Ancient Chinese Poetry: This show features the work of two poets. Do they express concerns many of us think about in the 21st century? Do they suggest how to adjust certain of our attitudes? All the poems are from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, translated by Arthur Waley (Knopf, 1919). (Many poems by these same authors may be found in a variety of translations.) T'ao Ch'ien (362-427): "Returning to the Fields," "Moving House," "In the quiet of the morning I heard a knock at my door," "Reading the Book of Hills and Seas." Po-Chu-I (772-846): "The Letter," "Being Visited by a Friend During Illness," "A Dream of Mountaineering." The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).
"Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass": Though Frederick Douglass grew up not knowing his exact birthdate and even uncertain just how old he was, historians...
“Meta-Verse”: The four poems on this episode make a virtue out of being self-conscious. Each poem comments on the very poem we’re reading. The...
"Posing Questions": "Who hangs a birdhouse from a sapling?" How would you answer that question? One poem featured on today's episode places that question...