The Literary Life Podcast

Today on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks are here to offer some helpful ideas for reading Shakespeare plays and how to approach the Bard. They start off sharing their own stories of first being exposed to Shakespeare. Next, Thomas and Angelina address the idea that Shakespeare is too high-brow for the ordinary reader. Angelina also gives her hot take on whether you should watch or read a Shakespeare play first. She also tells some stories about reading the Bard with her children and students. Some other helpful topics they cover are the different types of plays and their forms, the cosmology behind the plays, and potential problems with some modern interpretations of Shakespearean drama. 
Please visit our website to view the full show notes for this episode with links to previous episodes we have done on Shakespeare, as well as the books mentioned as resources in this discussion: https://theliterary.life/318. 
Join us back again here next week when we begin our series covering Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë!
You can check out all the latest offerings of mini-classes and webinars, both upcoming and recorded in the past, at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.

This week on The Literary Life podcast, we are excited to bring back a special episode from the vault: The Literary Life of Charlotte Mason! Along with Angelina, Thomas, and Cindy, we also have Donna-Jean Breckenridge and Karen Glass of the AmblesideOnline Advisory. They start the conversation by sharing who Charlotte Mason was and what her background was. 
Karen also talks about how and why Mason developed her practices and philosophy and her educational foundation, the PNEU. Donna-Jean mentions the interesting ephemera belonging to Charlotte Mason housed at the Armitt Museum in Ambleside. Finally, the talk turns to how widely Miss Mason read and how important books were to her throughout her whole life.
You can check out all the latest offerings of mini-classes and webinars, both upcoming and recorded in the past, at HouseofHumaneLetters.com. Registration is also opening on a rolling basis for Year-Long Classes over the next several weeks, so pop over there now to see what is coming up!
Find the full show notes for this episode at https://theliterary.life/317 for all the book links, poem, and commonplace quotes!

On The Literary Life podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas are back with this second episode on the play Don Juan by Moliere. After sharing their commonplace quotes for this week, Thomas kicks off the discussion of the play with a definition of the farce and how it applies to this play. They share more notable passages of Don Juan as they highlight related literature and stories from across Europe, the archetypes and stock characters represented by Sganarelle, and the value of the comedic form. They also talk about other works that were influenced by this play.
Don't forget to check out the complete show notes for this episode at https://theliterary.life/316.

Today on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina and Thomas begin a new series discussing Moliere's farcical play Don Juan. They open the discussion with some background on Moliere's plays in general, as well as other drama of this time period, then the origins of the story of Don Juan itself. After this introduction, Thomas and Angelina read some of the play and discuss some of the key characters and ideas presented in the opening acts.
If you missed this year's annual Literary Life Online Conference, "The Letter Killeth, but the Spirit Quickeneth: Reading Like a Human", you can still purchase the recordings at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.
Don't forget that you can find the full show notes for this episode at https://theliterary.life/315.

On this "Best of The Literary Life" episode from the vault, our hosts discuss their favorite poems and poets. Cindy starts off by sharing the early influences on her developing a love of poetry. Thomas also shares about his mother reading poetry to him as a child and the poetry that made an impression on him as a child. Angelina talks about coming to poetry later in life and how she finally came to love it through learning about the metaphysical poets.
Cindy and Thomas talk about the powerful effect of reading and reciting poetry in meter. Thomas also brings up the potential of hymn texts as beautiful, high-ranking poetry. From classic to modern, they share many poems and passages from their most beloved poetry, making this a soothing, lyrical episode. If you want to learn more, check out Thomas' webinar How to Love Poetry in addition to the Well Read Poem podcast archives.
For the full show notes for this episode, please visit https://theliterary.life/314.