The English poet John Keats died unknown to the world at age twenty-five. The odds were against him from the start. Today his poetic mastery is often cited as being second only to Shakespeare. In this episode we look at a letter Keats wrote in 1819, in which he called the world "the vale of Soul-Making."

Mentioned in this episode: John Keats; Shakespeare; Christianity; Rilke

Music: "Another Green World" by Loyla; "Papyrus" by Kyle Preston; "Ballo in Casa Capuleti" by Bottega Baltazar.

(All music used by courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist.)

Imposed limitation can galvanize the imagination. So here's to "salutary antagonisms!"

Mentioned in this episode: Ethan Canin; Canin's "Emperor of the Air"; Canin's short story, "Accountant"; Annie Proulx; John Dewey; Dewey's "Art As Experience" (1934); Katherine Anne Porter; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Wallace Stegner's "Crossing to Safety"

Music: "Puddles" by Stanley Gurvitch; "Continent" by ANBR; "Sparkle" by Maya Isac; "Vuelta al Sol" by Tomas Novoa; "Befun" by Befun

(All music used by courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist)

Thoughts about an inspiring film that will awaken you to your own senses.

Music: "Chasing the Sun" by Narrow Skies; "I'll Understand" by Roza

(All music used by courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist.)

Success and failure are never cut and dried. Mentioned in this episode: Ralph Waldo Emerson; film editor Walter Murch; "The Conversations" by Michael Ondaatje and Walter Murch; Thomas Edison; Rilke; Paul Zweig. Music:  "Escape" by Theevs; "Alter Ego" by LUMINAR; "When I Get There" by Maya Isac

(All music used by courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist)

Inspiration is often an assertive act, and pilgrimage is one way to harness it.

Mentioned in this episode: Concord, Massachusetts; public library; Henry David Thoreau; Sophia Thoreau; Thoreau's "Walking"; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Ticknor & Fields; John Guare; Thornton Wilder; Wilder's "Our Town"; William Wordsworth; Tintern Abbey; Prague; Rilke; Kafka; Glen Ellen, California; Jack London; London's "The Call of the Wild"; American Civil War; Walt Whitman; Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" 

Music: "Family" by Josh Leake; "The Art of Loneliness" by ANBR; "La Stanza di Nelson 2" by Bottega Baltazar; "On the Trail" by Cameron Mackay

(All music used by courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist)

What really takes discipline? Not working.

Mentioned in this episode: W.H. Auden; Saul Bellow; Joan Didion; E.M. Forster's "Aspects of the Novel"; Annie Dillard; Dillard's "A Writing Life"; Ernest Hemingway; Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast"; Andre Dubus; Henry James; T.S. Eliot; Zadie Smith; Smith's "Changing My Mind"

Music: "Possible Light" by Ziv Moran; "Spain" by Dan Pundak; "Fragments" by Borrtex; "Mindplay (instrumental)" by Roza; "The World Inside" by Rodello's Machine

(All music used by courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist)

"Your application was not successful." These words don't always mean what we might think they do.

Mentioned in this episode: application essay; statement of purpose; economic recession; layoffs

Music: "Burn" by Kut; "Hypernova" by Theevs; "See Me Fly (instrumental)" by Roza; "On the Way" by Ian Post

(All music used by courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist.)

Artist Andy Goldsworthy strives to know and understand stone -- and that's no straightforward task. Mentioned in this episode: "Rivers and Tides" (2001 documentary film). Music: "Hand in the Jar" by Rodello's Machine (used by courtesy of the artist through a licensing agreement with Artlist)

Being "oneself" could mean any number of things. That's a scary -- and inspiring -- thought.

Mentioned in this episode: Throwing your back out; Nicolas Cage; Michael Caine; "The Weather Man" (2005 film). Music: "A Look Out" by Assaf Ayalon; "Depth Perception" by Sean Solo; "The Beauty of Your Life" by Rodello's Machine

(All music used by courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist)