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Episode 201: "The Mind of the Maker" by Dorothy L. Sayers, Ch. 9-End
5 december 2023 · 1 uur 48 min
On The Literary Life today, we wrap up our series on The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers. Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas begin the conversation with C. S. Lewis' critique of Sayers' work, both what he agreed with and disagreed with in this book, as well as touching on Tolkien's idea of artists as sub-creators. Cindy talks about what it is like writing a book in relation to Sayers' thoughts on the subject of authorship. Thomas shares why he took issue with part of her examples of scalene triangles and the Trinity in relation to aesthetic failures. Angelina shares her dilemma with this same portion, and they discuss the principle they think Sayers was trying to illustrate. Lees meer
The House of Humane Letters is currently having their Christmas sale until December 31, 2023. Everything is now 20% OFF, so hop on over and get the classes at their best prices now. In addition to the sale, you can also sign up for Atlee Northmore's webinar "A Medieval Romance in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: How to Read Star Wars."
Cindy is also offering at 20% OFF discount throughout the holidays. Use coupon code "advent2023" on MorningTimeforMoms.com/shop until January 2024.
If you missed it, go back to last week's episode to get all the information about our 2024 Reading Challenge, Book of Centuries.
Commonplace Quotes:
Truth herself will, at the promptings of Nature, break forth from even unwilling hearts.
"Veritas ipsa cogente natura etiam ab invitis pectoribus erumpit."
Lactantius, from Divine Institutes, Bk. II
Curiosity may elicit facts, but only real interest may mold these facts to wisdom.
Anna Botsford Comstock, from Handbook of Nature Study
I must therefore disagree with Miss Sayers very profoundly when she says that 'between the mind of the maker and the Mind of the Maker' there is 'a difference, not of category, but only of quality and degree' (p. 147). On my view there is a greater, far greater, difference between the two than between playing with a doll and suckling a child…
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Episode 200: The Literary Life LIVE 2024 Reading Challenge
28 november 2023 · 1 uur 21 min
This week on The Literary Life podcast, we have a very special 200th Episode for you! Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks are joined by their Patreon Friends and Fellows for a live episode recording to launch the 2024 Reading Challenge! This year's challenge theme is "Book of Centuries" and features a timeline of literary periods from which you can choose works to read throughout the next year. The discussion featured suggestions for each literary period and century, and you can get the complete list of book and author suggestions right here. (Due to the length of this list, we will not be adding hyperlinks this week, so please see the document to find any book titles and authors you want to explore.) As usual, there will also be a kids' version of the reading challenge! Lees meer
To download a PDF version of the adult reading challenge, click here. To download a PDF of the kids' version, click here.
The House of Humane Letters is currently having their Christmas sale until December 31, 2023. Everything is now 20% OFF, so hop on over and get the classes at their best prices now. In addition to the sale, you can also sign up for Atlee Northmore's webinar "A Medieval Romance in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: How to Read Star Wars."
Cindy is also offering at 20% OFF discount throughout the holidays. Use coupon code "advent2023" on MorningTimeforMoms.com/shop until January 2024.
Commonplace Quotes:
Chaucer had the rare gift of an author of liking people he did not respect.
G. K. Chesterton, from Chaucer
Modern education promotes the unmitigated study of literature and concentrates our attention on the relation between a writer's life, his surface life, and his work. That is the reason it is such a curse.
Madeleine L'Engle, from Walking on Water
A very famous writer once said, "A book is like a mirror. If a fool looks in, you can't expect a genius to look out."
J. K. Rowling
Whitsunday
by George Herbert
Listen sweet Dove unto my song, And spread thy golden win…
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Episode 199: The "Best of" Series – In Search of the Austen Adaptation: Sense and Sensibility, Ep. 138
21 november 2023 · 1 uur 49 min
Due to illness among our hosts and holiday travel plans, we are airing a Best Of Series episode this week instead of our previously planned episode on The Mind of the Maker. Please enjoy this lighthearted discussion as you prepare for your Thanksgiving feasting, and join us right here next week for a very special 200th episode featuring our Friends and Fellows and introducing the 2024 Reading Challenge! Lees meer
Today on The Literary Life Podcast we bring you another fun episode in our "In Search of the Austen Adaptation" series. Hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks are joined by resident film aficionado, Atlee Northmore to discuss film adaptations on Sense and Sensibility. The conversation opens by revisiting the question of what makes a good adaptation of a book when translating it for the screen. They talk about the challenges of showing modern audiences the characters and situations as Jane Austen meant them to be understood. Atlee gives a brief overview of the lesser known film adaptations, as well as a more in depth discussion of the 1995 and 2008 versions. You can access the PDF he created with links to watch here.
Commonplace Quotes:
Sound principles that are old may easily be laid on the shelf and forgotten, unless in each successive generation a few industrious people can be found who will take the trouble to draw them forth from the storehouse.
Thomas Ruper, as quoted by Karen Glass
His senile fury was not exhausted by endless repetition.
Eric Linklater
'Remember, no one is made up of one fault, everyone is much greater than all his faults,' and then she would add with a smile: 'I find it much easier to put up with people's faults than with their virtues!'
Charlotte Mason, as quoted by Essex Cholmondeley
The great abstract nouns of the classical English moralists are unblushingly and uncompromisingly used: good sense, courage, contentment, fortitude, some duty neglected, some failing indulged, impropriety, indelicacy, generous candor, …
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Episode 198: "The Mind of the Maker" by Dorothy L. Sayers, Ch. 6-8
14 november 2023 · 1 uur 39 min
Today's episode of The Literary Life is a continuation of our series covering The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers. Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas discuss chapters 6-8 this week, which they acknowledge are probably the most difficult portions of this book so far. Angelina starts off with some questions she has about why chapter six in included and how it fits with other arguments she has already made earlier. Thomas reads and expands on a passage about the autobiographer and his art. Angelina makes a distinction between moral goodness and artistic goodness in works of fiction and art. Cindy highlights the idea of justification and something being "out of true." Lees meer
Coming up from House of Humane Letters on November 16, 2023, Jennifer Rogers' webinar on Tolkien and The Old English Tradition. You can sign up now and save your spot!
Commonplace Quotes:
My friend, the Scottish poet and translator Alastair Reid, carries a lifetime's worth of poems—an entire small library—in his head. "Do you memorize them?" someone asked him once. "No," he answered gravely. "I remember them."
Christian McEwan, World Enough and Time
The book everywhere exhibits the style and temper for which the author was both loved and hated. The essays are full of cheerful energy. The young people would call them 'bonhomous'.
By a bonhomous writer they mean one who seems to like writing and what he writes of, and to assume that his readers will mostly be people he would like. I think that this last assumption is what infuriates them.
C. S. Lewis, Image and Imagination
If you are not careful…you'll be a genius when you grow up and disgrace your parents.
Elizabeth von Arnim, Elizabeth and Her German Garden
The Bird and the Tree
by Ruth Pitter
The tree, and its haunting bird, Are the loves of my heart; But where is the word, the word, Oh where is the art, To say, or even to see, For a moment of time, What the Tree and the Bird must be In the true sublime? They shine, listening to the soul, And…
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Episode 197: "The Mind of the Maker" by Dorothy L. Sayers, Ch. 3-5
7 november 2023 · 1 uur 27 min
On The Literary Life Podcast today, Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks continue discussing Dorothy L. Sayers' The Mind of the Maker. In today's conversation, they cover the ideas in chapters 3-5, including the following: the creative process in relation to the members of the Trinity, the relationship of the writer to his own creation, the misconception of art as self-expression, the problem with poetic justice, and much more! Lees meer
If you missed the live webinar Can Dante's Inferno Save the World? with Dr. Jason Baxter, you can still purchase the recording. Also, coming up from House of Humane Letters on November 16, 2023, Jennifer Rogers' webinar on Tolkien and The Old English Tradition. You can sign up now and save your spot!
Commonplace Quotes:
He remained altogether inimitable, yet never seemed conscious of his greatness. It was native in him to rejoice in the successes of other men at least as much as in his own triumphs.
Arthur Quiller-Couch, from "The Death of Robert Louis Stevenson"
Only one hour of the normal day is more pleasurable than the hour spent in bed with a book before going to sleep and that is the hour spent in bed with a book after being called in the morning.
Rose Macaulay, as quoted by Christian McEwan in World Enough and Time
The unity of a work of art, the basis of structural analysis, has not only been produced solely by the unconditioned will of the artist, for the artist is only its efficient cause: it has form, and consequently a formal cause. The fact that revision is possible, that the poet makes changes not because he likes them better but because they are better, means that poems, like poets, are born and not made.
Northrop Frye, from Fables of Identity
Nondum
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
" Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself." ISAIAH xlv. 15. God, though to Thee our psalm we raise-- No answering voice comes from the skies; To Thee the trembling sinner prays But no forgiving voice replies; Our prayer seems los…
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Episode 196: "The Mind of the Maker" by Dorothy L. Sayers, Intro and Ch. 1-2
31 oktober 2023 · 1 uur 16 min
This week on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks are kick off a new series on The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers. Before discussion the book itself, Angelina gives a little biographical information on Sayers for those who are new to her and her work. They begin talking about the book with the preface and Sayers own purpose in writing it. Cindy shares a little about her first reading of The Mind of the Maker when she was a young newlywed and the impact it made on her. Thomas points out the "laws" Sayers outlines and reads some important quotes from this section. Lees meer
If you are listening to this episode on the day it drops, it's not too late to get in on today's live webinar Can Dante's Inferno Save the World? with Dr. Jason Baxter. You can also purchase the recording any time if you missed the live class. Also coming up from House of Humane Letters on November 16, 2023, Jennifer Rogers' webinar on Tolkien and The Old English Tradition. You can sign up now and save your spot!
Episode 9: "Are Women Human" by Dorothy L. Sayers
Episodes 5-8 on Gaudy Night
Episode 62: The Literary Friendship of Dorothy and Jack
Commonplace Quotes:
Think not, Mistress, more true dullness lies
In Folly's cap, than Wisdom's grave disguise.
Alexander Pope, from "The Dunciad"
We do not own stories, and when we try to limit them, squeeze the life out of them, lose the love that gave them to us, and fall back into that fatal human flaw–pride, hubris–we are right back to Adam and Eve, who listened to the power of the snake instead of the creativity of God.
Madeleine L'Engle, from Bright Evening Star
This is the first "little book on religion" I have read for a long time in which every sentence is intelligible and every page advances the argument.
C. S. Lewis, in a review of Mind of the Maker
Reason Has Moons
by Ralph Hodgson
Reason has moons, but moons not hers, Lie mirror'd on the sea, Confounding her astronomers, But O! delighting me…
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Episode 195: "Out of the Silent Planet" by C. S. Lewis, Ch. 16-End
24 oktober 2023 · 1 uur 25 min
Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast this week as we wrap up our series of discussion on C. S. Lewis' novel Out of the Silent Planet. Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks are covering from chapter 16 to the end of the book in today's episode. After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina starts the conversation comparing the ideas in Gulliver's Travels with what Lewis is doing in this book. Thomas quotes a passage from the Aeneid in Latin as they talk about the parallels to Out of the Silent Planet. The structure of the medieval romance is seen fully as we finish the story, as noted by Angelina. She and Thomas also point out more connections with Paradise Lost. Cindy brings everything together with some thoughts on the unraveling of modernity. Lees meer
Join us next week as we kick off a new series on The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers!
House of Humane Letters is thrilled to announce an all new webinar from Dr. Jason Baxter coming October 31st! Register today for Can Dante's Inferno Save the World? Also coming up from House of Humane Letters on November 16, 2023, Jennifer Rogers' webinar on Tolkien and The Old English Tradition. You can sign up now and save your spot!
Commonplace Quotes:
But unlike most artists, Ruskin valued the seeing more than the doing. "The sight is more important than the drawing," he said. "The greatest thing a human being ever does in this world is to SEE something, and tell what he saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands of people can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion—all in one."
from The World Enough and Time, by Christian McEwan
Build, build your Babels black against the sky-
But mark yon small green blade, your stones between,
The single spy
Of that uncounted host you have outcast;
For with their tiny pennons waving green
They shall storm your streets at last.
F. L. Lucas, from "Beleaguered Cities"
The old universe was…
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Episode 194: "Out of the Silent Planet" by C. S. Lewis, Ch. 6-15
17 oktober 2023 · 1 uur 19 min
On The Literary Life podcast today, our hosts continue their discussion of C. S. Lewis' science fiction novel Out of the Silent Planet, covering chapters 6-15. Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks begin by sharing their commonplace quotes, including some heated debate about sausages, then dive in to this section. They start by looking at Ransom's need to let go of some of his own modern preconceptions and categories, in spite of being steeped in the classics. Angelina, Thomas, and Cindy also discuss a variety of other themes, including: the contrasts between Lewis and Tolkien in world-building, Lewis' crafting a medieval tale in the genre of modern science fiction, and the problems with Ransom's anthro-centric perspective. Lees meer
House of Humane Letters is thrilled to announce an all new webinar from Dr. Jason Baxter coming October 31st! Register today for Can Dante's Inferno Save the World? Also coming up from House of Humane Letters on November 16, 2023, Jennifer Rogers' webinar on Tolkien and The Old English Tradition. You can sign up nowand save your spot!
Commonplace Quotes:
It is to me inconceivable that Nature as we see it is either what God intended or merely evil; it looks like a good thing spoiled.
C. S. Lewis, from Letters of C. S. Lewis
What do you usually do when you are shut up in a secret room, with no chance of getting out for hours? As for me, I always say poetry to myself. It is one of the uses of poetry–one says it to oneself in distressing circumstances of that kind, or when one has to wait at railway stations, or when one cannot get to sleep at night. You will find poetry most useful for this purpose. So learn plenty of it, and be sure it is the best kind, because this is most useful as well as most agreeable.
Edith Nesbit, from The House of Arden
Lewis began the trilogy as a conscious critique of what he called "Wellsianity," a philosophy that applies Darwinism to the metaphysical sphere, believing that humans may evolve into a n…
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Episode 193: "Out of the Silent Planet" by C. S. Lewis, Ch. 1-5
10 oktober 2023 · 1 uur 20 min
This week on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas bring us the first installment in their series of discussions about C. S. Lewis' science fiction novel Out of the Silent Planet. Angelina shares some background on how Lewis began writing this book and what he set out to do through the genre of science fiction within the form of a romance. In looking at the historical time period in which he was writing, Thomas brings out the transcendent quality of Lewis' message. They talk about Ransom's character and his embodiment of the "old ways." Cindy points out the Dante-esque details of the beginning of Ransom's journey. Lees meer
Other themes our hosts discuss are the problem of eugenics, the study of philology, the similarities in setup with First Men in the Moon, the enchantment of modernity, medieval cosmology, and so much more!
House of Humane Letters is thrilled to announce an all new webinar from Dr. Jason Baxter coming October 31st! Register today for Can Dante's Inferno Save the World? Also coming up from House of Humane Letters on November 16, 2023, Jennifer Rogers' webinar on Tolkien and The Old English Tradition. You can sign up now and save your spot!
Commonplace Quotes:
"I'm with Orwell,' said Strike. "Some ideas are so stupid, only intellectuals believe them."
Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)
An age of discovery…is apt to loathe established institutions, and be filled with spiritual arrogance.
Agnes Mure Mackenzie, The Kingdom of Scotland
It is a strange comment on our age that such a book lies hid in a hideous paper-backed edition, wholly unnoticed by the cognescenti, while any "realistic" drivel about some neurotic in a London flat–something that needs no real invention at all, something that any educated man could write if he chose, may get seriously reviewed and mentioned in serious book–as if it really mattered. I wonder how long this tyranny will last? Twenty years ago I felt no doubt that I should live to see it all break up and great …
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Episode 192: "The First Men In the Moon" by H. G. Wells, An Introduction to Sci-Fi
3 oktober 2023 · 1 uur 6 min
Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and a brand new episode for this fall season! This week Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas begin this series of episodes on science fiction stories, beginning with some background on H. G. Wells and his book The First Men in the Moon. This sets the scene for us as we then continue on next week with the opening of a discussion of C. S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. Lees meer
Thomas gives some biographical background information about Wells, and Angelina shares some distinctives of the science fiction genre and its sub-categories. Cindy highlights how much Out of the Silent Planet truly is a derivative of The First Men In the Moon with Lewis putting forward a very different premise.
House of Humane Letters is thrilled to announce an all new webinar from Dr. Jason Baxter coming October 31st! Register today for Can Dante's Inferno Save the World?
Commonplace Quotes:
One of the very best things about the world is that so little of it is me.
Andrew Grieg
He could bear anything except to be silenced. Like most violent controversialists, he believed himself to be the pattern of meekness and good temper.
Ronald Knox, from Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion
Mr. Wells is a born storyteller who has sold his birthright for a pot of message.
G. K. Chesterton
Astrophil and Stella 31: With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies
by Sir Philip Sydney
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What, may it be that even in heav'nly place That busy archer his sharp arrows tries! Sure, if that long-with love-acquainted eyes Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case, I read it in thy looks; thy languish'd grace To me, that feel the like, thy state descries. Then, ev'n of fellowship, O Moon, tell me, Is constant love deem'd there but want of wit? Are beauties there as proud as here they be? Do they above love to be lov'd, and yet Those lovers scorn whom that love doth posses…
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Episode 191: The "Best of" Series – "Leaf by Niggle" Part 2, Ep. 59
26 september 2023 · 1 uur 25 min
On this week's episode of The Literary Life, we bring you another installment in our "Best of" Series. Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks continue their discussion of J. R. R. Tolkien's short story "Leaf by Niggle". If you missed the Back to School 2020 Conference when it was live, you can still purchase access to the recordings at MorningTimeforMoms.com. Angelina opens the book chat highlighting Tolkien's mirroring of Dante's Divine Comedy with Niggle's journey, and our hosts move through a recap of the story. The questions we should be asking as we read are whether this story deals with the recovery of our vision and whether it ends with a eucatastrophe. Lees meer
Cindy brings out more of the autobiographical nature of this story for Tolkien. Angelina tosses around the idea that Parish and Niggle may be doubles and be a picture of Tolkien's two selves. Thomas talks about what Niggle has to do in the "purgatory" section of the story. They also talk about the themes of art and the artist, sub-creation, and redemption. Come back next week to hear a discussion about why we ought to read myths.
Commonplace Quotes:
It is when a writer first begins to make enemies that he begins to matter.
Hilton Brown
Kill that whence spring the crude fancies and wild day-dreams of the young, and you will never lead them beyond dull facts—dull because their relations to each other, and the one life that works in them all, must remain undiscovered. Whoever would have his children avoid this arid region will do well to allow no teacher to approach them—not even of mathematics—who has no imagination.
George MacDonald
There were people who cared for him and people didn't, and those who didn't hate him were out to get him. . . But they couldn't touch him. . . because he was Tarzan, Mandrake, Flash Gordon. He was Bill Shakespeare. He was Cain, Ulysses, the Flying Dutchman; he was Lot in Sodom, Deidre of the Sorrows, Sweeney in the nightingales among trees.
Joseph Heller
On the…
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Episode 190: The "Best of" Series – "Leaf by Niggle" by J.R.R. Tolkien, Ep. 58
19 september 2023 · 1 uur 10 min
Welcome to another episode of our "Best Of" Series on The Literary Life with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks. Both this week and next, our hosts will be discussing J. R. R. Tolkien's short story "Leaf by Niggle". Lees meer
Angelina sets the stage with a little historical background on Tolkien's writing of this story as well as some thoughts on allegory and how to read a fairy tale. She talks about this story as an exploration of the struggle of the ideals and demands of art against the demands of practical life and the question of whether or not art is useful. Cindy shares her ideas about the importance of the Inklings for Tolkien to get his work out into the world. Angelina shares about the type of journey on which the main character, Niggle, is called to go on in this story. As you read, we encourage you to look for how Tolkien harmonizes the different tensions within the story.
Commonplace Quotes:
Here are some of the points which make a story worth studying to tell to the nestling listeners in many a sweet "Children's Hour";––graceful and artistic details; moral impulse of a high order, conveyed with a strong and delicate touch; sweet human affection; a tender, fanciful link between the children and the Nature-world; humour, pathos, righteous satire, and last, but not least, the fact that the story does not turn on children, and does not foster that self-consciousness, the dawn of which in the child is, perhaps, the individual "Fall of Man."
Charlotte Mason
The essay began by noting that total war was underway, with fighting not only "in the field and on the sea and in the air," but also in "the realm of ideas." It said: "The mightiest single weapon this war has yet employed" was "not a plane, or a bomb or a juggernaut of tanks"–it was Mein Kampf. This single book caused an educated nation to "burn the great books that keep liberty fresh in the hearts of men." If America's goal was victory and world peace, "all of us will have to know more and thi…
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Episode 189: The "Best of" Series – On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien, Ep. 57
12 september 2023 · 1 uur 40 min
Today on The Literary Life podcast, we bring you another episode from the "Best of" series vault, our discussion of J. R. R. Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories". Tune in again over the next two weeks as we continue the conversation with Tolkien's short story Leaf by Niggle. If you missed the 2020 Back to School conference that Cindy introduced in this episode, you can still get the recording at MorningTimeforMoms.com. Lees meer
Angelina sets the stage for this discussion by orienting us to the context for the essay by Tolkien as a critique of what is considered a fairy story. She points out the difference between cautionary tales like those by Charles Perrault and the German folk and fairy tales collected by the Grimm Brothers. Our hosts highlight Tolkien's definition of true fairy stories, ones that take place in the "perilous realm" and involve a journey element. He critiques Andrew Lang as including many stories as fairy tale that are not truly fairy stories. They also discuss topics from the essay including sub-creation, magic and spells, suspension of disbelief, and children's responses to fairy stories.
Commonplace Quotes:
One should forgive one's enemies, but only after they are hanged.
Heinrich Heine
The German folk soul can again express itself. These flames do not only illuminate the final end of the old era. They also light up the new. Never before have the young men had so good a right to clean up the debris of the past. If the old men do not understand what is going on, let them grasp that we young men have gone and done it. The old goes up in flames. The new shall be fashioned from the flame of our hearts.
Joseph Goebbles
Human beings are not human doings.
Nigel Goodwin
Into My Heart an Air That Kills
by A. E. Houseman
Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows;
What are those far remembered hills,
What spires, what towns are those?That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot go… -
Episode 188: Why Translation Matters with Dr. Anne Phillips
5 september 2023 · 1 uur 37 min
On The Literary Life podcast today we are pleased to bring you a special episode focusing on the importance of a good translation when reading works originally written in other languages. Angelina, Cindy and Thomas are joined for this conversation by Dr. Anne Phillips, who has a BA in Latin and Greek and a Doctorate in Classical Studies and teaches Latin at the House of Humane Letters. They start out with the question of basic principles for determining what makes a good translation. Angelina brings up C. S. Lewis' review of Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey and the principles he sets forth. Anne shares her experience with reading classic works in their original languages and how much richer and more enjoyable it is for her. Another topic they cover is the challenge of translating poetry. Lees meer
Angelina, Thomas, and Anne both share some of their least liked translations of classical Greek and Latin works, as well as some recommendations for better translations. They also talk about finding good translations of Old English and Middle English works.
Thomas is also teaching a webinar along with Michael Williams on the modern poets W. H. Auden and T. S. Eliot on September 28th. You can now register at House of Humane Letters.
Commonplace Quotes:
He had the successful portrait painters essential gift and saw men, with few exceptions, as they liked to see themselves.
C. V. Wedgwood
In my opinion value-judgements in literature should not be hurried. It does a student little good to be told that A is better than B, especially if he prefers B at the time. He has to feel values for himself, and should follow his individual rhythm in doing so. In the meantime, he can read almost anything in any order, just as he can eat mixtures of food that would have his elders reaching for the baking soda. A sensible teaching or librarian can soon learn how to give guidance to a youth's reading that allows for undeveloped taste and still doesn't turn him into a gourmet or a dyspeptic…
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Episode 187: "The Man Who Was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton, Ch. 11-End
29 augustus 2023 · 1 uur 46 min
This week on The Literary Life podcast, we wrap up our discussion of The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton. After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas dive right in to the last section and share their various thoughts on finishing this book. Angelina and Thomas talk about some of Chesterton's thoughts on Impressionism in the arts. Cindy and Thomas make some connections with the old rhyme about "Monday's Child." They talk about more of the allegorical elements that are clearly spelled out by Chesterton, as well as many other relations they make to other stories, including the one great story. Lees meer
Be sure to join us next week when we have a special episode about why translation matters with Dr. Anne Phillips!
Angelina is teaching a class on How to Read Beowulf August 28-September 1, 2023. Get in on this mini-class at House of Humane Letters.
Thomas is also teaching a webinar along with Michael Williams on the modern poets W. H. Auden and T. S. Eliot on September 28th. You can now register at House of Humane Letters.
Commonplace Quotes:
Almost everywhere and almost invariably the man who has sought a cryptogram in a great masterpiece has been highly exhilarated, logically justified, morally excited, and entirely wrong.
But it is all detail; and detail by itself means madness. The very definition of a lunatic is a man who has taken details out of their real atmosphere.
The truth is, I fear, that madness has a great advantage over sanity. Sanity is always careless. Madness is always careful.
G. K. Chesterton, from The Soul of Wit
Looking for an author's life in his books is vulgar anyhow, and can be most misleading.
L. P. Hartley, from A Perfect Woman
Perhaps it is not worthwhile to try to kill heresies which so rapidly kill themselves, and the cult of suicide committed suicide some time ago. But it should not wish it supposed as some think I have supposed, that in resisting the heresy of pessimism, I have implied the equally morbid…
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Episode 186: "The Man Who Was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton, Ch. 5-10
22 augustus 2023 · 1 uur 14 min
On the Literary Life podcast this week Angelina, Cindy and Thomas continue their series on G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday. Before diving into the plot of these chapters, our hosts discuss the similarities and differences between Chesterton and Kafka's works of fiction. Thomas gives some historical context on anarchy as well as assassinations in the time period of this book. Angelina points out the Dante-esque language in this section, as well as the continuing themes of chivalry. Cindy highlights the character of Sunday and how he looms large, quite literally, over everyone's imaginations in the story. Some other thoughts our hosts discuss include modernity's mindset as it relates to the atmosphere of this story, the idea of the underdog fighting against all odds, and the humorous moments that break some of the tension. Be sure to come back next week when we wrap up our series on The Man Who Was Thursday. Lees meer
If you missed our 2023 Back to School Conference when it was live, you can still go back and view the recordings when you purchase access to the conference at MorningTimeforMom.com.
Angelina is teaching a class on How to Read Beowulf at the end of August 2023. Get in on this mini-class at House of Humane Letters.
Thomas is also teaching a webinar along with Michael Williams on the modern poets W. H. Auden and T. S. Eliot on September 28th. You can now register at House of Humane Letters.
Commonplace Quotes:
It's important, too, that everything that has a story, such as a myth, should be read or listened to purely as a story. Many people grow up without really understanding the difference between imaginative and discursive writing. On the rare occasions when they encounter poems or even pictures, they treat them exactly as though they were intended to be pieces of more or less disguised information. Their questions are all based on this assumption: "What is he trying to get across?" "What am I supposed to get out of it?" "Why doesn't someone expla…
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Episode 185: "The Man Who Was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton, Intro and Ch. 1-4
15 augustus 2023 · 1 uur 26 min
Welcome back to the Literary Life podcast this week and our new series on G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday. Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas open with their commonplace quotes, as usual, then proceed to setting up the background for this book and the man Chesterton himself. Thomas also shares Chesterton's poem to E. C. Bentley that opens this book and gives a brief explication of the poem. Following this, our hosts recap each chapter in the first section. Angelina makes several connections to Paradise Lost in this section, as well as pointing out the romantic and chivalric quest elements in the story. Cindy highlights the fact that we also have the fair maiden character here. Join us again next week when we will cover chapters 5-10 as events become even more strange. Lees meer
If you missed our 2023 Back to School Conference when it was live, you can still go back and view the recordings when you purchase access to the conference at MorningTimeforMom.com.
Angelina is teaching a class on How to Read Beowulf at the end of August 2023. Get in on this mini-class at House of Humane Letters.
Thomas is also teaching a webinar along with Michael Williams on the modern poets W. H. Auden and T. S. Eliot on September 28th. You can now register at House of Humane Letters.
Commonplace Quotes:
Had her mother been somebody else's mother she would perhaps have admired her unreservedly.
L. P. Hartley, A Perfect Woman
When a child is reading, he should not be teased with questions as to the meaning of what he has read, the signification of this word or that; what is annoying to older people is equally annoying to children.
Charlotte Mason
And there is…Mooreeffoc, or Chestertonian Fantasy. Mooreeffoc is a fantastic word, but it could be seen written up in every town in this land. It is Coffeeroom, view from the inside through a glass door, as it was seen by Dickens on a dark London day; and it was used by Chesterton to denote the queerness of things that have become trite, when …
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Episode 184: The "Best of" Series – In Search of the Austen Adaptation – Pride and Prejudice, Ep. 115
8 augustus 2023 · 2 uur 12 min
This week on The Literary Life podcast we have a fun "Best of" Series episode for you from our collection of "In Search of the Austen Adaptation" podcasts! On this episode our hosts Angelina, Cindy and Thomas are joined by Atlee Northmore, and together they are debating which film version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is the best. Atlee shares some of the history of the Pride and Prejudice adaptations that were made for TV and film. Angelina highlights different ideas of what makes a good film adaptation of a book. Cindy brings up the importance of the casting, and Angelina talks about why she still feels like no film has gotten Mr. Darcy right. She also talks about the difficulty of embodying the virtues that Jane Austen gives her characters. Our hosts critique each major movies from over the decades, sharing what they like and dislike about each one. Lees meer
Click here to download the PDF Atlee created for all the Pride and Prejudice film adaptations.
Commonplace Quotes:
If we cannot get the better of life, at any rate, we can be so free as to laugh at it.
Desmond MacCarthy
Jane Austen is thus a mistress of much deeper emotion than appears upon the surface. She stimulates us to supply what is not there. What she offers is, apparently a trifle, yet is composed of something that expands in the reader's mind and endows with the most enduring form of life scenes which are outwardly trivial.
Virginia Woolf
The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.
G. K. Chesterton
Never judge a book by its movie.
Anonymous
False Though She Be
by William Congreve
FALSE though she be to me and love, I'll ne'er pursue revenge; For still the charmer I approve, Though I deplore her change. In hours of bliss we oft have met: They could not always last; And though the present I regret, I'm grateful for the past.
Book List:
The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf
Support The Literary Life:
Become a patron of The…
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Episode 183: The "Best of" Series – The Literary Life of Caitlin Beauchamp, Ep. 30
1 augustus 2023 · 1 uur 24 min
On today's "Best of The Literary Life" episode, Angelina and Cindy interview Caitlin Bruce Beauchamp. In addition to being an AmblesideOnline homeschool graduate and a lover of the humanities, Caitlin is a busy wife and a mother of young children. In their conversation, Angelina, Cindy and Caitlin dive into the deep end from the start, discussing the purpose of beauty. They talk about Caitlin's early reading life and how she came to love books. She shares how she had to learn some humility in her reading life as an adult. Lees meer
Angelina asks Caitlin how she finds the time to keep up her reading life amidst the responsibilities of mothering. Cindy and Caitlin talk about the importance of feeding your mind with other people's ideas instead of taking the road to self-pity. The ladies discuss the timing of reading certain books to children and the great joy of watching children blossom as they listen to the right kinds of stories. Caitlin shares some of the books she reads to get out of a slump, as well as some other favorites and current reads.
Commonplace Quotes:
In his memoir Suprised by Joy Lewis described his ideal daily routine to be reading and writing from nine until one and again from five until seven, with breaks for meals, walking, or tea-time. Apart from those six hours of study every day, he also enjoyed light reading over meals or in the evening hours. All in all, Lewis' preferred schedule seemed to include seven or eight hours of reading per day!
David C. Downing and Michael G. Maudlin, in the preface to The Reading Life
To be seeking always after the useful does not become free and exalted souls.
Aristotle
The years to come – this is a promise –
will grant you ample time
to try the difficult steps in the empire of thought
where you seek for the shining proofs you think you must have.
But nothing you ever understand will be sweeter, or more binding,
than this deepest affinity between your eyes and the world.
The flock thickens
over the roiling, s…
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Episode 182: The Literary Life of Addison and Ella Hornstra
25 juli 2023 · 1 uur 52 min
On The Literary Life podcast today, our hosts Angelina, Cindy and Thomas sit down for a chat with twin sisters Addison and Ella Hornstra. Together they have been given a literary home education, and this fall they will continue that journey at New College Franklin. Angelina introduces the Hornstra ladies and she and Thomas tell a little bit about having them as students. Cindy also shares how she met the Hornstra family. Then they dig into the girls' reading journeys from the beginning of their learning to read all the way to their current reading lives. Some of the topics that come up in this conversation are: reading content beyond your understanding, owning your reading life, the problem with using the wrong approach to literature, the dangers of modern education for uniquely gifted students, the power of just reading well, and so much more. Lees meer
Come explore, with seasoned moms, the things that stand the test of time in our homeschools at this year's Literary Life Back to School Online Conference. In addition to our hosts, Donna-Jean Breckenridge and a panel of home educating parents and their adult children, will be bringing encouragement and insight to help you on your homeschool journey. This year's conference will be live online on August 2-5, with recordings available for those who cannot join live.
Commonplace Quotes:
It is bad to spend too many hours over either a microscope or telescope or in gazing fixedly at some one distance range. The eyes need change of focus, and so does the imagination. There has been in modern Europe a shocking riot in misuse of the imagination. The remedy is to learn to use it. But the same kind of people who would like to bandage a child's eyes lest it should learn to squint like to bandage the imagination lest it should wear itself out by squinting.
Mary Everest Boole
Away from the immense, cloistered in our own concepts, we may scorn and revile everything. But standing between earth and sky, we are silenced by the sight.
Ab…
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Episode 181: "Kidnapped", Ch. 19-End
18 juli 2023 · 1 uur 19 min
Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and the final episode in our series on Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped. This week, Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas open with a discussion of the difference between Jacobites and Whigs and how that contrast is played out in this story. Angelina and Cindy compare the characters of David Balfour and Jim Hawkins of Treasure Island and how they display honor. Angelina addresses moralizing stories versus making a moral observation of a story. Thomas gives a summary of the last several chapters of Kidnapped and makes some comment on the lawyer Rankeillor. They highlight more of the epic romance elements found in this book, as well. Lees meer
Check out our Upcoming Events page to see the schedule for the rest of the summer and into fall.
Join us for the 5th Annual Back to School Conference with your hosts, along with special guest speaker Donna-Jean Breckenridge this August 2-5, 2023. Learn more and register at morningtimeformoms.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
But in these days we are forced even against our will to judge everything, even plays, morally. A crowd of artists and aesthetes have declared in this age that art is immoral; but the fact plainly and obviously remains that there never was a time in the history of the world when art was so moral. If there be a fault in the popular criticism of the day, it is that it is far too much so.
G. K. Chesterton, The Soul of Wit
Man is by nature so dissatisfied an animal that he must always be acclaiming something that he fondly believes to be new.
Charles Petrie, The Four Georges
But though the thing is to be criticised (and admired) strictly as an adventure story, there are sidelights of interest about it considered as a historical novel. It carries on a rather curiously balanced critical attitude, partly inherited from the attitude of Sir Walter Scott, the paradox of being intellectually on the side of the Whigs and morally on the side of the Jacobites.
G. K. Chesterton, Robert Louis Steven…
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Episode 180: "Kidnapped," Ch. 7-18
11 juli 2023 · 1 uur 13 min
This week on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina, Thomas, and Cindy continue their discussion of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, covering chapters 7-18. After sharing their commonplace quotes, Thomas opens the conversation with a brief synopsis of chapter 7. Angelina notes the increase in danger and violence in this section of the book, and our hosts talk about the roguish character of Alan Breck. They make many comparisons between Kidnapped and Treasure Island and highlight the other-world atmosphere Stevenson creates while staying in the real world. Cindy mentions some of the conflict between the Campbells and MacDonalds, and Thomas fleshes out a little more of this aspect of Scottish history. Lees meer
Join us for the 5th Annual Back to School Conference with your hosts, along with special guest speaker Donna-Jean Breckenridge this August 2-5, 2023. Learn more and register at morningtimeformoms.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
Mr. Roger Lancelyn Green, writing in English not long ago, remarked that the reading of Rider Haggard had been to many a sort of religious experience. To some people this will have seemed simply grotesque. I myself would strongly disagree with it if 'religious' is taken to mean 'Christian.' And even if we take it in a sub-Christian sense, it would have been safer to say that such people had first met in Haggard's romances elements which they would meet again in religious experience if they ever came to have any. But I think Mr. Green is very much nearer the mark than those who assume that no one has ever read the romances except in order to be thrilled by hair-breadth escapes. If he had said simply that something which the educated receive from poetry can reach the masses through stories of adventure, and almost in no other way, then I think he would have been right.
C. S. Lewis
The conception which unites the whole varied work of Stevenson was that romance, or the vision of the possibilities of things, was far more important than mere occurrences:…
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Episode 179: "Kidnapped," Intro to Robert Louis Stevenson and Ch. 1-6
4 juli 2023 · 1 uur 21 min
Welcome back to a new read along series on The Literary Life Podcast! This week Angelina, Thomas, and Cindy will begin their discussion of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, covering chapters 1-6, as well as giving some background information on the beloved author and the historical setting of this book. Angelina talks about the life of R. L. Stevenson, and Thomas sets the historical stage for the story. We also get a glimpse into the form of the novel as a romance from some clues Stevenson gives at the outset. Cindy highlights the foreboding in the song of a woman David Balfour passes on the road. They look more closely at David's plight, the role of the usurping uncle, and Stevenson's excellent storytelling. Lees meer
Come back next week to get in on the discussion of chapters 7-18.
You are not too late to participate in Thomas' mini-class on G. K. Chesterton taking place live or later from June 26th through July 7th. Register at HouseofHumaneLetters.com today!
Commonplace Quotes:
Perhaps it is a mistake to suppose that metaphors can be invented. The real ones, those that formulate intimate connections between one image and another, have always existed; those we can invent are the false ones, which are not worth inventing.
Jorge Luis Borges, An Essay on Hawthorne
The tragedy of King Lear, in some of its elements perhaps the very greatest of all the Shakespearean tragedies, is relatively seldom played. It is even possible to have a dark suspicion that it is not universally read; with the usual deplorable result, that it is universally quoted. Perhaps nothing has done so much to weaken the greatest of English achievements, and to leave it open to facile revolt or fatigued reaction, than the abominable habit of quoting Shakespeare without reading Shakespeare.
G. K. Chesterton, from and introduction to The Spice of Life
Truth is a stern mistress, and when one hath once started off with her one must follow on after the jade, though she lead in flat defiance of all the …
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Episode 178: The "Best of" Series- The Great Divorce, Ch. 11-End, Ep. 50
27 juni 2023 · 1 uur 24 min
This week on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas wrap up their discussion of C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce with the final chapters 11-14. Cindy and Angelina talk about the dangers of familial love becoming the end-all-be-all, as well as Lewis' exploration of Dante's idea of sin. They go in depth with this exploration of sin as a distortion of something that might naturally seem good and the way Lewis pairs people to demonstrate that in these chapters. Angelina talks about the medieval view of ordered man versus the disordered man and how that relates to the man with the horse. They wrap up with the importance of stories in depicting truth in a veiled way, instead of only theological argument and discourse, in helping us live out our faith in a properly ordered way. Lees meer
Until next time, check out our Upcoming Events page to view our schedule and see what we will be reading together over the next few months!
Commonplace Quotes:
We chose from the library shelves any book of Tales for the Young, and took much pleasure in prophesying the events. We could rely on Providence to punish the naughty and bring to notice the heroism of the good, and generally grant an early death to both. Why was there a bull in a field? To gore the disobedient. Why did cholera break out? To kill the child who went down a forbidden street. The names told us much: Tom, Sam, or Jack were predestined to evil, while a Frank could do nothing but good. Henry was a bit uncertain: he might lead his little sister into that field with bravado, or he might attack the bull to save her life at the cost of his own. We had bettings of gooseberries on such points.
M. V. Hughes
Exaggeration is one of art's great devices.
J. B. Priestley
Hell is inaccurate.
Charles Williams
There is a Pleasure in the Pathless Woods
by Lord Byron
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar… -
Episode 177: The "Best of" Series – The Great Divorce, Ch. 7-10, Ep. 49
20 juni 2023 · 1 uur 35 min
On The Literary Life podcast today, our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks discuss chapters 7-10 of C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. Angelina points out the way in which Lewis uses the "newcomer" character to explain the world he has created. They discuss the various personalities Lewis presents who choose not to take the journey to heaven, sharing how these sketches often hit a little too close to home. Lees meer
They also talk about the influence of George MacDonald on Lewis and his role in this story. Thomas helps us make some connections with Lewis and Virgil, as well as explaining some of the references made by MacDonald's character. Cindy points out how our loves can be entryways into either heaven or hell. Join us again next week as we finish up our discussion of The Great Divorce together!
There is still time to sign up for Thomas' upcoming mini-class on G. K. Chesterton taking place live from June 26th through July 7th. Register at HouseofHumaneLetters.com today!
Commonplace Quotes:
Meanwhile, you will write an essay on self-indulgence. There will be a prize of half a crown for the longest essay, irrespective of any possible merit.
Evelyn Waugh
Shame belongs, rather, to the bookish recluse who knows not how to apply his reading to the good of his fellows or to manifest its fruit to the eyes of all.
Cicero
It is simply my lifelong experience—that men are more likely to hand over to others what they ought to do themselves, and women more likely to do themselves what others wish they would leave alone. Hence both sexes must be told "Mind your own business," but in two different senses!
C. S. Lewis
To a Skylark
by William Wordsworth
Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!
Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?
Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed, that music still!Leave to the nightingale her shady wood;
… -
Episode 176: The "Best of" Series – The Great Divorce, Ch. 2-6, Ep. 48
13 juni 2023 · 1 uur 27 min
On The Literary Life podcast today, our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks discuss chapters 2-6 of C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. Angelina reminds us as we begin this exploration of Lewis' narrative not to read too much theology into the details of this dreamlike world he creates. Cindy points out the similarities between these chapters and his descriptions at the end of The Last Battle. Thomas highlights the passage on Napoleon from chapter 2, showing what Lewis envisioned hell to be like. Angelina, Cindy and Thomas talks about the description of the land near heaven, the various characters' responses, as well as the weight of the actual environment and Lewis' picture of those who people it. Lees meer
Be sure to check out Thomas' upcoming mini-class on G. K. Chesterton taking place live from June 26th through July 7th. Register at HouseofHumaneLetters.com today!
Commonplace Quotes:
We long for paradise because we were created for paradise. We were created to live in an environment that cooperates with, not fights against, our desires. We were created for Eden, a place we've never been, and so we desire a perfect life full of healthy relationships.
Julie Sparkman
Anyone who puts himself forward to be elected to a position of political power is almost bound to be socially or emotionally insecure, or criminally motivated, or mad.
Auberon Waugh
"The secret is not to dream," she whispered. "The secret is to wake up. Waking up is harder. I have woken up and now I am real. I know where I come from and where I'm going. You cannot fool me anymore. Or touch me. Or anything that is mine."
Terry Pratchett
The Stricken Deer
by William Cowper
I was a stricken deer, that left the herd
Long since; with many an arrow deep infixt
My panting side was charg'd, when I withdrew
To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.
There was I found by one who had himself
Been hurt by th' archers. In his side he bore,
And in his hands and feet, the cruel scars.
With gentle … -
Episode 175: The "Best of" Series – The Great Divorce, Preface and Ch. 1, Ep. 47
6 juni 2023 · 1 uur 23 min
On The Literary Life podcast today, Cindy Rollins, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks begin their series on The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis. Today you are going to get a crash-course in Medievalism through Lewis' story, and we hope you will enjoy this book as much as our hosts do. Angelina kicks off the discussion even while sharing her commonplace quote, sharing some information about the epigraph and front matter. She gives us some historical context, both for where this books comes in Lewis' own timeline, as well as some ideas of the journey of the soul and medieval dream literature. Lees meer
Thomas gives some background on Prudentius and his allegorical work The Psychomachia. Angelina goes into some comparisons between The Great Divorce and Dante's Divine Comedy. Thomas talks about Nathanial Hawthorne's short story The Celestial Railroad as a satire of Pilgrim's Progress. Also, if you haven't read and listened to E. M. Forster's Celestial Omnibus, see Episode 17. As they get into discussing the Preface, Thomas give us some information on William Blake. We will be back next week with a discussion on Chapters 2-6.
Be sure to check out Thomas' upcoming mini-class on G. K. Chesterton taking place live from June 26th through July 7th. Register at HouseofHumaneLetters.com today!
Commonplace Quotes:
We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them. Man cannot discover them by his own powers and if he sets out to seek for them he will find in their place counterfeits of which he will be unable to discern the falsity.
Simone Weil, from "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God"
A poet is not a man who says "look at me", but rather a man who points at something and says "look at that."
C. S. Lewis
No, there is no escape. There is no heaven with a little of hell in it–no plan to retain this of that of the devil in our hearts or our pockets. Out Satan must go, every hair and feather.
George Ma…
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Episode 174: The "Best of" Series – The Importance of Detective Fiction, Ep. 3
30 mei 2023 · 1 uur 2 min
In this conversation, Angelina and Cindy talk all things related to the detective novel. Why do we love detective fiction so much? What are the qualities of a good detective novel? What is the history of detective fiction, and how did World War I bring about the Golden Age of the genre? Angelina and Cindy answer all these questions and more. Be sure to scroll down for links to all the books and authors mentioned in this episode! Lees meer
Commonplace Quotes:
Those who read poetry to improve their minds will never improve their minds by reading poetry, for the true enjoyments must be spontaneous and compulsive and look to no remoter end. The Muses will submit to no marriage of convenience.
C. S. Lewis
One of these days I shall write a book in which two men are seen to walk down a cul de sac, and there is a shot, and one man is found murdered, and the other runs away with a gun in his hand, and after twenty chapters stinking with red herrings, it turns out that the man with the gun did it after all.
Dorothy L. Sayers
The Listeners
by Walter De La Mare
'Is there anybody there?' said the Traveler,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveler's head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
'Is there anybody there?' he said.
But no one descended to the Traveler;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveler's call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
'Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he s… -
Episode 173: The "Best of" Series – Why Pastors Should Read Fiction, Ep. 137
23 mei 2023 · 1 uur 56 min
This week on The Literary Life podcast with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks, we have a very special episode for you. Our hosts are joined by guests Dan Bunting and Anthony Dodgers, both of whom are pastors, for a discussion on why pastors should read fiction books. Dan is also host of the the Reading the Psalms podcast. Angelina starts off the conversation by asking why these men would prioritize taking literature classes. Anthony shares about his own literary life journey and how rediscovering literature has helped him personally. Dan talks about the book club that he and a couple of his pastor friends have and what kinds of books they read together. They discuss many other deep topics and crucial questions that we hope will be encouraging and thought-provoking to everyone who listens to and shares this episode. Lees meer
If you want to get the replays of the 2022 Back to School Conference, "Education: Myths and Legends" with special guest speakers Lynn Bruce and Caitlin Beauchamp, along with our hosts Cindy Rollins, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks, you can learn more at Morning Time for Moms.
Commonplace Quotes:
If education is beaten by training, civilization dies.
C. S. Lewis, from "Our English Syllabus"
How am I a hog and me both?
Flannery O'Connor
He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.
Freidrich Schiller
Whoever wants to become a Christian, must first become a poet.
St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalivia
It is hard to have patience with those Jeremiahs, in press or pulpit, who warn us that we are "relapsing into paganism". It might be rather fun if we were. It would be pleasant to see some future Prime Minister trying to kill a large and lively milk-white bull in Westminster Hall. But we shan't. What lurks behind such idle prophecies, if they are anything but careless language, is the false idea that the historical process allows mere reversal; that Europe can come out of Christianity "by the same door as in she went"…
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Episode 172: The Literary Life of Kiel Lemon
16 mei 2023 · 1 uur 34 min
This week on The Literary Life podcast, our hosts Angelina, Cindy and Thomas are joined by their podcast producer Kiel Lemon to chat about her own literary life. Kiel and her husband, along with their two children, live in West Virginia where they homeschool and enjoy the outdoors together whenever they can. After sharing commonplace quotes and how Angelina and Cindy met Kiel, they dig in to her background in reading. They also talk at some length about making use of audio books and speak to the concern parents have about audio versus physical books. Lees meer
Kiel gives a shout out to her high school English teacher for giving her a good foundation in the classics and poetry. She also shares some of her early attempts to give herself a literary education in early adulthood, and Angelina asks Kiel why she was so drawn to old books. They also discuss the challenges of a dry time she went through when she wasn't reading much at all and how to get out of a reading slump. Some other topics they touch on are disciplined versus whimsical reading, keeping multiple books at the same time, going through the AmblesideOnline curriculum with children, and more.
To find out more about Thomas' summer class on G. K. Chesterton and sign up for that, go to houseofhumaneletters.com. To register for Cindy's summer discipleship session, visit morningtimeformoms.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed?…Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so that we may feel again their majesty and power?
Annie Dillard, from The Abundance: Narrative Essays New and Old
My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.
Jane Austen
A ma…
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Episode 171: "Code of the Woosters," Part 3, Ch. 10-14
9 mei 2023 · 1 uur 10 min
Welcom back to The Literary Life Podcast and our discussion of P. G. Wodehouse's Code of the Woosters. This week Angelina, Thomas, and Cindy finish up the book, covering chapters 10-14. After sharing their commonplace quotes, they start the chat by talking about what exactly the "Code of the Woosters" is for Bertie. Cindy brings up Wodehouse' good experience in boarding school and how that comes out in his stories. Angelina reminds us again of the Roman comic structure that sets the form for this type of story. Thomas highlights some connections between Evelyn Waugh, Oscar Wilde, and P. G. Wodehouse. They also enjoy recounting the moments when Bertie thinks of himself of a detective and compares himself to Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, et al. Lees meer
Find annotations for the slang, quotes, etc., for The Code of the Woosters here.
To find out more about Thomas' summer class on G. K. Chesterton and sign up for that, go to houseofhumaneletters.com. To register for Cindy's summer discipleship session, visit morningtimeformoms.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
The books that should be set before children are books of play and ceremonial, and pomp and war: the whole gloria mundi, the whole pageant of history, full of blood and pride, may safely be told them–everything but the secret of their own incomparable influence. Children need to be taught primarily the grandeur of the whole world. It is merely the whole world that needs to be taught the grandeur of children.
G. K. Chesterton, from The Speaker, November 24, 1900
Each be other's comfort kind:
Deep, deeper than divined,
Divine charity, dear charity,
Fast you ever, fast bind.
Gerard Manley Hopkins, from "At the Wedding March"
I find that my personal animosity against a writer never affects my opinion of what he writes. Nobody could be more anxious than myself, for instance, that Alan Alexander Milne should trip over a loose boot-lace and break his bloody neck, yet I re-read his early stuff at regular intervals with all t…
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Episode 170: "Code of the Woosters", Part 2, Ch. 5-9
2 mei 2023 · 1 uur 11 min
This week on The Literary Life Podcast our hosts, Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks, continue discussing P. G. Wodehouse's Code of the Woosters together, covering chapters 5-9 today. They share some similarities in Wodehouse's work to Shakespearean and Roman comic characters. Some of these stock characters are the couple, the helpful servant, the unhelpful servant, the irritable old man, and more. Angelina shares her take on Wodehouse's ability to complicate the comedic form. Cindy makes a comparison between the ease created by habits in life and form in stories. Delighting in Wodehouse's skill to turn a phrase, our hosts share many humorous passages throughout this episode, so be sure to stay tuned to the end to catch it all. Lees meer
Find annotations for the slang, quotes, etc., for The Code of the Woosters here.
To find out more about Thomas' summer class on G. K. Chesterton and sign up for that, go to houseofhumaneletters.com. To register for Cindy's summer discipleship session, visit morningtimeformoms.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
The gentleness and candour of Shakespeare's mind has impressed all his readers. But is impresses us still more the more we study the general tone of sixteenth-century literature. He is gloriously anomalous.
C. S. Lewis
He wrote to Sheran: What do you find to read these days? I simply can't cope with the American novel. The most ghastly things are published and sell a million copies, but good old Wodehouse will have none of them and sticks to English mystery stories. It absolutely beats me how people can read the stuff that is published now. I am reduced to English mystery stories and my own stuff. I was reading Blandings Castle again yesterday and was lost in admiration for the brilliance of the author.
P. G. Wodehouse, as quoted by Frances Donaldson
You notice that popular literature, the kind of stories that are read for relaxation, is always very highly conventionalized…Wodehouse is a popular writer, and the fact that …
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Episode 169: Intro to P. G. Wodehouse, "Code of the Woosters," Ch. 1-4
25 april 2023 · 1 uur 29 min
On this episode of The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks, are introducing P. G. Wodehouse's entertaining book, Code of the Woosters. This week they will cover chapters 1-4. Our hosts start the conversation sharing some interesting tidbits about P. G. Wodehouse the man, as well as the Wodehousian world in general. Then they begin discussing the story, highlighting Bertie's code of manners that sets up so many problematic situations and Jeeves' unflappable mastery of every circumstance. Find annotations for the slang, quotes, etc., for The Code of the Woosters here. Lees meer
To find out more about Thomas' summer class on G. K. Chesterton and sign up for that, go to houseofhumaneletters.com. To register for Cindy's summer discipleship session, visit morningtimeformoms.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
A craftsman is excellent in his craft according to his degree of attainment towards its end and his use of the means toward that end. Now the end of writing is the production in the reader's mind of a certain image and a certain emotion. And the means towards that end are the use of words in any particular language; and the complete use of that medium is the choosing of the right words and the putting of them into the right order. It is this which Mr. Wodehouse does better, in the English language, than anyone else alive, or at any rate, than anyone else that I have read for many years past.
Hilaire Belloc
Mr. Wodehouse has created Jeeves. He has created others, but in his creation of Jeeves he has done something which may be respectably compared to the the world of the Almighty in Michelangelo's painting. He has formed a man filled with the breath of life…If in, say, fifty years Jeave and any other of the that great company – but in particular Jeeves – shall have faded, then what we have so long called England will no longer be.
Hilaire Belloc
For Mr. Wodehouse there has been no fall of Man; no 'aboriginal calamity.' His characters have …
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Episode 168: The "Best of" Series – Witches, Wizards, and Magic, Oh My!!, Ep. 104
18 april 2023 · 1 uur 20 min
This week on The Literary Life Podcast we are pleased to bring you another "Best Of" series replay of one of our most popular episodes. Today our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks tackle the tough questions so many people ask about reading stories dealing with magic. First off, Angelina affirms the need to discernment and the desire to steer clear of that which would be a stumbling block for our children. Cindy shares a little about her own concern when her children were very young. Then they set the groundwork by defining some terms and considering the kinds of questions we need to ask, beginning with Scripture and the church fathers. Be sure to listen to the end when Angelina, Cindy and Thomas suggest some criteria for evaluating magic elements in books before handing them to their students. Lees meer
Commonplace Quotes:
I am not conscious of having ever bought a book from a motive of ostentation.
Edward Gibbon
There is no language and no knowledge without symbol and metaphor. Two consequences arise from this: one is that we require imagination both to make and to interpret symbols, and the other is that symbols themselves beckon us through language to that which is beyond language. In other words, symbols are energized between the two poles (as Coleridge would say) of immanence and transcendence.
Malcolm Guite
Incidentally, we do not know of a single healthy and powerful book used to educate people (and that includes the Bible) in which such delicate matters do not actually appear to an even greater extent. Proper usage sees no evil here, but finds, as an attractive saying has it, a document of our hearts. Children can read the stars without fear, while others, so superstition has it, insult angels by doing the same thing.
Wilhelm Grimm
The Queen Mab Speech
by William Shakespeare
O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Dra… -
Episode 167: The "Best of" Series – The Literary Life of Timilyn Downey, Ep. 122
11 april 2023 · 1 uur 32 min
This week on The Literary Life, we are bringing you another "Best of The Literary Life Podcast" episode. This week's featured guest is Timilyn Downey, who will be a keynote speaker at this spring's Literary Life Online Conference. Hosts Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins dig into how Timilyn became a lifelong reader. Timilyn shares about the incredibly literary childhood education that she had without even realizing it at the time. She also tells the story of her trip to London during college, then goes into how she used a literary approach in her teaching career. Timilyn also describes her journey to homeschooling and the role that God's grace clearly played in where she is now. Lees meer
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up April 12-15, 2023, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
The founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was not as programmatic or formal as its name suggests, but rather evolved out of a series of pub discussions and informal get-togethers.
Carolyn Weber
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.
Charles MacKay
On a Saturday afternoon in winter, when nose and fingers might be pinched enough to give an added relish to the anticipation of tea and fireside, and the whole week-end's reading lay ahead, I suppose I reached as much happiness as is ever to be reached on earth.
C. S. Lewis
from "Among School Children"
by William Butler Yeats
VII Both nuns and mothers worship images, But those the candles light are not as those That animate a mother's reveries, But keep a marble or a bronze repose. And yet they too break hearts—O Presences That passion, piety or affection knows, And that all heavenly glory symbolise— O self-born mockers of man's enterprise; VIII Labour is blossoming or dancing where The body is not brui…
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Episode 166: Shakespeare's "Othello," Acts 4 & 5
4 april 2023 · 1 uur 42 min
We are back on The Literary Life Podcast this week to wrap up our series on Shakespeare's Othello with a discussion of Acts 4 and 5. Angelina, Cindy and Thomas begin the conversation looking at how the avalanche that began at the climax in Act 3 now continues until the curtain drops. Beginning with her commonplace quote, Angelina expands on the idea that this play uses images of the temptation and fall of man. Thomas reads from Othello's speech in illustration of how disordered he has become. Once again in these acts we see Desdemona's innocence and goodness. Iago's parallels to the storm and to Satan are further illustrated, as well. Cindy, Thomas, and Angelina share their several thoughts on the ending of the play. Lees meer
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up April 12-15, 2023, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
It is observed that "a corrupt society has many laws"; I know not whether it is not equally true that an ignorant age has many books. When the treasures of ancient knowledge lie unexamined, and original authors are neglected and forgotten, compilers and plagiaries are encouraged, who give us again what we had before, and grow great by setting before us what our own sloth had hidden from our view.
Samuel Johnson, from The Idler, Essay #85
It is very important again that the child should not be allowed to condemn the conduct of the people about him. Whether he is right or wrong in his verdict is not the question. The habit of bestowing blame will certainly blunt his conscience and deaden his sensibility to the injunction "Judge not, that ye be not judged."
Charlotte Mason, from Home Education
If the precise movement of Eve's mind at this point is not always noticed, that is because Milton's truth to nature is here almost too great, and the reader is involved in the same illusion as Eve herself. The whole thing is so quick, …
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Episode 165: Shakespeare's "Othello", Act 3
28 maart 2023 · 1 uur 43 min
Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and our series covering Shakespeare's play Othello. This week Angelina, Thomas and Cindy talk about the end of Act 2, review Act 3's major plot points, and discuss the bigger ideas present in this and all Shakespeare's stories. Thomas brings out the similarities between Don John in Much Ado About Nothing and Iago in Othello. Angelina highlights the significance of the placement of the wedding dance and the discord occurring within the form of the play. Cindy points out the importance of reputation in this section of the play. Other concepts they talk about include: the character of a warrior, the issue of race in this play, Iago's deception of Othello, Desdemona as a picture of innocence, and so much more. Lees meer
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up April 12-15, 2023, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
The notion of cosmic order pervades the entire Fairy Queen and prompts such a detail as Spenser's iteration of the phrase "In a comely rew [row]" or "on a row." The arrangement is comely not just because it is pretty and seemly but because it harmonises with a universal order.
But the negative implication was even more frequent and emphatic. If the Elizabethans believed in an ideal order animating earthly order, they were terrified lest it should be upset, and appalled by the visible tokens of disorder that suggested its upsetting. They were obsessed by the fear of chaos and the fact of mutability; and the obsession was powerful in proportion as their faith in the cosmic order was strong. To us chaos means hardly more than confusion on a large scale; to an Elizabethan it mean the cosmic anarchy before creation and the wholesale dissolution that would result if the pressure of Providence relaxed and allowed the law of nature to cease functioning. Othello's "chaos is come again" or Ulysses's "thi…
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Episode 164: Shakespeare's "Othello", Acts 1 & 2
21 maart 2023 · 1 uur 39 min
This week on The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks, we have our second episode covering Shakespeare's play Othello. Today's episode is a discussion of Acts 1 and 2. Our hosts talk about the problem of Iago's antagonism toward Othello, the way in which Shakespeare asks "what if?" to develop new treatments of old stories, the question of Othello's ethnicity, Shakespeare's method of building up layers of disorder in the story, the theme of people out of harmony with the community, plus so much more! Lees meer
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up April 12-15, 2023, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
It has only been for a short time, a recent and disturbed time of transition, that each writer has been expected to write a new theory of all things or draw a new wild map of the world. The old writers were content to write of the old world, but to write of it with an imaginative freshness which made it in each case look like a new world. The poets taught in a continuous tradition and were not in the least ashamed of being traditional. Each taught in an individual way with a perpetual slight novelty, as Aristotle said, but they were not a series of separate lunatics looking at separate worlds. One poet did not provide a pair of spectacles by which it appeared that the grass was blue, or another poet lecture on optics to teach people to say that the grass was orange. They both had the far harder and more heroic task of teaching people to feel that the grass is green. And because they continue their heroic task, the world, after every epoch of doubt and despair, always grows green again.
G. K. Chesterton
Our age was cultivated thus at length;
But what we gained in skill we lost in strength.
Our builders were with want of genius curst;
The second temple was not like the first.John Dryden
The atmospher…
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Episode 163: Introduction to Shakespeare's "Othello"
14 maart 2023 · 1 uur 20 min
On this episode of The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks, our hosts introduce their new series on Shakespeare's play Othello. They share some tips and strategies for those new to Shakespeare, both as independent readers and for reading along with children. Angelina also talks more specifically about how to approach reading a Shakespearean tragedy. Finally, our hosts respond to the idea that Shakespeare plays should be watched, not read. Join us back here next week to dive into the discussion of Othello! Lees meer
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up April 12-15, 2023, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
The devils come because the half-gods go,
But in the end the gods, the gods return.
Humbert Wolfe
I was rereading chapter 14 of Surprised by Joy, and there it was, the opening quote from George MacDonald: "The one principle of hell is – 'I am my own'."
Andrew Johnson
A convention is a form of freedom. That is the reality that the realists cannot get into their heads. A dramatic convention is not a constraint on the dramatist; it is a permission to the dramatist. It is a permit allowing him to depart from the routine of external reality, in order to express a more internal and intimate reality. . . .
But as Shakespeare had the liberty of a literary convention, he can make Macbeth say something that nobody in real life would say, but something that does express what somebody in real life would feel. It expresses such things as music expresses them; though nobody in those circumstances would recite that particular poem, any more than he would begin suddenly to play on the violin. But what the audience wants is the emotion expressed; and poetry can express it and commonplace conversation cannot. . . .
The realist is reduced to inarticulate grunts and half-apologetic oaths, like an apoplectic m…
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Episode 162: "Ion" – On Socratic Dialogue and Reading Plato
7 maart 2023 · 1 uur 34 min
Welcome to this week's episode of The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks. This week our hosts share their discussion of Plato's Ion. This episode serves as an introduction on how to read Plato as well as an opportunity to consider what Socratic dialogue is and is not. Thomas gives some background on Plato as a person as well as his writing of dialogues. Angelina shares her thoughts on why the term "Socratic method" as it is used today is not actually a good teaching technique. Lees meer
In talking about the text of Ion, Thomas explains what a "rhapsode" is and lets us know that this piece of dialogue is supposed to be humorous, rather satirical in nature. Another background topic related to the conversation is the ancient idea of atheism in contrast to our modern definition. To wrap up, Thomas gives a few suggestions for continuing your reading of Plato.
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up April 12-15, 2023, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
The job of a Christian parent is not to produce godly children. The job of the Christian parent is to be a godly parent.
Christopher Yuan
A few people have ventured to imitate Shakespeare's tragedy. But no audacious spirit has dreamed or dared to imitate Shakespeare's comedy. No one has made any real attempt to recover the loves and the laughter of Elizabethan England. The low dark arches, the low strong pillars upon which Shakespeare's temple rests we can all explore and handle. We can all get into his mere tragedy; we can all explore his dungeon and penetrate into his coal-cellar; but we stretch our hands and crane our necks in vain towards that height where the tall turrets of his levity are tossed towards the sky. Perhaps it is right that this should be so; properly understood, comedy is an even grander thing than tragedy.
G. K. Chesterton, from Il…
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Episode 161: The Literary Life of Lia Techand
28 februari 2023 · 1 uur 37 min
This week on The Literary Life podcast, we bring you another fun Literary Life of…episode. Angelina, Thomas, and Cindy's guest today is Lia Techand, our first international guest on the podcast. Lia, a German born in Kyrgyzstan, currently serving with her husband as a missionary in Australia, along with their two book-loving children. We start off the interview hearing Lia tell about her young life and how she started loving English literature. She talks about her parents and grandparents' reading lives and the legacy of loving books that they left for her. She also shares how literary analysis and symbolism teaching in high school and college challenged her enjoyment of literature. Lia tells about how she stopped reading in university because she was too busy but then started reading again once she became a mother. Lees meer
Lia and Angelina share some examples of crazy literary theory that is taught in university programs, and how that confused and discouraged Lia so much. She also tells the story of finding The Literary Life podcast and taking classes with Angelina. They wrap up the conversation with some encouragement for readers looking for the meaning in the stories they read.
Join us next time for a discussion of Plato's Ion, led by Mr. Banks!
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up April 12-15, 2023, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
A story is a work of art. Its greatest use to the child is in the everlasting appeal of beauty by which the soul of man is constantly pricked to new hungers, quickened to new perceptions, and so given desire to grow…
The storyteller…has, in short, accomplished the one greatest aim of story-telling,–to enlarge and enrich the child's spiritual experience, and stimulate healthy reaction upon it.
Of course this result cannot be seen and proved as easily and early as can the apprehension of a fact. The …
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Episode 160: Aristotle's "Poetics" Part 2
21 februari 2023 · 1 uur 11 min
Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas are back on The Literary Life Podcast today with another discussion in our series on Aristotle's Poetics. Sharing their commonplace quotes leads into the conversation about why reading this work still matters to our understanding of how to read literature. Thomas and Angelina talk about the problem of literary critics who claim Shakespeare violates Aristotle's "rules" for plays. Cindy's question as to why we read the ancients is another topic of this conversation. Lees meer
Join us next time when we will have another Literary Life of... guest interview. Then we will be back the next week with a discussion of Plato's Ion.
Thomas will be teaching a webinar on Jean Jacques Rousseau on February 24th. You can learn more and register at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up in mid-April, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Episodes Mentioned Today:
Antigone Series Introduction
The Trojan Women Series Introduction
Why Read Pagan Myths
Why Read Fairy Tales
Commonplace Quotes:
The best way to get to know the world is to live in it. The next best is to break your leg and read Boswell's "Life of Johnson" in bed.
Christopher Hollis, from Dr. Johnson
Sensible parents are often distressed at this want of conscience in children; but they are not greatly at fault; the mature conscience demands to be backed up by the mature intellect, and the children have neither the one nor the other. Discussions of the kind should be put down; the children should not be encouraged to give their opinions on questions of right and wrong, and little books should not be put into their hands which pronounce authoritatively upon conduct.
Charlotte Mason, from Home Education
The Classical emphasis, established in Aristotle is esthetic ("hieratic") in the sense that it is focused on the thing made, and assumes an emotional balance or…
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Episode 159: Aristotle's "Poetics", Part 1
14 februari 2023 · 1 uur 48 min
On The Literary Life podcast this week, our hosts continue their series of discussions on Aristotle's Poetics. Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas share some pertinent commonplace quotations to open the episode, then dive into this week's text, beginning with Aristotle's definition of "tragedy." Thomas expands on the idea of catharsis, and Angelina outlines Aristotle's necessary elements of a story. Cindy shares her thoughts the distinction between poetry and history. They talk about the form and sequence of a story and why these are so important in Aristotle's view. In working out the definition of terms, our hosts also correct some common and crucial misconceptions. Lees meer
Thomas will be teaching a webinar on Jean Jacques Rousseau on February 24th. You can learn more and register at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up in mid-April, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
He was happier using the knife than in trying to save the limb.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, from "In the Children's Hospital"
Here the term moral imagination refers very loosely to a way of looking at life, or as Vigen Guroian puts it, "the process by which the self makes metaphors out of images given by experience, which it then employs to find and suppose moral correspondences in experience."
With this in mind, it makes sense to regard reading stories aloud to one's children the archetypal act of the trivium. One is simultaneously remembering a tradition, revealing the Logos, and by voice inflection and gesture dramatizing a story to communicate the meaning heart to heart.
Stratford Caldecott, from Beauty in the Word
It is true that "our way" of misreading the romances is very recent. In the nineteenth centure, even in the Edwardian period, a serious response to the ferlies seems to have been easy and almost universal. Even now it is common among the…
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Episode 158: Introduction to Aristotle's "Poetics"
7 februari 2023 · 1 uur 19 min
On this episode of The Literary Life podcast, our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks open a new series of discussions about Aristotle's work on story, Poetics. After sharing this week's commonplace quotes, Thomas gives us some background on Aristotle and his time. Angelina points out the importance of differentiating between Aristotle's work Rhetoric and Poetics and how they are applied. She and Thomas also talk about the problem of translating the Greek word "mimesis." They discuss Aristotle's thoughts on the characters in comedy and tragedy, as well as the complex concept of "arete." Lees meer
Thomas will be teaching a webinar on Jean Jacques Rousseau on February 24th. You can learn more and register at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Register now for our 5th Annual Literary Life Online Conference coming up in mid-April, Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time. Get all the details and sign up today at houseofhumaneletters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
The supreme imaginative literature of the world is a survival of the fittest ink blots of the ages, and nothing reveals a man with more precision than his reaction to it.
The men who have loved Shakespeare best and have kept him most alive have all been Cadwals.
Harold Goddard
When we are young we all think we are going to remake the world…But in the end it is the world which remakes most of us.
Bruce Marshall
It is astonishing how little attention critics have paid to Story considered in itself. Granted the story, the style in which it should be told, the order in which it should be disposed, and (above all) the delineation of the characters, have been abundantly discussed. But the Story itself, the series of imagined events, is nearly always passed over in silence, or else treated exclusively as affording opportunities for the delineations of character. There are indeed three notable exceptions. Aristotle in the Poetics constructed a theory of Greek tragedy which puts Story in the centre and releg…
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Episode 157: The "Best of" Series – The Literary Life of Thomas Banks, Ep. 78
31 januari 2023 · 1 uur 36 min
This week on the podcast, we bring you another of our "Best of The Literary Life Podcast" episode replays. On today's episode we delve into the literary life of the mysterious Mr. Banks. Lees meer
Cindy begins the interview asking Thomas about his family background and the influence of his parents on his own reading life. He shares about many of the books he loved in childhood and how that shaped his tastes in literature. He also talks about how he approached school learning as opposed to his personal reading. Angelina asks Thomas to tell about how he fell in love with poetry and how he ended up going to college even though that was not his original goal. He also shares more about his reading as an adult, as well as his habit of commonplacing quotations.
Commonplace Quotes:
…but I was glad to sing again too; it had been a greater loss that I realized in that particular wintering which saw the waning of my voice. It wasn't about the vanity of being able to trill out a fine song; it was about the joy of singing for its own sake.
Katherine May
Michael explains to Adam in the last book of Milton's Paradise Lost, that tyranny exists in human society because every individual in such a society is a tyrant within himself, or at least is if he conforms acceptably to his social surroundings.
Northrup Frye
The Gods that are wiser than Learning
But kinder than Life have made sure
No mortal may boast in the morning
That even will find him secure.
from "A Rector's Memory" by Rudyard Kipling
Time, Real and Imaginary
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
On the wide level of a mountain's head,
(I knew not where, but 'twas some faery place)
Their pinions, ostrich-like, for sails out-spread,
Two lovely children run an endless race,
A sister and a brother !
This far outstripp'd the other ;
Yet ever runs she with reverted face,
And looks and listens for the boy behind :
For he, alas! is blind!
O'er rough and smooth with even step he passed,
And knows not whether he be first or last.Book Li…
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Episode 156: The "Best of" Series – Why Read Fairy Tales, Ep. 70
24 januari 2023 · 1 uur 31 min
Welcome to another episode in our "Best of The Literary Life Podcast" series. Today on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins tackle the topic of fairy stories, discussing the what, why and how of reading them. Angelina shares the distinctive characteristics of fairy stories in contrast to other types of stories, such as myths. They deal with the question of whether fairy tales are "escapist", the influence of the Grimm brothers scholarly work on interpreting fairy stories, and allowing the story to unveil its deeper truths without forcing meaning onto it. Lees meer
Angelina gives an illustration of how to see the gospel messages in fairy tales by talking us through the story of Sleeping Beauty. She refutes the ideas that fairy tales are about human romance or are misogynistic. She also highlights some of the Enlightenment and Puritan responses to fairy tales that still linger with us today. Cindy and Angelina also discuss some common concerns such as the magical, weird, or scary aspects of fairy tales. Angelina also makes a distinction between folk tales, literary fairy tales, and cautionary tales.
Other Literary Life series openers referenced in this episode:
Episode 20: An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis
Episode 71: Phantastes by George MacDonald
Episode 30: The Literary Life of Caitlin Beauchamp
Commonplace Quotes:
After a certain kind of sherry party, where there have been cataracts of culture but never on word or one glance that suggested a real enjoyment of any art, any person, or any natural object, my heart warms to the schoolboy on the bus who is reading Fantasy and Science Fiction rapt and oblivious of all the world beside.
C. S. Lewis
Children are not deceived by fairy tales. They are often and gravely deceived by school stories. Adults are not deceived by science fiction. They can be deceived by stories in women's magazines.
C. S. Lewis
Both fairy stories and realistic stories engage in wish fulfillment, but it is actual…
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Episode 155: The "Best of" Series – The Literary Life of Wendi Capehart, Ep. 69
17 januari 2023 · 1 uur 36 min
Today on The Literary Life Podcast, we have another installment in our "Best of The Literary Life Podcast series. This week's replay is a special chat our hosts Angelina and Cindy had with Wendi Capehart. Wendi passed away in 2022, and this episode is in honor of her memory. Wendi was an adventurous mom of many and lived throughout Asia for many years. She spent the last several years enjoying the life of an at-home librarian, caring for her disabled daughter, and cherishing time with her 15 grandchildren. She also served on the AmblesideOnline Advisory board since its founding. Lees meer
Angelina starts off the conversation asking Wendi about her reading life beginning with her childhood memories of reading. Wendi talks a little about how books helped her survive and heal from the trauma of living in an abusive situation. They also discuss what the difference was for Wendi in leisurely reading and reading for school. Wendi shares some of the reasons she began homeschooling her own children, as well, and how she kept reading voraciously even after she became a mother.
Angelina and Wendi talk about the brain and changing your reading habits to digest and enjoy more challenging books. Wendi shares how she built a library while one a military budget and moving frequently. They talked about too many things to cover in this summary, but you can scroll down for the many book titles mentioned in this episode!
Commonplace Quotes:
"We're all fools," said Clemens, "all the time. It's just we're a different kind each day. We think, I'm not a fool today. I've learned my lesson. I was a fool yesterday but not this morning. Then tomorrow we find out that, yes, we were a fool today too. I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we're not perfect and live accordingly."
Ray Bradbury
Where science does not teach a child to wonder and admire it has perhaps no educative value.
Charlotte Mason
Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth, a myth wor…
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Episode 154: The "Best of" Series – What Is the Literary Life?, Ep. 1
10 januari 2023 · 41 min
Welcome to this episode in our "Best of The Literary Life Podcast" series, this time replaying our very first episode! In this inaugural episode, Cindy and Angelina introduce the podcast and what they mean when they talk about having a "literary life." Each of them share how stories have shaped their personal lives, as well as how they believe stories have the power to shape culture. Lees meer
You can find and listen to the other 3 introductory episodes of The Literary Life mentioned in this replay at the links below-
Episode 2: The Interview Episode
Episode 3: The Importance of Detective Fiction
Episode 4: Gaudy Night, Ch. 1-3
Although the online conference mentioned at the end of this episode has long since come and gone, you can still purchase the replay at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.
Commonplace Quotes:
The first reading of some literary work is often, to the literary, an experience so momentous that only experiences of love, religion, or bereavement can furnish a standard of comparison. Their whole consciousness is changed. They have become what they were not before.
C. S. Lewis
The storyteller is one speaking out of memory, out of more than memory, speaking out of a trust left to the memory of the one speaking.
Padraic Colum
The Truisms
by Louis MacNeice
His father gave him a box of truisms
Shaped like a coffin, then his father died;
The truisms remained on the mantlepiece
As wooden as the play box they had been packed in
Or that his father skulked inside.Then he left home, left the truisms behind him
Still on the mantlepiece, met love, met war,
Sordor, disappointment, defeat, betrayal,
Till through disbeliefs he arrived at a house
He could not remember seeing before.And he walked straight in; it was where he had come from
And something told him the way to behave.
He raised his hand and blessed his home;
The truisms flew and perched on his shoulders
And a tall tree sprouted from his father's grave.Book List:
An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis
T…
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Episode 153: Our Literary Lives of 2022
29 december 2022 · 1 uur 32 min
On The Literary Life podcast today, our hosts look back on their reading lives over the past year. Angelina, Cindy and Thomas each share a commonplace quote, then they each share a little about how they approach reading in a way that fits with the demands of their busy lives. Each of our hosts talks about their literary surprises, their most outstanding reads of the year, disappointing books they read, and their personal favorite podcast books from 2022. Angelina also reiterates why reading rightly is so important to us all! Lees meer
Don't forget to join us for the 2023 Reading Challenge! Get your books and Bingo cards ready!
Commonplace Quotes:
A good story isn't told to make a point. A good story reflects the World God created. The point makes itself.
Timothy Rollins
"Blessed be Pain and Torment and every torture of the Body … Blessed be Plague and Pestilence and the Illness of Nations….
"Blessed be all Loss and the Failure of Friends and the Sacrifice of Love….
"Blessed be the Destruction of all Possessions, the Ruin of all Property, Fine Cities, and Great Palaces….
"Blessed be the Disappointment of all Ambitions….
"Blessed be all Failure and the ruin of every Earthly Hope….
"Blessed be all Sorrows, Torments, Hardships, Endurances that demand Courage….
"Blessed be these things–for of these things cometh the making of a Man…."
Hugh Walpole
I will not walk with your progressive apes,
erect and sapient. Before them gapes
the dark abyss to which their progress tends –
if by God's mercy progress ever ends,
and does not ceaselessly revolve the same
unfruitful course with changing of a name.
I will not treat your dusty path and flat,
denoting this and that by this and chat,
your world immutable wherein no part
the little maker has with maker's art.
I bow not yet before the Iron Crown,
nor cast my own small golden sceptre down.J. R. R. Tolkien, from "Mythopoeia"
A Selection from "The Secular Masque"
by John Dryden
All, all of a piece throughout; Thy chase had a…
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Episode 152: Dracula At the Movies
20 december 2022 · 1 uur 51 min
On The Literary Life podcast this week, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas are joined by Atlee Northmore to talk about film adaptations of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Atlee guides us through the timeline of Dracula film adaptations and, together with our hosts, talks about why these have fallen short of the book and how they have distorted people's view of this story. Lees meer
Head over to the HouseofHumaneLetters.com to get in on their sales through the end of 2022.
Check out the sales on past online conferences this Christmas over at MorningTimeforMoms.com.
Find Atlee's list of Movies and Their Literary Roots in pdf form here. You can also view an infographic of his Dracula film adaptation timeline here.
Commonplace Quotes:
The best thing you can do for your fellow, next to rousing his conscience, is not to give him things to think about, but to wake things up that are in him; or say, to make him think things for himself.
George MacDonald, as quoted in A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War
With all his passion for art he was not inclined to glorify the artist or to conceive of him as a superman producing masterpieces in his lonely pride. He thought of him rather as a workman who gave more than was asked from him from love of his work.
Arthur Clotton-Brock
Descartes did not begin with memory, with 'Grammar': he went straight to Thinking before going through Remembering.
Stratford Caldecott
The cinematic Dracula, however, is generally bereft of metaphysical gravity. It is his seductive humanity that fascinates. Close examination of the cinematic Dracula reveals a gradual stripping away of his metaphysical attributes and a progressive tendency to humanize him, until, at the end of this evolution, he is transformed into a postmodern tragic antihero in revolt against the injustice of the Christian God.
Jack Trotter, "The Cinematic Dracula: From Nosferatu to Bram Stoker's Dracula
Hamlet's Advice to the Players
by William Shakespeare
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc…