Introductory note on Homer (Volume 22, Harvard Classics)
Aug 09, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 686
Unfavorable winds sent by angry gods blew the ships of Odysseus far off their course. The sailors were cast upon a remote island, governed by an enchantress where, for their coarse manners, they were put under a magic spell. (Volume 22, Harvard Classics)
Aug 09, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 685
Introductory note on Socrates and Plato (Volume 2, Harvard Classics)
Aug 08, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 684
The death sentence of Socrates could not be executed until the return of the sacred ship from Delos. One day his friends learned that the ship had returned. They hastened to the prison to listen to the last words of Athens' sage. (Volume 2, Harvard Classics)
Aug 08, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 683
Introductory note on Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Wikipedia)
Aug 07, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 682
"For I dipt into the future – saw the nation's airy navies grappling in the central blue." We are amazed at the accuracy of Tennyson's prediction. But he also foretells "the federation of the world" – yet to be fulfilled. (Volume 42, Harvard Classics) Alfred Lord Tennyson born Aug. 6, 1809.
Aug 07, 2021•14 min•Season 1Ep. 681
Introductory note on Robert Burns (Volume 6, Harvard Classics)
Aug 06, 2021•8 min•Season 1Ep. 680
"Cotter's Saturday Night" for generations to come will remain the choicest picture of Scotch home life. Into this poem Burns instills the sense of all-pervading peace and happiness that comes at the end of a well-spent day. (Volume 6, Harvard Classics) Robert Burns married Jean Armour, Aug. 5, 1788.
Aug 06, 2021•10 min•Ep. 679
Introductory note on Hans Christian Andersen (Volume 17, Harvard Classics)
Aug 05, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 678
Hans Christian Andersen had an extraordinary capacity for amusing children. Were he living to-day he might be in great demand as a radio bedtime story man. (Volume 17, Harvard Classics) H. C. Andersen died Aug. 4, 1875.
Aug 05, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 677
Introductory note on Virgil (Volume 13, Harvard Classics)
Aug 04, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 676
They battered down the palace gates and ravaged with fire and sword the chambers of King Priam's hundred wives. Through halls resounding with shrieks of terror, Priam and his household fled to sanctuary. (Volume 13, Harvard Classics)
Aug 04, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 675
Introductory note on William Drummond (Wikipedia)
Aug 03, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 674
"Here is the pleasant place - and nothing wanting is, save She, alas!" How often we too are faced with like adversity. So sings Drummond - a master songster and composer. (Volume 40, Harvard Classics)
Aug 03, 2021•8 min•Season 1Ep. 673
Introductory note on John Calvin (Wikipedia)
Aug 02, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 672
Steadfast allegiance to duty, simple living and adherence to plain, honest, homely doctrines are Calvin's principles. Are not these same old-fashioned truths followed to-day? (Volume 39, Harvard Classics) Calvin issues "Dedication," Aug. 1, 1536.
Aug 02, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 671
Introductory note on Daniel Defoe (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)
Aug 01, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 670
Lack of education, writes Defoe, makes a woman "turbulent, clamorous, noisy – " Defoe defied his generation and preached equal education for women. To-day we have co-education, but have we the benefits Defoe predicted? (Volume 27, Harvard Classics) Defoe pilloried for defiance of public opinion, July 31, 1703.
Aug 01, 2021•8 min•Season 1Ep. 669
Introductory note on Sir Humphrey Gilbert (Volume 33, Harvard Classics)
Jul 31, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 668
When the whole coast of America north of Florida was free to the first comer, Sir Humphrey Gilbert naively chose to settle on the rugged shores of Newfoundland. Read the glowing account of his great adventure "to plant Christian inhabitants in places convenient." (Volume 33, Harvard Classics) Gilbert lands at Newfoundland near St. John's, July 30, 1583.
Jul 31, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 667
Introductory note on Ralph Waldo Emerson (Volume 5, Harvard Classics)
Jul 30, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 666
Stonehenge, that group of huge, rudely architectural stones on a vast plain in England, was erected no man knows when, nor why, nor how. Emerson, America's greatest thinker, visited this monument and was amazed at the "uncanny stones." (Volume 5, Harvard Classics)
Jul 30, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 665
Introductory note on Abraham Cowley (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)
Jul 29, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 664
Cowley portrays the ideal life – that of a farmer, and blazons it forth in heraldry. "A plow in a field arable" – to him, the most honorable of all emblems. (Volume 27, Harvard Classics) Abraham Cowley died July 28, 1667.
Jul 29, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 663
Introductory note on Joseph Lister (Volume 38, Harvard Classics)
Jul 28, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 662
The use of antiseptics in surgery is new. Hardly more than a half century ago surgeons operated in frock coats. Lord Lister, surgeon to Queen Victoria, was among the first to advocate scrupulous cleanliness in dressing wounds. (Volume 38, Harvard Classics) Lister publishes paper on antiseptic treatment, July 27, 1867.
Jul 28, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 661
Introductory note on Thomas à Kempis (Volume 7, Harvard Classics)
Jul 27, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 660
While Europe was shaken with wars, Thomas à Kempis lived in happy seclusion in his convent. His writings convincingly reflect the serenity and happiness of a man who has found peace – a peace that surpasses all understanding. (Volume 7, Harvard Classics) Thomas à Kempis died July 26, 1471.
Jul 27, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 659
Introductory note on Brynhild (Wikipedia)
Jul 26, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 658
Brynhild, Woden's daughter, carried the dead heroes to Valhalla where they could feast and fight without dying; until a sin divested her of divinity, and she fell in love with Sigurd. (Volume 49, Harvard Classics)
Jul 26, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 657