"On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" by John Keats

Topics discussed in this episode include: -Schedule change!-My trip to England-Romanticism-The charm of Keats-The tragedy of Keats-The tragedy of Pergolesi-Italian sonnet redux-The creative opportunity that is rhyme-Why this sonnet is weird-The riddle of Keats's morbidity-Ode To A Nightingale-The Notorious B.I.G.-Ode On Melancholy-Oscar Wilde and the Aesthetic Movement-The poet is un-poetical, unless the poet is Keats-Keats's self awareness-The undescribable feud, described-On Looking Into Chapman's Homer-The second-worst thing the Ottomans ever did-Ubi Sunt-The Romantic fetish for ruins-Metrical FUBAR-The doctrine of The Association of Ideas-The shift from Objectivity to Subjectivity -Suns, seas, and shadowsText of the poem: On Seeing the Elgin Marbles    My spirit is too weak—mortality Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep, And each imagined pinnacle and steep Of godlike hardship tells me I must die Like a sick eagle looking at the sky. Yet ’tis a gentle luxury to weep That I have not the cloudy winds to keep Fresh for the opening of the morning’s eye. Such dim-conceived glories of the brain Bring round the heart an undescribable feud; So do these wonders a most dizzy pain, That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude Wasting of old time—with a billowy main— A sun—a shadow of a magnitude.  Support the showVISIT MY WEBSITE HERE.BUY VERSECRAFT MERCH HERE.VISIT THE VERSECRAFT SUBSTACK HERE.Please subscribe, rate, and review! Thanks so much for listening.You can leave me a tip, support the podcast, or request a commission here! TikTok:  @versecraftSend me a note at: [email protected] favorite poetry podcasts for: Sharp thoughts and cutting truths (Matthew): Sleerickets  Lovely introspection and sensitive reflection (Alice): Poetry Says The landscape of Ohioan poetry (Jeremy): Poetry Spotlight  Supported in part by The Ohio Poetry AssociationArt by David Anthony KlugList of the most common metrical feet: Iamb: weak-STRONG (u /)Trochee: STRONG-weak (/ u)Anapest: weak-weak-STRONG (u u /)Amphibrach: weak-STRONG-weak (u / u)Dactyl: STRONG-weak-weak (/ u u)Cretic: STRONG-weak-STRONG (/ u /)Pyrrhic: weak-weak (u u)Spondee: STRONG-STRONG (/ /)