Send us a text

We return to Milton's magnificent octopus today with an eye toward evaluating the epic's success according to its own mission statement: "to justify the ways of God to men."  How does Milton approach the great theological problems of evil and suffering, divine foreknowledge, and free will?

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

Sexy Satan, what have you done? You made a fool of every one!

On this episode we tackle the rather thorny question of Paradise Lost's charismatic protagonist (?) or antagonist (?) or antihero (?): the hottest guy in Hell.  Why does an epic on the cosmic history of Christianity, written by a radical Puritan, present us with so commanding and appealing a character?  

Additional music: "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)" by Bill Conti.  https://archive.org/details/rocky_202111/1976+-+Rocky/01.+Gonna+Fly+Now+(Theme+from+Rocky).mp3

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

In 1638, John Milton -- whom many see as perhaps the (second) greatest poet in English -- produced what many think to be his first major poem: the pastoral elegy "Lycidas," written to memorialize the tragic death of a college classmate.  Ah!  But it's so much more than that!

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

The original "War on Christmas"!  This year's stocking stuffer looks at England's Christmas ban from 1647 to 1660 and at a rather quirky pamphlet entitled "The Examination and Trial of Old Father Christmas."  Season's greetings, Litterbugs!

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

Today we have a slightly different kind of show -- literary analysis takes a bit of a back seat to historical context.  We'll look at the turbulent period between 1625 and 1660, when England went to war with itself over the roles of the monarchy and of Parliament.  We'll look at primary historical documents as well as a little poetry to get a sense of the state of the nation as it begins its rise to a world power.

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

This Subcast episode marks the American Thanksgiving holiday by looking at two early accounts of the celebration by Pilgrims William Bradford and Edward Winslow and then turns to that great hymn of thanksgiving -- Psalm 107 -- from The Bay Psalm Book, the first book published in what would become the United States.  We'll also look at what's called the "Puritan Plain Style" of composition, a marked departure from the ornate literature of its Anglican contemporaries.

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

Today we look at the love children of John Donne and Ben Jonson, a group of monarchist soldiers during the English Civil War.  Collectively known as the Cavalier Poets, they are numerous.  We'll look at some representative poems today by Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Richard Lovelace, and the ill-fated and unfortunately named Sir John Suckling.

Additional music:
"Consort for Brass" by Kevin MacLeod
"La Violetta" by Claudio Monteverdi; perf. The Boston Camerata, dir. Joel Cohen
"In Town Tonight" by Reginald Dixon; perf. Eric Coates

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

This year's Halloween Subcast episode looks at James Shirley's meditation on Death.  I hope you love it!

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

Let's head into the Fortune Theatre for a performance of one of the most innovative and deceptively complex comedies of the English Renaissance.  The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse explores the fluidity of social identity by the protagonist's use of clothing and language.

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!