Best Stranded Baptist Podcasts (2024)

1
John Donne's "Divine Meditation 10: 'Death be not proud...'" 10:47

43m ago10:47

10:47

Today, Donne’s best-known poem, but maybe not his last word on death. Happy reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
John Donne's "Divine Meditation 7: 'At the round earth's imagined corners...'" 6:27

10m ago6:27

6:27

Today’s poem dramatizes Donne’s inner turmoil and conflicting desires, but is not without hope. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
John Donne's "Temple" 5:24

1h ago5:24

5:24

Today’s Holy Sonnet is the fourth in Donne’s underrated (if a poet as great as Donne can have underrated work) sonnet cycle, La Corona. The title translates to “crown” and the cycle’s opening line introduces the poems as a woven “crown of prayer and praise” offered to God, narrating and commenting upon significant events in the life of Jesus. Sonne…

1
John Donne's "Divine Meditation 1" 6:32

33m ago6:32

6:32

Today marks the beginning of a week of Donne’s “Holy Sonnets” (interpreted generously to also include selections from his sonnet cycle, “La Corona”). In this first sonnet, he establishes the themes––human weakness, self-doubt, terrestrial anguish, and divine transcendence and consolation––that will return throughout the series. Happy reading! Get f…

1
Scott Cairns' "Change Your Life" 10:48

3d ago10:48

10:48

Today, one of our favorite living poets asks questions about one of our favorite poems. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Thomas Merton's "The Quickening Of St. John The Baptist" 5:28

39m ago5:28

5:28

In today’s poem Thomas Merton, 20th-century author and mystic, comes to an understanding of his monastic vocation through a contemplation of John the Baptist’s prenatal gymnastics. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Ted Hughes' "The Thought-Fox" 7:02

40m ago7:02

7:02

Ted Hughes, one of the giants of twentieth-century British poetry, was born in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire. After serving in the Royal Air Force, Hughes attended Cambridge, where he studied archeology and anthropology and took a special interest in myths and legends. In 1956, he met and married the American poet Sylvia Plath, who encouraged him to submi…

1
Mark Strand's "The Prediction" 5:09

1d ago5:09

5:09

Mark Strand was born on Canada’s Prince Edward Island on April 11, 1934. He received a BA from Antioch College in Ohio in 1957 and attended Yale University, where he was awarded the Cook Prize and the Bergin Prize. After receiving his BFA degree in 1959, Strand spent a year studying at the University of Florence on a Fulbright fellowship. In 1962 h…

1
John Keats' "On the Sonnet" 7:11

3d ago7:11

7:11

Today’s poem is a meta-reflection on the constraints of poetic form that has something to say about all of life’s formal constraints. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Emily Dickinson's "Wild nights - Wild nights!" 8:48

2h ago8:48

8:48

Today’s poem–perfect for a Friday–gives us a less familiar (PG-13) Emily Dickinson, dreaming of letting her hair down. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" 7:45

2h ago7:45

7:45

Today’s poem is a classic staple with Literature teachers for its expressive metaphors; it is a classic staple with me because it’s such a cracking-good poem. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Langston Hughes' "Theme For English B" 7:25

34m ago7:25

7:25

Today’s poem captures one of the universal challenges of education: recognizing the distinctions and distances between all human souls, and then bridging them without erasing them. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" 6:13

2h ago6:13

6:13

As the school year begins, today’s poem goes out to all of those everyday saints performing the unseen and unsung acts of love that make life possible for rest of us! Born Asa Bundy Sheffey on August 4, 1913, Robert Hayden was raised in the Detroit neighborhood Paradise Valley. He had an emotionally tumultuous childhood and lived, at times, with hi…

1
Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" 6:04

1h ago6:04

6:04

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, sometimes a portrait of your last wife who died under suspicious circumstances is as good as a confession. Happy(?) reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Even More Limericks 2:14

1h ago2:14

2:14

Hopefully five days of limericks has made this week a little lighter and a little brighter. See you next week for more of our regularly programming. Till then, happy reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
More Limericks 2:16

16h ago2:16

2:16

Today’s limericks are all about unexpected consequences. Happy reading. Children’s poet and educator Constance Levy earned degrees at Washington University and currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Known for its careful attention to external and internal rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, and assonance, Levy’s work frequently takes encounters with the …

1
Beard Limericks 2:36

22m ago2:36

2:36

Things are getting hairy. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Two "Practical" Limericks 1:44

10m ago1:44

1:44

While limericks can be plenty nonsensical, today’s are downright sensible–especially that of Leigh Mercer, famous for his mathematical wordplay and best known for creating the enterprising palindrome, “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!". Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe…

1
Edward Lear's "There was an Old Man of Thermopylæ" 4:48

19h ago4:48

4:48

It’s another weekly gimmerick here on the Daily Poem. Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughts…

1
Nazim Hikmet's "On Living" 11:56

19d ago11:56

11:56

Nâzim Hikmet was born on January 15, 1902, in Salonika, Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloníki, Greece), where his father served in the Foreign Service. He was exposed to poetry at an early age through his artist mother and poet grandfather, and had his first poems published when he was seventeen. Raised in Istanbul, Hikmet left Allied-occupied Turkey af…

1
Billy Collins' "Forgetfulness" 5:46

5d ago5:46

5:46

Maybe you remember the experiences recounted in today’s poem—maybe you don’t. Happy reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
T. S. Eliot's "Old Deuteronomy" 5:20

6d ago5:20

5:20

T. S. Eliot is remembered as a great poet, but he is surpassingly underrated as a namer of cats. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Robert Penn Warren's "Bearded Oaks" 9:27

9d ago9:27

9:27

Warren (1905-1989) was born in Kentucky and educated at Vanderbilt University and the University of California, Berkeley. Though perhaps best known for his 1946 novel All the King’s Men, he was the author of over a dozen books of poetry in addition to his prose work. He is the only writer to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction (in 1947) and p…

1
Bruce Lansky's "Confession" 5:07

23d ago5:07

5:07

Bruce Lansky is an internationally known poet and anthologist. He has a passion for getting children excited about reading and writing poetry. Lansky’s poetry books—including A Bad Case of the Giggles (2013), Peter, Peter, Pizza-Eater (2006), Mary Had a Little Jam (2004), If Kids Ruled the School (2004), and Rolling in the Aisles (2004)—are among A…

1
Two by Ogden Nash 2:59

19d ago2:59

2:59

Today’s poems from Ogden Nash, “The Ant” and “The Ostrich,” are the perfect marriage of wit and attention. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Oliver Herford's "The Platypus" 6:14

1M ago6:14

6:14

Oliver Herford (2 December 1860 – 5 July 1935), regarded as “the American Oscar Wilde,” was an Anglo-American writer, artist, and illustrator known for his pithy bon mots and skewed sense of humor. His obituary in The New York Times nicely sums up his unique brilliance: "His wit…was too original at first to go down with the very delectable highly r…

1
Gerard Manley Hopkins' "As Kingfishers Catch Fire" 10:33

27d ago10:33

10:33

Today’s poem begins with humble beasts but wings its way to the loftiest mysteries of existence. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Margaret Wise Brown's "Wild Black Crows" 3:24

14d ago3:24

3:24

Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 – November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, including Goodnight Moon (1947) and The Runaway Bunny (1942), both illustrated by Clement Hurd. She has been called "the laureate of the nursery" for her achievements. Brown was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, the middle child of three …

1
Katherine Craster's "The Centipede's Dilemma" 5:27

18d ago5:27

5:27

Today’s poem, written in 1871, actually gave the name to the since-codified psychological phenomenon known as the “centipede effect” or “centipede syndrome.” Psychologist George Humphrey (for whom the condition is alternatively named “Humphrey’s Law”) said of the poem, "This is a most psychological rhyme. It contains a profound truth which is illus…

51
Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Morning, Midday, and Evening Sacrifice" 7:33

1M ago7:33

7:33

G. K. Chesterton wrote: “Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets. We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde.” Perhaps Hopkins was anticipating that sentiment in today’s poem. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.subst…

1
"The Lady of Shalott" Pt. 4 5:35

1M ago5:35

5:35

Today’s poem is the fourth and final section of Tennyson’s Arthurian ballad. I have been reading his 1842 version and (I think) the final stanza is where it differs most from the 1832 original. You can compare both below to see for yourself how Tennyson’s alteration ramps up the pathos. Happy reading! 1832 conclusion: They cross'd themselves, their…

1
"The Lady of Shalott" Pt. 3 3:45

1M ago3:45

3:45

Today we come to the turning point for the Lady of Shalott. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
"The Lady of Shalott" Pt. 2 2:36

24d ago2:36

2:36

In part two, the “Lady” sits, weaving, in a world of images but pines for the world of solid realities. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" Pt. 1 5:47

22d ago5:47

5:47

Today is the first of four in which we’ll wend our way through Tennyson’s tragic Arthurian ballad. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

51
John Hollander's "A Watched Pot" 9:35

1M ago9:35

9:35

Today’s poem is a shape poem dedicated to chefs, but (surprise?) it might be about more than cooking. John Hollander, one of contemporary poetry’s foremost poets, editors, and anthologists, grew up in New York City. He studied at Columbia University and Indiana University, and he was a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows of Harvard University. …

1
William Blake's "The Divine Image" 8:10

26d ago8:10

8:10

In today’s poem, from Songs of Innocence, we meet William Blake struggling to sort out his theological analogies. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
John Milton's "When I consider how my light is spent" 12:22

27d ago12:22

12:22

In today’s poem, also known as “Sonnet 19,” Milton offers a pious alternative to “raging” against the dying of the light. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "A Musical Instrument" 6:56

2M ago6:56

6:56

Today’s poem muses on the sweet and awful creation of the poet. Happy reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Ben Jonson's "Though I be young" 8:05

1M ago8:05

8:05

Today’s poem is a song from Ben Jonson’s final play, The Sad Shepherd (1641). Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Amy Clampitt's "The Godfather Returns to Color TV" 8:43

2M ago8:43

8:43

Just when you thought you were out, The Daily Poem pulls you back in–to poems about movies. Today’s charming and earnest poem imitates the medium it describes (film) by swapping memorable images and sensations for linear propositions. Happy reading. Amy Clampitt was born and raised in New Providence, Iowa. She studied first at Grinnell College in G…

1
Siegfried Sassoon's "Picture-Show" 5:17

2M ago5:17

5:17

Today’s poem–published in 1920–is one of the early intersections between poetry and cinema. Happy reading. Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) is best remembered for his angry and compassionate poems about World War I, which brought him public and critical acclaim. Avoiding the sentimentality and jingoism of many war poets, Sassoon wrote of the horror an…

1
Hart Crane's "Chaplinesque" 7:04

2M ago7:04

7:04

In today’s poem, written a century ago, cinema (and Charlie Chaplin) is already supplying metaphors for the work and experience of modern poets. Happy reading. Harold Hart Crane was born on July 21, 1899, in Garrettsville, Ohio, and began writing verse in his early teenage years. Though he never attended college, Crane read regularly on his own, di…

1
Joseph Stanton's "Edward Hopper's 'New York Movie'" 9:10

2M ago9:10

9:10

Today’s poem (from an art scholar and master of ekphrastic poetry) features another classic Hopper painting and a contemplative trip to the movies. Happy reading! Joseph Stanton’s books of poems include A Field Guide to the Wildlife of Suburban O‘ahu, Cardinal Points, Imaginary Museum: Poems on Art, and What the Kite Thinks, Moving Pictures, and Li…

1
Cornelius Eady's "Charlie Chaplin Impersonates a Poet" 9:34

2M ago9:34

9:34

This week The Daily Poem heads to the movies. Cornelius Eady is the founder of the poetry group Cave Canem and his published collections include Victims of the Latest Dance Craze (Omnation Press, 1986), winner of the Lamont Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets; The Gathering of My Name (Carnegie Mellon University Press,1991), nominated f…

1
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke's "America, I Sing You Back" 5:14

2M ago5:14

5:14

Today’s poem both responds to and carries on the work of Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes. Happy reading! Allison Adelle Hedge Coke has written seven books of poetry, one book of nonfiction, and a play. Following former fieldworker retraining in the mid-1980s, the much-decorated poet began her writing and teaching career. She now serves as distingu…

1
Two for the Fourth 5:38

2M ago5:38

5:38

Today’s (frequently-paired) poems form an antiphonal song between Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes on the complicated ideal of “being American.” Happy Independence Day and Happy Reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Grace Schulman's "American Solitude" 17:40

2M ago17:40

17:40

Today’s poem is lovely, dark, and deep. Loneliness, Americana, Edward Hopper, literary illusions, clams: it has it all. Happy reading! Poet and editor Grace Schulman (b. 1935) was born Grace Waldman in New York City, the only child of a Polish Jewish immigrant father and a seventh-generation American mother. She studied at Bard College and earned h…

1
John Ciardi's "Mummy Slept Late and Daddy Fixed Breakfast" 2:21

2M ago2:21

2:21

Today’s poem from John Ciardi goes out to all of the dads who can cook, all of the dads who can’t, all of the children who have endured the latter, and all of the moms who deserve to sleep late more often. Happy reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe…

1
Edgar Allan Poe's "To Helen" 8:51

2M ago8:51

8:51

In today’s poem, Poe offers us an ode to the Homeric beauty that is also definitely giving some Stacy’s-mom vibes. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Emily Dickinson's "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," 11:05

2M ago11:05

11:05

On one of her darker days, Emily Dickinson dreams of a fate worse than death. Happy(?) reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

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