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George Benson song

And not a drop of Pushkin

This is outstanding . Really enjoyed this!

Well done, man. Carry the fire. 🔥

American Rennaissance literature is my jam. Thanks for the video.

Could not have picked a better person to begin close reading prose. Emerson's literary style quite literally changed my life; my entire perspective on existence was transformed, and I felt as though he spoke to me with practically every word he penned. He was a tremendous writer and the father of American literature.

So, I asked ChatGPT to create a dialogue between Dante and Milton over their portrayal of Hell, but it was predictable. My second prompt was for Milton to prepare a defense against the Spanish Inquisition based on three parameters. I think the results were fairly interesting. Esteemed Inquisitors, I stand before you, not as a heretic, but as a seeker of truth and a voice of reason. Your accusations weigh heavily upon me-charges of heresy for my theological views, for my sympathies towards Satan, and for my steadfast commitment to republicanism. Allow me to address each of these points with clarity and conviction. Firstly, regarding my theological beliefs, I contend that the essence of faith lies not in blind adherence but in the rigorous pursuit of understanding. In Paradise Lost, I sought to explore the complexities of divine justice and free will, illuminating the moral choices faced by humanity. The character of Satan is not an endorsement of evil; rather, he embodies the profound struggle for autonomy and the human condition itself. It is through his rebellion that I illustrate the peril of tyranny-be it celestial or terrestrial. To empathize with such a character is not to condone his actions, but to recognize the weight of our own choices. Your concern over my sympathies for Satan reveals a misunderstanding of my intent. I present not a champion of rebellion, but a tragic figure-a cautionary tale of ambition unchecked by virtue. My goal is to evoke reflection on the nature of freedom, the burdens of power, and the moral dilemmas we face. In a world where tyranny reigns, I challenge you: is it not the duty of every individual to question authority, even that of the divine? Now, regarding my republicanism, I assert that a government must reflect the will of the people and uphold their rights. My belief in the sovereignty of the individual is not a rejection of God’s order but an affirmation of the divine gift of reason. In a time where oppression cloaks itself in the guise of divine right, I advocate for a society founded on justice and mutual respect. To advocate for a republic is to align with the very principles of liberty that the Gospel espouses. In conclusion, I urge you to reconsider your stance. My writings are not heretical but rather a testament to the power of inquiry and the pursuit of a more profound understanding of our existence. Let us engage in dialogue, not persecution, for it is through discourse that we may uncover greater truths and foster a world that reflects our highest ideals. Thank you.

Thanks Adam, always appreciated.

I love Emerson’s “Nature.” You can see something of all of Emerson’s later works there in fragments. “Nature” + an early lecture “The Method of Nature” *are* the young Emerson. It is foolish to call his revelation either philosophical or psychological or spiritual or really to use any conventional name for it. Like all true and profound revelations, it is new. It might be called _Emersonian;_ it might be called _American._ To give it any other label would be to say too little, would be to say too much. That first paragraph and the whole invocation which is the preface are extraordinary. They are calls to fresh life, to the reality and vitality of the present.

❤❤

OMG! You are a man after my heart Mr Walker. I absolutely adore Emerson's writing. This will be a treat indeed. Thank you so much for making this video.

More prose please.

You’re an idiot

This was wonderful indeed! Would love to see more prose content on the channel.

thank you very much

It is the infusion of the tears into the instrument that creates a synthesis and incarnates the lyre with her grief. This shedding of tears (shedding of sacrificial blood into the wood of the cross) is what activates the lyre and causes it to express her yearning for Drew. Perhaps he will hear the music of her heart if he cannot see it when he's with her.

Emerson thought Whitman would become the Poet he described in his essay or at least had the most potential. And as the former addressed his new discovery in a letter used in the appendix to his second edition of LOG, I too, greet you at the beginning of a great career. I have a great joy in your channel.

Excellent! Yes! Instant subscribe on recommend! More please!

One could read slowly enough for it to be like living it. That could even mean pausing at full stops and taking some time to mentally and emotionally experience what was just read before moving on. In a sense, become whichever character is speaking or spoken of.

I have read the wordsworth edition of the unabridged Les Miserables four times in full, and the first several 100 pages seven times. No matter what I read, even if it's fiction, I underline and put in notes. A book not marked in is a book not read or maybe it wasn't worth reading because it didn't inspire a response from the reader. When I read the sections which I have read seven times, each time is read more slowly. I read more slowly because each time it's more beautiful, or rather, I discover more of the beautiful is already there. I do the same thing with my Bible. And a few other books. Any book that I read more than once is going to be read more slowly. And any book I read 3, 4, or 5 times or more is going to be read more slowly each time With new insights written into the margins. In addition, I find beauty in the printed word on a page. I had this appreciation back in elementary school. There's something beautiful about it, and some words in themselves are beautiful even when they stand alone. People cannot appreciate this if they're trying to set a record on how many books they can read, or they're competing with some other speed reader. It's not worth it. I'd rather read one book slowly and more slowly, again and again, and find truth, beauty, and goodness more deeply each time, which I do with Les Misérables in the first sections, than read multiple books a year for the rest of my life. Of course, that's why I read the Bible over and over and over more slowly. I agree also with reading out loud. I also watch instructional videos on how to speak more slowly, more clearly, even a little more deeply, how to remove Umms and likes, etc., and to remove upspeaking. The sound of words spoken well is incredibly beautiful. That means people speaking on the radio may be efficient, but there's nothing beautiful about it except that they have a well-trained voice that sometimes I covet.

If this the author who Neville Goddard refers to ?

New American standard has more books in it than King James.

Thanks man, great job

Your thinking on Poetry captured my ear several videos ago. Thanks for the work.

Hey can you do Sonnet 29 as well please

Obviously you do not understand the Bible. It is filled with Symbolism, a Universal Symbolism that remains today. Adam or male aspect is the conciousness mind. Eve or the female aspect is the subconsious mind. Whatever the man tells her she will do his will no matter what. We are all Imagination. We agreed to fall, and we dream in concert, as the Bible states we are Gods the Elohim. There was no fall as man believes, it was a deliberate act on our part. We became a Gods eating of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. If you understood the symbolism you would know that Satan simply means the body of doubt. To sin means to miss the mark.. that is all. We are all experiencing this world of death and decay, that is what "this world" is. Until you awaken to your True Self which is God (your own wonderful human Imagination) you will remain as man of earth. Blake knew this. All of his writings were directly written in allegory and symbolism just as the Bible. He Experienced the Law and the Promise. The intellect cannot grasp Spiritual things. It's impossible.

I found a short poem of Milton's called "On the Inventor of Gunpowder" - and in it Milton compares the creation of gunpowder to stealing a power of force from Jove's thunderbolt. So when the Devils create gunpowder in book VI, what they might be creating is a blasphemous distortion of God's own power. Just a thought.

I wish that copy of Bewoulf had a key to the old text.

Ignoring Gary Snyder and Jim Harrison is a big mistake.

Hi Adam! I’m glad I ran across this!

I as a student of literature found this poem elusive in 2004, it was so hard to understand but now that I'm teaching it, I'm in love with how Prufrock voices his inability to action and juxtaposes action with inaction through words that linger and break all along the poem. It really is his voice that he calls a confessional song here. Thank you for the analysis, it was enlightening.

You did a good job I want to read the poem peace

"Harold Bloom doesn't close read" that's quite the hot take.

The word verse as a metaphor brings to mind the Veronese Riddle, an early example of written Italian, which plays on the idea of ploughing as a metaphor: "Se pareba boves alba pratalia araba albo versorio teneba negro semen seminaba" (He led oxen in front of him He ploughed white fields He held a white plough He sowed a black seed)

Very interesting, very helpful. Many thanks 👍 ❤

this is amazing for my AP Lit class

I love you now 🐻🌱

Surprised there’s nothing on Pindar Victory Odes

Im watching this video now. Well put together. Thank You

i've never been more attracted to a man before. especially when you held up all those books to the camera. hello and goodnight sir🫡

Well, I learned the preposition "maugre" from Book III, which was a good one though it is hard to top the macabre excellence of the previous book. I guess the scene with the Son, rather than any other personage in heaven, volunteering to pay the penalty for human disobedience was meant to parallel the way it was Satan alone who volunteered to travel to earth. It seems like the aesthetic choice, parallelism, trumped the theological for Milton here.

Love you from Pakistan. You have done a remarkable job....

I found it interesting what was different about this reading list, which comes from a very traditional institution in a different era, and my own experience studying a creative writing degree at university. I compiled this list for myself, but if anyone is interested, here's the poetry collections I read in 4 years (2020-2024) at Johns Hopkins University. I've left out any loose poems that we read, these are just the full works and collections. I've starred the titles in common with the 1983 Harvard list: **The Odyssey of Homer (Richmond Lattimore translation) Dante's Inferno (Durling translation, 14th cent.) Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (Claudia Rankine, 2004) Autobiography of Red (Anne Carson, 1999) Actual Air (David Berman, 1999) Versed (Rae Armantrout, 2009) **The Double Dream of Spring (John Ashbery, 1976) Of Being Dispersed (Simone White, 2016) The White Stones (J.H. Prynne, 1969) **The Faerie Queene (Edmund Spencer, 1596) **The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer, 14th cent.) The End of Beauty (Jorie Graham, 1999) **Paradise Lost (John Milton, 1667) **The Weary Blues (Langston Hughes, 1925)

I finished book two yesterday (impressively months and months behind schedule) and the lecture today. What impressed me was the graphic and shocking description of Sin, partly inspired by Ovid's Scylla ("In vain she offers from herself to run And drags about her what she strives to shun") and how much that terrifying vision could have influenced the horror fiction genre, especially the Lovecraftian branches of weird fiction and cosmic horror, as eventually realized in horror films like The Thing, Event Horizon and The Void. Milton's nightmares would stand up to the imaginings of the directors of those films.

Incredibly based list of books (and video)

Oh my god, how did I not find this earlier?

Mate, I love your stuff. 👍

this video taught me more in 20 minutes than GCSE eng lit did

I dont get it. Sound like a challenge for a writer but not something worth reading for yourself.

This is so great! Thank you 🙏