, making it easily accessible for readers of all ages. The book is renowned for its clear and lively writing style, which allows readers to grasp complex historical events and concepts in a straightforward manner. It is highly recommended for those seeking a broad understanding of world history in an enjoyable and approachable format.Chapter 3 A Little History of the World Book by E.H. Gombrich Summary"A Little History of the World" is a book by E.H. Gombrich that provides a concise overview of world history from prehistoric times to the early 20th century. Written for a younger audience, the book presents historical events and figures in a simple and engaging manner.Gombrich begins the book by discussing the origins of human life, exploring early civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. He then moves on to the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Age of Enlightenment. The book covers important historical periods such as the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the rise of the British Empire.Throughout the book, Gombrich emphasizes the interconnectedness of world history, highlighting how events in one part of the world can have profound impacts on others. He also explores the development of various cultural and scientific achievements, including literature, art, and inventions.Gombrich's narrative style is accessible and engaging, making complex historical concepts understandable for readers of all ages. He also includes personal anecdotes and colorful examples to bring history to life.Overall, "A Little History of the World" provides a broad overview of world history, making it an excellent introductory resource for those eager to learn about the past. Chapter 4 A Little History of the World Book AuthorE.H. Gombrich, whose full name is Ernst Hans Gombrich, was an Austrian-born art historian and writer. He was born on March 30, 1909, in Vienna, Austria, and passed away on November 3, 2001, in London, United Kingdom.Gombrich released the book "A...

The Pleasure Zone with Milica Jelenic - Diamond Host Have you ever wondered what the difference between dating and courting is? What were some of the dating and courting rules of the past? What are the rules of today? How has dating and courting evolved over the last century and what has influenced that? This episode will be focusing on North America and values brought over from the British and French. Join Milica Jelenic, Sex & Intimacy Coach, Holistic Health Practitioner on this episode of The Pleasure Zone to find out more about "A Little History of Dating & Courting." Sexy Coupons: https://www.milicajelenic.com/online-store/Sexy-Times-Coupons-p291754882 “Pleasure Do's, Don'ts & Maybe's, List.” https://mailchi.mp/4fbc5b0c3587/dos-donts-maybe-list ~ More About The Pleasure Zone ~ Milica Jelenic is a Sex & Intimacy Coach. What is pleasure? Have you ever noticed that what is pleasing to one body is not necessarily pleasing to all bodies? What if our bodies like to be pleasing and to gift pleasure to others and to receive pleasure? In this show we will explore the world of pleasure. If your body was sensing pleasure more often would your life have more ease? We start out with magical little bodies that turn on everybody. Babies are always having people come up to them and compliment them on their beauty and get really excited to be in their presence. What would the world be like if we stopped judging ourselves, our bodies and others? How much more fun, joy and pleasure is possible on this planet if we choose to be explorers? Whose ready for an adventure??? Milica Jelenic is an advocate for pleasure. In her private practice she invites clients to create life and lifestyle that offers more pleasure and vitality. Milica's intuitive ability to sense where change is possible and to question what is stuck in the target area creates a very dynamic session that promotes choice, possibility and change. Milica has impacted the lives and health of individuals both in Canada and abroad with her humor, kindness, gentleness, potency and intensity. Milica's approach is playful, fun and direct. Milica is willing to be whatever energy and space is required for the change you desire.   If you are interested in receiving Milica' monthly newsletter about events, classes and information on booking private sessions send and e-mail through her website.  www.milicajelenic.com/ To get more of The Pleasure Zone with Milica Jelenic, be sure to visit the podcast page for replays of all her shows here: https://www.inspiredchoicesnetwork.com/podcast/the-pleasure-zone-milica-jelenic/

Dr. Maria And Mayor Rudy Uncover A LIttle History Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Thanksgiving?  Here's a little American History behind the holiday and a look into how God is directing our steps and working out all things for the good for His children.

Here are 3 reasons why learning how to read body language is so important when it comes to befriending others and making long lasting relationships. It's crucial that you understand why we're going to spend so much time learning and becoming a master at these non verbal communication skills. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

A Little History Lesson - Israel

Are you someone who has issues falling asleep? You spend hours tossing an turning in bed when you know you have to wake up early tomorrow? -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

On this episode the brother taste and review The Balvenie 12yr. Eric brings back Whiskey History for this episode while A.J. explains how this is THE scotch that got him into scotch. Pour yourself a dram, kick back, relax and enjoy. A.J. and Eric sip on The Balvenie 12yr - 47.8% ABV

Everyone wants to be happy, but it seems like such an unobtainable goal. Should we focus on making money? Should we focus on pursuing our passions? Or should we just become a monk in the mountains. Luckily for us, the Japanese have already cracked the code. They have a formula for happiness called Ikigai. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

 Mules- The mule, a hybrid animal, being a cross between a horse and donkey, was the backbone of civilization for centuries. Pulling traits and physical characteristics from each parent, the mule was made for work. They are a sure footed animal,that are good on the trails, and are really strong, which made them good in the fields, pulling plows and tilling land.   In the early days of America they were used to pull wagon trains,logging,pack animals,mining coal,borax,salt and almost any job when power was needed. They were used in times of war as well, pulling cannons and artillery to battle, and I am certain they were used in the calvary as well.   In those days a mule was a very treasured animal,a key element in survival. If folks couldn't plant enough food they would starve. They had to use them to pull the logs to build homes, and other structures. The mule was also used to move freight from place to place and make things more available to people in remote areas.   Mules in the Bible-  In biblical times the mule first appears  In the book of Genesis 36:24 When Anah found the mule. Then in the book of 2 Samuel 18:9 Absalom, David's son, got hung in the oak tree riding his mule.  King David and all of his sons rode mules. I'm not doing  a complete bible study here, but I strongly suggest you open the Good Book, and study it for yourself. Washington's mules-  George Washington raised mules at his home at Mt.Vernon. Spain's Charles III sent Washington two jacks as a gift but only one of them survived the trip across the Atlantic ocean. Washington ordered his overseer of Mt. Vernon, John Fairfax to bring the jack named ‘Royal Gift' from Boston, home to Virginia.Washington eager to populate the south with mules, charged a service fee of five guineas per mare. Royal Gift lived at Mt.Vernon from 1785-1793. His death resulted from a bad handler who had driven him too hard and left him lame. He did however sire a son named Compound to carry on his legacy. Fifteen years after receiving, Royal Gift from Spain, Washington had a herd of sixty mules at the Mt. Vernon plantation that were used to plow the fields and pull wagons. 40 acres and a mule-  40 acres and a mule was part of Special Field Orders no. 15, in the year of 1865 The government promised forty acres and a mule to the freed slave families,and as the government often does, it didn't deliver on its promise. The forty acres and the mule could've provided a substantial living for those families in my opinion. Mules in 21st century-  Though used for centuries and treasured by many the need for a mule faded when the Industrial Revolution came, and brought the tractor. In today's world, very few people use the mule to tend crops, but there are some enthusiasts who still treasure and raise mules. Choice horse shows still have classes dedicated to mules and there are a few mule/donkey shows that are still in operation. We thank God for all of his amazing animals! We thank you for listening and sharing! We thank our sponsors~The Jackson County Sun www.jacksonsunky.com Living Stone Outreach in Sand Gap, KY 606-287-7784. WWAG wagoncountry,com and John Caywood. Visit our website appalachianimagination.com YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@appalachianimagination2023 Facebook https://m.facebook.com/groups/611983497073260/?ref=share&mibextid=S66gvF Email us directly at appalachianimagination@gmail.com Stay Awesome Appalachia!                                                    --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-bowman42/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-bowman42/support

If you're someone who spends hours every single day thinking about past mistakes or embarrassing moments then you have to consider why you think about the past in the first place. There's a reason letting go of the past is so hard for you. -- Access WG+ episodes available only on Apple Podcasts -- More podcasts from WG Media Oh My Psychology Is it safe? Pushing Through Pain Good. Better. Best. The Art of Productivity Practical Productivity Upward Mobility Manova Recap | TV Show Reviews High Performance Habits Best Bits from Books This is YOUR life A Little History of Philosophy Self Learn Business Improvement, Explained Time Management & Productivity Decision Making 101 Just Struggling Being Me A Compilation of Success Here's How You Do It Business Mistakes to Avoid Small Business Ideas The High Net Worth Life How to Get More Become Inspiring So You Want To Take Action? Hear Their Power

Happy Ryder Cup Eve! As the first day of action in Rome approaches, Garrett checks in with three members of the Fried Egg Golf team—Andy Johnson, Brendan Porath, and Joseph LaMagna—to get their predictions for which team will win at Marco Simone, what the final score will be, and who will prove the most and least valuable players. For the second part of the episode (34:15), Garrett is joined by Shane Ryan, author of The Cup They Couldn't Lose, to discuss how the Ryder Cup has changed over time. Garrett and Shane provide historical context for this week's event by exploring how Europe gained the upper hand on the U.S. team starting in the late 1980s, and how Team USA has only recently begun to match its opponent's level of organization and leadership.

01:48 - Little History of Rock Climbing14:45 - Alex Honnald before Free solo22:30 - El Capitan24:30 - The Review Begins31:15 - Choosing Climbing over a Woman42:50 - The First Attempt47:00 - The Second Attempt56:38 - Forgot My Rope and Rack01:02:25 - Box Office01:10:10 - Mr and Mrs Smith01:14:18 - The Creator Trailer01:16:42 - The Flood

From the man who brought us The Little Museum of Dublin, he now has a new book called A Little History of Dublin. Writer and museum co-founder Trevor White joins Ray in studio.

On todays show Ray chats to Samantha Libreri who was at Sydney Airport as the women's soccer squad were greeted with a heroes welcome, we have live music from In Tua Nua, Ray O'Neill explains phubbing to us and Ray is joined in studio by Trevor White, author of A Little History Of Dublin.

MNUFC U19 Head Coach Fanendo Adi drops by to talk about his transition to coaching, why he came back to Minnesota and his own journey as a player. After that, Kyndra is joined by former USMNT player Alexi Lalas to discuss the US Open Cup and the rise of American soccer.

Sorry I got excited about what God is about to do! Please feel free to leave a voice mail on the anchor app or email me at Sunshinefromheaven365@gmail.com I would love to hear how God is changing your life. Please continue to pray for me as I pray for you. Remember share a little Sunshine!! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/melvin-j-nichols/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/melvin-j-nichols/support

The one where…we get a history lesson of our radio staiton. The post Wrap Party | A little history lesson appeared first on Kiss 95.1.

The one where...we get a history lesson of our radio staiton.Support the show: https://www.mrlshow.com/

Laura's annual sojourn to the Woodson Art Museum in Wausau to see this year's Birds in Art exhibit got her thinking about the history of bird art.

Art history textbooks, so excellent for flattening curled-up rug corners and holding open doors, are expected to tell us the entire story of our civilization, one painting at a time. It's more than any book, even one that weighs a spine-crunching twenty-five pounds, should be expected to do. And it opens our eyes to the way that history is narrated, and taught, and even, it follows, to how paintings are displayed, and museums are curated. So much is touched on; so much is left out. It's too much, and far too little, all at once. Dr. Charlotte Mullins has decided to lean into the brevity, and in doing so, manages to tell us so much more. In her new book, "A Little History of Art," she tells the story of 100,000 years of art history, in, in her words, language akin to a haiku, every word intentionally chosen, every artwork telling its own story. She turns us into time-travelers in a scant 300 pages. We talked about reading art history, teaching art history, writing art history, and much more. Charlotte is the art critic for Country Life and has written for specialist titles and newspapers including the Financial Times, Telegraph, Independent on Sunday, RA Magazine, Art in America and Tate Magazine. A former editor of Art Quarterly, V&A Magazine and Art Review, she has appeared on BBC TV arts programmes and is a regular on BBC Radio 4's Front Row and Radio 3's Free Thinking. She is the author of more than a dozen books including a monograph on Rachel Whiteread and A Little Feminist History of Art, both for Tate, and the internationally acclaimed Painting People, and its companion volume Picturing People, both for Thames & Hudson. Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, "Spark" Rod Stewart, "Every Picture Tells A Story" Episode webpage: https://bit.ly/3ARd17U Charlotte's book: https://amzn.to/3TksKDl Episodes referenced: Anselm Kiefer: https://bit.ly/31gUSwW Sarah Sze: https://bit.ly/3NRnGmr Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

Museums are where we put our best stuff. An item might belong in a museum if it's rare, expensive, irreplaceable, or so ordinary and beloved it becomes extraordinary. A self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh, a can of SPAM, a Romanian mud hut, a narwhal horn, a discarded red stiletto: They can all be found in a museum somewhere in the world.   But exhibitions in museums are more than mere collections of striking items. Museums are vital institutions that take on the tasks of collecting, interpreting, and caring for artifacts — both precious and charmingly ordinary — so they can be experienced by the general public. The Ancient Greek word mouseion means 'seat of Muses.' In classical antiquity, a museum was a place for contemplation and philosophical debate. When art moved from the open air, larger-than-life statuary of the Greco-Roman era to more intimate, human-scale paintings and objects, the definition of museum changed, too. It became a place to visit to see art — and anything placed in a museum _became_ art. In this episode, we romp through the delightful hoarding behavior behind Renaissance Wunderkammers, learn about the first museum curator (spoiler: It was a woman!), and celebrate the majesty of the Louvre. Then we recommend books that transported us to museums around the world. Here are the books we recommend on the show: A Little History of Art by Charlotte Mullins A Parisian Cabinet of Curiosities: Deyrolle by Prince Louis Albert de Broglie Cabinets of Curiosities by Patrick Mauriès How to Enjoy Art by Ben Street Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes at http://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/2022-07-18-museums Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace As always, you can follow us at: Our web site at Strong Sense of Place Patreon Twitter  Instagram Facebook YouTube