The Troubadour Podcast

The Troubadour Podcast

By Kirk j BarberaSociety & CultureEducationArtsSelf-Improvement
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The Troubadour Podcast episodes

  • Romantic #6: London by William Blake & 18th Century Progressives

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    Today I'll be reading the poem "London" by William Blake. A poem that showcases a deeply progressive sentiment that many of the romantic artists of the 18th and 19th century held
    London
    BY WILLIAM BLAKE
    I wander thro' each charter'd street, 
    Near where the charter'd Thames does flow. 
    And mark in every face I meet 
    Marks of weakness, marks of woe. 
    In every cry of every Man, 
    In every Infants cry of fear, 
    In every voice: in every ban, 
    The mind-forg'd manacles I hear 
    How the Chimney-sweepers cry 
    Every blackning Church appalls, 
    And the hapless Soldiers sigh 
    Runs in blood down Palace walls 
    But most thro' midnight streets I hear 
    How the youthful Harlots curse 
    Blasts the new-born Infants tear 
    And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
    30 min
  • Romantic #5: The Tyger by William Blake & The Problem of EVIL

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    Today we will explore how a philosopher would explain the famous "problem of evil" and how a poet would discuss the same problem.
    Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
    In the forests of the night;
    What immortal hand or eye,
    Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
    In what distant deeps or skies.
    Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
    On what wings dare he aspire?
    What the hand, dare seize the fire?
    And what shoulder, & what art,
    Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
    And when thy heart began to beat,
    What dread hand? & what dread feet?
    What the hammer? what the chain,
    In what furnace was thy brain?
    What the anvil? what dread grasp,
    Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
    When the stars threw down their spears
    And water'd heaven with their tears:
    Did he smile his work to see?
    Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
    Tyger Tyger burning bright,
    In the forests of the night:
    What immortal hand or eye,
    Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
    31 min
  • Romantic #4: The Clod and the Pebble by William Blake

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    Are you a clod or a pebble?
    The Clod and the Pebble
    BY WILLIAM BLAKE
    "Love seeketh not itself to please,
    Nor for itself hath any care,
    But for another gives its ease,
    And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."
    So sung a little Clod of Clay
    Trodden with the cattle's feet,
    But a Pebble of the brook
    Warbled out these metres meet:
    "Love seeketh only self to please,
    To bind another to its delight,
    Joys in another's loss of ease,
    And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."
    43 min
  • Jordan Peterson's 6th Rule, School Killers, The Pebble and the Clod

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    Eric Harris, one of the Columbine killers, was a young man who had his house in order. He was good with the ladies. He had several close friends, including Dylan Klebold (fellow Columbine Killer). He recently received a promotion. Though he had recently been punished for breaking into a van with his compatriot Dylan, Eric had graduated from the "diversion program," as one of the more distinguished young men. The judge who saw him believed him to be a fine young man with a good father. He was good with computers, smart, good-looking and charming.
     Had we a time machine to take to Eric Harris the book "12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos" by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, Eric would have merely become a more efficient killer.
    Had Eric taken to heart the blase advice by Peterson to put his house in perfect order before criticizing the world, Eric would merely have become a more efficient murderer. He would have arranged the chairs more properly on his sinking Titanic.
    In this podcast episode I dive deep into what connects Eric and Dylan to Islamic radicals, to Nazis, to Communists, and to any individual or group who has created a subjectivist irrational worldview and acted it out to it's fullest conclusion.
    In previous podcasts on rules 1-5 I have mostly praised Dr. Jordan Peterson. In this podcast I had no choice but to destroy his ideology. He is dead wrong about these ideologically motivated killers. Peterson also commits the gravest of crimes (though I am hoping he has been merely duped by his Christianity). But, he has committed the crime of intellectual dishonesty.
    There is no other conclusion that can be drawn when he compares the suffering of Eric and Dylan to that of the brutal murdering Carl Panzram. 
    Dylan and Eric were upper middle class, very loved and very lucky young men. Carl Panzram was raped and brutalized as a child in a correctional facility. To even pretend that these were the same, and that their "suffering" is what led them to seek vengeance is absurd and dishonest.
    Something else motivated Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and Eliot Rodgers and Adam Lanza and Cho Seung-Hui to attempt to annihilate the universe, by pointing guns at school students.
    This is what we will explore in today's podcast on Rule #6: Set Your House in Perfect Order before You Criticize the World
    2 hr 1 min
  • Jordan Peterson's 5th Rule, The Socrates Problem, and William Blake

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    Whether or not you are a parent, ask yourself this question. If you had to choose for your child which would you prefer: Outward success or inner happiness?
    In Jordan Peterson's rule 5 "Do Not Let Your Children Do Anything That Makes You Dislike Them," Peterson gives his answer clear as day.
    At least it is an answer.
    In this discussion of Peterson's book "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote To Chaos," I bring up the stories of Sleeping Beauty versus Petronilla, William Blake's poem "The Little Vagabond," Edward Dyer's "My Mind to Me A Kingdom Is," and a fair bit of Socratic inquiry.
    Peterson offers many interesting insights. The more I dig into his self-help philosophy the more I see the glaring face of a very peculiar American Philosopher, and the more I fall down holes that cannot be rectified.
    Well, at least not by Peterson.
    1 hr 50 min
  • Romantic #2: The Castaway by William Cowper

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    Today I'll be reading and discussing William Cowper's last poem "The Castaway."
    The poem is about a real life incident of a man who fell overboard, but in the hands of a great poet this accident of life becomes a powerful and tragic universal metaphor.
    Do you see the secret message in the poem? Follow along and let's find it.
    41 min
  • Romantic #1: To the Nightingale By William Crowper

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    us feels a winter during spring. We are beaten down and saddened by pain and loneliness (a form of emotional pain).
    Poetry often cannot solve one's problems, but it can be a salve. It can make you feel better, wake up your spirit, and build your emotional reservoirs.
    But only if you know how to read.
    In this video is my reading of this poem. I've included the poem by Cowper.
    It is my claim that you do NOT need any specialized knowledge, training or experience to work with great poems. To unlock them requires two things: a dictionary and your mind.
    36 min

About The Troubadour Podcast

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"It is the honourable characteristic of Poetry that its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind." William Wordsworth The Troubadour Podcast invites you into a…