BiblioFiles: A CenterForLit Podcast about Great Books, Great Ideas, and the Great Conversation

We can hear you cringing. "Poetry? Really?" It's a dreaded subject for many of us. Why does it have to be so hard to understand? Does it really mean anything, anyway? And even if it does, is it worth the effort? We hope to make a case for why it is. And, by going line by line through one of our own favorite poems, we offer some tips for unlocking the secrets of poetry in your own reading. 

By the by, this is the final episode of our first season of BiblioFiles! Thank you to all who have stayed with us in 2016 as we've experimented and learned from our successes and failures. We've been so inspired by your interest in renewing and growing the Great Conversation. Your input has been a great help to us, and we're looking forward to an awesome 2017 season! If you haven't had a chance to offer your suggestions, we'd love to hear them via email at [email protected].

Referenced Works:

"Spring and Fall: to a young child" by Gerard Manley Hopkins                

 Márgarét, áre you gríeving 

Over Goldengrove unleaving? 

Leáves like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? 

Ah! ás the heart grows older 

It will come to such sights colder 

By and by, nor spare a sigh 

Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; 

And yet you wíll weep and know why. 

Now no matter, child, the name: 

Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same. 

Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed 

What heart heard of, ghost guessed: 

It ís the blight man was born for, 

It is Margaret you mourn for. 

–"A Work of Artifice" by Marge Piercy (1936-present)

–"On His Blindness" by John Milton (1608-1674)

–Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (1882-1956)

–George Herbert (1593-1633)

–Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

–Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

–Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

–John Donne (1572-1631)

–David Middleton (1949-present)

–Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

–Christian Wiman (1966-present)

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation. 

Erin Karl of Analytical Grammar not only shares our devious sense of humor, but is a kindred spirit when it comes to our approach toward literature. We had the joy of meeting her on the convention circuit last year, and we think it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Erin's mother, Robin Finley, authored The Eternal Argument, a fantastic guide for getting started with understanding the ideas that undergird the Great Books. Erin kindly agreed to join us on BibioFiles to talk about her mother's work.

Referenced Materials:

–The Eternal Argument by Robin Finley

–www.analyticalgrammar.com

–The Eternal Argument – Why We Read Great Books Facebook Page

–Analytical Grammar Facebook Page

–The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

–A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

–The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

–The Crucible by Arthur Miller

–Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

–Lord of the Flies by WIlliam Golding

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation. 

Everyone seems to make such a fuss over Shakespeare. Is he really worth all the hype, or are we just required to like him because that's what literary people do? In this conversation, the CenterForLit tribe discusses the Bard and what sets him apart from our other literary heroes. What are you missing if you haven't cracked open one of his plays? The answer might not be what you expect...

Referenced Materials:

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Including...

–Measure for Measure

–Henry V

–1 and 11 Henry IV

–Macbeth

–Cymbeline

–The Tempest

–Hamlet

–King Lear

–Julius Caesar

–The Merchant of Venice

–Tradition and the Individual Talent by T.S. Eliot

–Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation. 

This is a very special episode of BiblioFiles. From Anson's Way and Straw Into Gold to the more recent Orbiting Jupiter, the works of Newberry Award-winner Gary D. Schmidt have had a profound influence on the family culture and experience of the Andrews for quite some time. To speak with Mr. Schmidt was a dream come true, and an honor and privilege of the highest measure. We are as pleased as can be to share this conversation with you, and we know that you will find this wonderful man just as thoughtful and moving as his art.

Referenced Materials:

– Gary Schmidt's Official Website: http://www.hmhbooks.com/schmidt

– Anson’s Way, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Orbiting Jupiter, and Straw Into Gold by Gary D. Schmidt

– The Giver by Lois Lowry

–Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

– The work of Laurie Halse Anderson 

–The Road by Cormac McCarthy

–Moby Dick by Herman Melville

–Heart in the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers

–A Man for a Seasons by Robert Bolt

–The work Stephen R. Donaldson

–Tower of Babel by Ted Chiang

–Shadowlands by William Nicholson

–The Problem of Pain and The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

–Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation. 

Part of what it means to be human is that we all inherently desire justice. Everyone should get what they deserve, and it's bothersome when that often isn't the case. But do we really want what we deserve? Authors have been considering this question since ancient times, and in today's podcast, with Ian and Emily out on vacation, Adam, Missy, and Megan gather to talk about this theme that has been popping up so often in the books they've been reading recently. 

Referenced Materials:

–The Odyssey of Homer

–The Inferno by Dante

–BiblioFiles Episode #15 with Andrew Kern

–The Book of Job

–The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

–A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban

–"Redemption" by George Herbert

–The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

–The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

–The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

–To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

–The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien

–Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation.