Literary Nomads

Literary Nomads

By Steve ChisnellScienceSocial SciencesEducationArtsBooksCourses
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Literary Nomads episodes

  • Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” – Part 4

    28 February 2025

    Episode 5.05  - Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” - Part 4

    Who is the speaker in this poem? Who the audience? Who the Marvell? The conclusion of our four part series.

    ===

    Chapters

    00:00   Marvell as Sculpture

    02:37     - In the Museum
    06:02   Opening Theme
    06:42   Manyness
    13:02   Constructed Speakers, Constructed Authors
    14:04     - Failed Seductions
    28:12     - Silence in Response
    37:20   A Many-Hearted Sculpture
    42:31   Accountability to Our Talk
    53:17   Closing / Outro

    ===

    To His Coy Mistress

    Andrew Marvell, 1681

    Had we but world enough, and time,

    This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
    We would sit down and think which way
    To walk and pass our long love’s day.
    Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side,
    Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
    Of Humber would complain.  I would
    Love you ten years before the Flood,
    And you should, if you please, refuse
    Till the conversion of the Jews.
    My vegetable love should grow
    Vaster than empires, and more slow;
    An hundred years should go to praise
    Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
    Two hundred to adore each breast,
    But thirty thousand to the rest;
    An age at least to every part,
    And the last age should show your heart.
    For, Lady, you deserve this state,
    Nor would I love at lower rate.

    But at my back I always hear

    Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
    And yonder all before us lie
    Deserts of vast eternity.
    Thy beauty shall no more be found,
    Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
    My echoing song; then worms shall try
    That long preserved virginity,
    And your quaint honor turn to dust,
    And into ashes all my lust:
    The grave’s a fine and private place,
    But none, I think, do there embrace.

    Now therefore, while the youthful hue

    Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
    And while thy willing soul transpires
    At every pore with instant fires,
    Now let us sport us while we may,
    And now, like amorous birds of prey,
    Rather at once our time devour
    Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
    Let us roll all our strength and all
    Our sweetness up into one ball,
    And tear our pleasures with rough strife
    Thorough the iron gates of life:
    Thus, though we cannot make our sun
    Stand still, yet we will make him run.

    ===

     https://waywordsstudio.com

    Complete Resources:   https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/

    What are your thoughts on the poem and our discussion?  Email me: [email protected]

    ===

    Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-05-andrew-marvells-to-his-coy-mistress-pt-4/

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’ - Part 4.” Waywords Studio, 28 February 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/.

    55 min
  • Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” – Part 3

    21 February 2025

    Episode 5.04  - Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” - Part 3

    We trace Marvell’s poetry back to its roots.

    ===

    Chapters

    00:00   So Where Were We?

    06:25   Opening Theme
    07:01   Recaps & New Readings
    13:42   T. S. Eliot & Textual History
    20:02   Marvell’s History
    25:03     - The Cavalier Poets
    30:02     - A Political Poem?
    32:54     - A World of Death
    35:32   And In Conclusion?
    41:50   Closing Theme

    ===

    To His Coy Mistress

    Andrew Marvell, 1681

    Had we but world enough, and time,

    This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
    We would sit down and think which way
    To walk and pass our long love’s day.
    Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side,
    Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
    Of Humber would complain.  I would
    Love you ten years before the Flood,
    And you should, if you please, refuse
    Till the conversion of the Jews.
    My vegetable love should grow
    Vaster than empires, and more slow;
    An hundred years should go to praise
    Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
    Two hundred to adore each breast,
    But thirty thousand to the rest;
    An age at least to every part,
    And the last age should show your heart.
    For, Lady, you deserve this state,
    Nor would I love at lower rate.

    But at my back I always hear

    Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
    And yonder all before us lie
    Deserts of vast eternity.
    Thy beauty shall no more be found,
    Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
    My echoing song; then worms shall try
    That long preserved virginity,
    And your quaint honor turn to dust,
    And into ashes all my lust:
    The grave’s a fine and private place,
    But none, I think, do there embrace.

    Now therefore, while the youthful hue

    Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
    And while thy willing soul transpires
    At every pore with instant fires,
    Now let us sport us while we may,
    And now, like amorous birds of prey,
    Rather at once our time devour
    Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
    Let us roll all our strength and all
    Our sweetness up into one ball,
    And tear our pleasures with rough strife
    Thorough the iron gates of life:
    Thus, though we cannot make our sun
    Stand still, yet we will make him run.

    ===

     https://waywordsstudio.com

    Complete Resources:   https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/

    ===

    Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-04-andrew-marvells-to-his-coy-mistress-pt-3/

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’ - Part 3.” Waywords Studio, 21 February 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/.

    43 min
  • Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” – Part 2

    14 February 2025

    Episode 5.03  - Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” - Part 2

    What did Marvell know and how did he use it? We look at the sexism in the poem and discover how this provocation is hardly unique in the carpe diem tradition.

    ===

    Chapters

    00:00   Theme

    00:34   Intro and Recap
    03:44   The Offensive Act - Feminism
    16:29   Historicist Qualifiers
    18:36   Back to School: Studia Humanitatus
    24:39   Catullus and Friends
    33:02   Closing Questions
    34:27   Outro

    ===

    To His Coy Mistress

    Andrew Marvell, 1681

    Had we but world enough, and time,

    This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
    We would sit down and think which way
    To walk and pass our long love’s day.
    Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side,
    Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
    Of Humber would complain.  I would
    Love you ten years before the Flood,
    And you should, if you please, refuse
    Till the conversion of the Jews.
    My vegetable love should grow
    Vaster than empires, and more slow;
    An hundred years should go to praise
    Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
    Two hundred to adore each breast,
    But thirty thousand to the rest;
    An age at least to every part,
    And the last age should show your heart.
    For, Lady, you deserve this state,
    Nor would I love at lower rate.

    But at my back I always hear

    Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
    And yonder all before us lie
    Deserts of vast eternity.
    Thy beauty shall no more be found,
    Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
    My echoing song; then worms shall try
    That long preserved virginity,
    And your quaint honor turn to dust,
    And into ashes all my lust:
    The grave’s a fine and private place,
    But none, I think, do there embrace.

    Now therefore, while the youthful hue

    Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
    And while thy willing soul transpires
    At every pore with instant fires,
    Now let us sport us while we may,
    And now, like amorous birds of prey,
    Rather at once our time devour
    Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
    Let us roll all our strength and all
    Our sweetness up into one ball,
    And tear our pleasures with rough strife
    Thorough the iron gates of life:
    Thus, though we cannot make our sun
    Stand still, yet we will make him run.

    ===

     https://waywordsstudio.com

    Complete Resources:   https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/

    ===

    Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-03-andrew-marvells-to-his-coy-mistress-pt-2/

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’ - Part 2.” Waywords Studio, 14 February 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/.

    36 min
  • Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” – Part 1

    7 February 2025

    Episode 5.02  - Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” - Part 1

    What do we do with–how do we read–can we make us of–a classic and famous metaphysical poem which is also misogynistic?

    ===

    Chapters

    00:00   Intro

    01:09   Interjection: Why This Episode?
    01:55   Marvell and TS Eliot
    04:46   Metaphysical Poetry
    09:09   Reading: Marvell’s “Coy Mistress”
    11:53   A Quick Breakdown
    17:37   Carpe Diem
    22:46   Christian and Pagan
    30:46   What’s Ahead
    34:56   Outro

    ===

    To His Coy Mistress

    Andrew Marvell, 1681

    Had we but world enough, and time,

    This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
    We would sit down and think which way
    To walk and pass our long love’s day.
    Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side,
    Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
    Of Humber would complain.  I would
    Love you ten years before the Flood,
    And you should, if you please, refuse
    Till the conversion of the Jews.
    My vegetable love should grow
    Vaster than empires, and more slow;
    An hundred years should go to praise
    Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
    Two hundred to adore each breast,
    But thirty thousand to the rest;
    An age at least to every part,
    And the last age should show your heart.
    For, Lady, you deserve this state,
    Nor would I love at lower rate.

    But at my back I always hear

    Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
    And yonder all before us lie
    Deserts of vast eternity.
    Thy beauty shall no more be found,
    Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
    My echoing song; then worms shall try
    That long preserved virginity,
    And your quaint honor turn to dust,
    And into ashes all my lust:
    The grave’s a fine and private place,
    But none, I think, do there embrace.

    Now therefore, while the youthful hue

    Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
    And while thy willing soul transpires
    At every pore with instant fires,
    Now let us sport us while we may,
    And now, like amorous birds of prey,
    Rather at once our time devour
    Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
    Let us roll all our strength and all
    Our sweetness up into one ball,
    And tear our pleasures with rough strife
    Thorough the iron gates of life:
    Thus, though we cannot make our sun
    Stand still, yet we will make him run.

    ===

     https://waywordsstudio.com

    Complete Resources:   https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/

    ===

    Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-02-andrew-marvells-to-his-coy-mistress-pt-1/

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’ - Part 1.” Waywords Studio, 7 February 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/.

    34 min
  • Not My Text! Irony and Ducking Accountability

     

    31 January 2025

    5.01 Not My Text! Irony and Ducking Accountability

    https://waywordsstudio.com

    An application or two of that dramatic irony we talked about. Along the way, we consider who is accountable for the text: author, character, or reader, and how writers build a narrative distance in texts to allow irony and meaning to operate (and shirking a bit of accountability).

    Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44688/to-his-coy-mistress 

    Chapters

    00:00    Intro, Irony, and Assault Accountability

    02:41    Literary Nomads Theme
    03:14    A Little Oedipus: Responsible or Accountable?
    09:38    Barbeques and Reader Accountability
    18:00    Ducking responsibility
    23:10    Irony in Narrative Distance
    30:45    Closing

    Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-01-irony-and-ducking-accountability/

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Not My Text! Irony and Ducking Accountability.” Literary Nomads, Waywords Studio, 24 Jan. 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/not-my-text-irony-and-ducking-accountability.

    32 min
  • An Introduction and Irony

     

    24 January 2025

    An Introduction and Irony

    https://waywordsstudio.com

    What is Literary Nomads, anyway? And what does that have to do with Radiohead, Godzilla, professorial assault, and irony?

    Here is the “reboot” of the main podcast from Waywords Studio. I talk about what it’s all about, but via Johannes Brahms, Godzilla, Clair de Lune, Steve Hackman, Matthew Arnold, irony, and a few other odds and ends. We’re setting up the first main reading for the podcast, Matthew Arnold’s “To His Coy Mistress.”  And a definition: Irony is a mode of perception in which at least two views of the same thing exist: one limited, the other(s) less limited. A few links from what I discuss:

    Steve Hackman’s website: https://www.stevehackman.com/brahms-x-radiohead 

    Hackman: Brahms V Radiohead: https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr8Y-emrLPI 

    Brahms: Symphony No. 1: https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjIduF3equQ 

    Radiohead: OK Computer: https:/ /www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxzSZG7g8c8x6GYz_FcNr-3zPQ7npP6WF 

    “Clair de Lune” playlist of versions: https:/ /www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnMqLgwuHXsNoVwRn3VLlPaOfVS03elkc 

    Godzilla: King of the Monsters with song “Claire de Lune”: https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BiPKlgkAHc

    DJ Spooky: Rebirth of a Nation: https://djspooky.com/rebirth-of-a-nation/ 

    Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44688/to-his-coy-mistress 

    Chapters

    00:00    Intro - Fusing Texts

    05:21    Literary Nomads Theme
    06:02    Brahms V Radiohead
    08:42    Dread and Bravery
    10:03    What is Literary Nomads?
    13:28    Who is Steve Chisnell?
    14:54    Reading Critically
    16:15    What to Expect and Not Expect
    17:35    First Stop: Andrew Marvell
    19:09    A Taste of Irony
    25:11    Some Resources
    25:36    Outro

    Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-0-an-introduction-and-irony/

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Introduction and Irony.” Literary Nomads, Waywords Studio, 24 Jan. 2025,

    27 min
  • Unwoven Interview #3: Poet Kelly Porter

     

    17 January 2025

    Unwoven Interview #3: Poet Kelly Porter

    https://waywordsstudio.com

    Find Unwoven and its supplements: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/unwoven/

    Kelly is a poet, a PhD Candidate in American History at Tulane University, and Head archivist for Preservation Hall, a historic jazz venue in New Orleans. She’s a Community Organizer, Public Historian, and civil rights activist, and, she’s one of my own former students.

    Unwoven:

    What difference in a little poetic structure?  Across 17 traditional forms of poetry–from ballad and sonnet to ghazal and ZaniLa Rhyme–writer, podcaster, and educator Steve Chisnell juxtaposes similar poems in both traditional styles and free verse, “Poetry of Form and Release,” to explore the effects of poetic construction on meaning itself. Along the way, his speakers find their lives torn, unraveled, or dangling as they wrestle with aging, memory, love, myth, and the promise of language. From Waywords Studio, Chisnell’s first book is a layered and provocative collection rich in ironies and meanings found not merely in its words but in the patterns beneath them, not merely in the verse but in the spaces between. The book includes an extensive section of author notes on the inspiration for the poems and as a primer on the meaning in forms. More extensive materials for classroom students and teachers are also available. 

    Chapters

    00:00   Intro

    01:42   Voicing and Revoicing: Writing Process
    05:00   Learning About Form Through Writing
    10:44   Oral Performance & Form
    13:49   Choosing & Engaging Models for Forms
    17:17   Structure in Free Verse
    21:27   Policing the Formal Rules
    26:26   Private Poets in Public Space
    32:22   The Value in a Poem’s Speaker
    36:45   Similarities: Fiction and Poetry
    39:12   Under-appreciated Forms
    42:54   Writing Headspace; Reflection Space
    45:41   Adding & Varying Structure
    48:26   Wrapping Up & eBook Questions
    50:07   Closing
    50:51   Literary Nomads Trailer

    Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-unwoven-interview-3-kelly-porter 

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Theme for Unwoven by Randon Myles.

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Unwoven Interview #3: Kelly Porter.” Waywords Studio, 17 Jan. 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/unwoven-interview-3-poet-kelly-porter.

    53 min
  • Unwoven Interview #2: Teacher Sarah Rusinowski

     

    10 January 2025

    Unwoven Interview #2: Teacher Sarah Rusinowski

    https://waywordsstudio.com

    Find Unwoven and its supplements: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/unwoven/

    Sarah Rusinowski is a teacher of AP Literature and AP Language and Composition. She did her graduate work at the University of Alabama.

    Unwoven:

    What difference in a little poetic structure?  Across 17 traditional forms of poetry–from ballad and sonnet to ghazal and ZaniLa Rhyme–writer, podcaster, and educator Steve Chisnell juxtaposes similar poems in both traditional styles and free verse, “Poetry of Form and Release,” to explore the effects of poetic construction on meaning itself. Along the way, his speakers find their lives torn, unraveled, or dangling as they wrestle with aging, memory, love, myth, and the promise of language. From Waywords Studio, Chisnell’s first book is a layered and provocative collection rich in ironies and meanings found not merely in its words but in the patterns beneath them, not merely in the verse but in the spaces between. The book includes an extensive section of author notes on the inspiration for the poems and as a primer on the meaning in forms. More extensive materials for classroom students and teachers are also available. 

    Chapters

    00:00 Intro

    01:40 How Does Unwoven Fit Needs & Waywords?
    03:25 Poetry Book or Teaching Tool?
    05:11 Pairing Forms for Teaching
    11:23 Meaning and Author’s Intention
    13:33 How Structure Permeates Poetry
    16:52 Poetry About Teaching & Learning
    20:16 Where Should Teachers Start?
    23:02 What Are the Teacher Supplements?
    25:55 Picking & Choosing What to Teach
    26:51 Closing
    27:42 Literary Nomads Trailer

    Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-unwoven-interview-2-teacher-sarah-rusinowski/

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Theme for Unwoven by Randon Myles.

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Unwoven Interview #2: Sarah Rusinowski.” Waywords Studio, 10 Jan. 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/unwoven-interview-2-teacher-sarah-rusinowski.

    30 min
  • Unwoven Interview #1: Dr. Jessica Manuel

     

    4 January 2025

    Unwoven Interview #1: Dr. Jessica Manuel

    https://waywordsstudio.com

    Find Unwoven and its supplements: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/unwoven/

    Interviewer Jessica Manuel founded a global reading community in 2014. She is the facilitator and guide for passionate readers and thinkers, leading the vibrant community of Book Oblivion. She has taught collegiate reading and writing for over a decade and now teaches at the elementary level, fusing nature study and literature. Her work focuses on helping readers fall in love with the written word by strengthening their connection to it.

    Unwoven:

    What difference in a little poetic structure?  Across 17 traditional forms of poetry–from ballad and sonnet to ghazal and ZaniLa Rhyme–writer, podcaster, and educator Steve Chisnell juxtaposes similar poems in both traditional styles and free verse, “Poetry of Form and Release,” to explore the effects of poetic construction on meaning itself. Along the way, his speakers find their lives torn, unraveled, or dangling as they wrestle with aging, memory, love, myth, and the promise of language. From Waywords Studio, Chisnell’s first book is a layered and provocative collection rich in ironies and meanings found not merely in its words but in the patterns beneath them, not merely in the verse but in the spaces between. The book includes an extensive section of author notes on the inspiration for the poems and as a primer on the meaning in forms. More extensive materials for classroom students and teachers are also available. 

    Writers recommended in this episode: Tess Taylor (Work & Days), Aleksandar Hemon (The Lazarus Project), Laura Lamarca, Cathy Park Hong (Engine Empire), Susan Howe (Concordance), Ocean Vuong

    Chapters

    00:00   Intro - Unwoven Interview #1

    01:40   Why Unwoven
    04:22   Speakers in Poetry
    08:16   Uncertainty & Intention
    11:33   Politics & Contemporary Language
    15:12   Favorite Poem & Form
    17:25   Haiku & Tanka
    18:33   Book Formatting
    19:33   Approaches to Teaching
    21:26   Crafting Poetry & Prose
    24:17   Layers in Poetry
    27:09   Intra-textuality in Unwoven
    28:42   Etymology in Poetry
    29:31   Classroom Applications
    40:46   Support, Notes, and Supplements
    42:34   ZaniLa Rhyme
    47:35   Favorite Contemporary Poets
    53:07   How to Find Unwoven
    53:28   Literary Nomads Trailer

    Transcript: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-unwoven-interview-1-dr-jessica-manuel/ 

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

     

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Unwoven Interview #1: Dr. Jessica Manuel.” Waywords Studio, 4 Jan. 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/unwoven-interview-1-jessica-manuel/.

    56 min
  • Trailer: Literary Nomads

     

    28 Dec 2024

    Trailer: Literary Nomads

    https://waywordsstudio.com

    00:00   Trailer

    Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with deep-dive examinations of literature around some common questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs.

    Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

    Website:  https://waywordsstudio.com

    Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

    Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

    Facebook: Waywords.Studio

    YouTube: Waywords Studio

    LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

    CREDITS:

    Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

    Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

    USING THIS WORK:

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

    MLA CITATION:

    Chisnell, Steve. “Trailer.’” Waywords Studio, 28 Dec 2024, https://waywordsstudio.com/

    2 min

About Literary Nomads

From the publisher's feed

Join me, Steve Chisnell, as we find and lose meaning across modern and classic tales, through ancient and distant verse, atop everything in our many cultures which might be read. For teachers,…