Talk Write

Today, we look at Hopkins’s poem “The Caged Skylark” and examine what its vision of a caged bird has to say about the spirit and resurrection of man.

As a dare-gale skylark scanted in a dull cage,

Man's mounting spirit in his bone-house, mean house, dwells —

That bird beyond the remembering his free fells;

This in drudgery, day-labouring-out life's age.

Though aloft on turf or perch or poor low stage

Both sing sometímes the sweetest, sweetest spells,

Yet both droop deadly sómetimes in their cells

Or wring their barriers in bursts of fear or rage.

Not that the sweet-fowl, song-fowl, needs no rest —

Why, hear him, hear him babble & drop down to his nest,

But his own nest, wild nest, no prison.

Man's spirit will be flesh-bound, when found at best,

But uncumberèd: meadow-down is not distressed

For a rainbow footing it nor he for his bónes rísen.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today, we look at Hopkins’s poem “The Caged Skylark” and examine what its vision of a caged bird has to say about the spirit and resurrection of man.

As a dare-gale skylark scanted in a dull cage,

Man's mounting spirit in his bone-house, mean house, dwells —

That bird beyond the remembering his free fells;

This in drudgery, day-labouring-out life's age.

Though aloft on turf or perch or poor low stage

Both sing sometímes the sweetest, sweetest spells,

Yet both droop deadly sómetimes in their cells

Or wring their barriers in bursts of fear or rage.

Not that the sweet-fowl, song-fowl, needs no rest —

Why, hear him, hear him babble & drop down to his nest,

But his own nest, wild nest, no prison.

Man's spirit will be flesh-bound, when found at best,

But uncumberèd: meadow-down is not distressed

For a rainbow footing it nor he for his bónes rísen.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In our last installment of Lewis’s “Main Street,” we witness Carol’s dramatic coming to terms with the nature of her struggle. In this conversation with a grizzled suffragette, she is able to finally understand herself and her struggle thoroughly enough to get past her distaste for Main Street. She even discovers something about love in the process. Fancy that!

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In our last installment of Lewis’s “Main Street,” we witness Carol’s dramatic coming to terms with the nature of her struggle. In this conversation with a grizzled suffragette, she is able to finally understand herself and her struggle thoroughly enough to get past her distaste for Main Street. She even discovers something about love in the process. Fancy that!

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today we’re taking a look at Wallace Stevens’s thorny but brilliant 1934 poem. “Idea of Order” explores ideas of poetry, chaos and order, and the act of creation itself. Be warned: these are the sorts of poems that bear rereading!

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today we’re taking a look at Wallace Stevens’s thorny but brilliant 1934 poem. “Idea of Order” explores ideas of poetry, chaos and order, and the act of creation itself. Be warned: these are the sorts of poems that bear rereading!

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In our excerpt today, Carol has finally realized that Main Street will never be able to offer her what she wants. In an argument with her husband, she is forced to choose between becoming a mediocre Gopher Prairie resident, or following through with her ideals and ambitions.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In our excerpt today, Carol has finally realized that Main Street will never be able to offer her what she wants. In an argument with her husband, she is forced to choose between becoming a mediocre Gopher Prairie resident, or following through with her ideals and ambitions.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In her effort to get over the “Village Virus,” Carol has put together a drama club with the mission of punching through the Gopher Prairie mental malaise. But when the actors finally take to the stage, Carol realizes exactly the strength of the opponent she’s up against. Will she be able to finally start making the change she’s dreamt of, or will she succumb to the humbling of smalltown American mediocrity?

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In her effort to get over the “Village Virus,” Carol has put together a drama club with the mission of punching through the Gopher Prairie mental malaise. But when the actors finally take to the stage, Carol realizes exactly the strength of the opponent she’s up against. Will she be able to finally start making the change she’s dreamt of, or will she succumb to the humbling of smalltown American mediocrity?

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe