Episodes
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The Wolf and the Lamb: Prudence in the Face of Injustice
“The right of the strongest is always the greatest,” La Fontaine writes in “The Wolf and the Lamb,” a disturbing fable about the overthrow of justice by a powerful and malicious entity. Is this really all Fontaine wants to tell us, though? Join Erika Kyba to investigate the subtler insights which...
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Mutabilitie: Change as Tyrant
Do you seek out change, or view it as a destructive force? Edmund Spencer, in “Mutabilitie,” imagines change as tyrannizing over the lives of men to gain glory for herself. Join Erika Kyba to learn why Spencer takes this angle.
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The Wife of Usher’s Well: It Fell About the Martinmass
Is it dangerous to cling to the departed, when it is time for them to pass into the afterlife? The folk poet of “The Wife of Usher’s Well” seems to think so. Join Erika Kyba for the full episode and analysis.
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Epithalamion: An Unusual Invocation
If you've completed high school English, it's likely you've heard of the standard "invocation of the muse" invoked by epic poets such as Homer and Virgil. What would happen if a poet used this invocation to frame a poem about a wedding, rather than adventure and war? Spencer's "Epithalamion"...
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A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
Does absence make the heart grow fonder? John Donne, our poet who believes so strongly in the united souls of lovers, asks himself what happens to this harmony when the lovers are separated. Join Erika Kyba for a reading and analysis of this epic love poem.
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The Ecstasy: A Dialogue of One
When you love someone, do you love them with your soul, mind, or body? Is love by one of the faculties superior to that of the others? John Donne meditates on this theme in "The Ecstasy." Join Erika Kyba for a reading and analysis of this poem.
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Since She Whom I Lov'd Hath Paid Her Last Debt: A Holy Thirsty Dropsy
Is it possible to have enough love to be content? Can a Christian be content with God's love, being that God is infinite, or will he always crave more of God? And what relationship does God's love for us have with our love for others? John Donne wrestles with all these questions and more in…
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Start Close In: The Ground You Know
Can you know others without knowing yourself? This is the question which David Whyte interrogates in "Start Close In," as he examines what it means to cross over into the unknown territory of The Other. Join Erika Kyba to delve into sound advice...with a poetic twist.
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Pied Beauty: Dappled Things
We tend to think of beauty in terms of purity and proportion, but Hopkins upends those conventional ideas in "Pied Beauty." Instead, he proposes that God "fathers-forth" his beauty in the irregular and variable. Join Erika Kyba for her reading of why Hopkins celebrates sublimity in the strange.
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The Banquet: Sweet and Sacred Cheer
In today's episode of The Poetry Fix, tune in for further musings from George Herbert on the Eucharist, Christ's sacrifice, and man's orientation towards his Creator. Join Erika Kyba as she analyzes the themes of Herbert's "The Banquet" and reads it aloud.
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The Agony: Do You Want to Know
“Do you want to know?” That’s the question that undergirds George Herbert’s “The Agony.” Join Erika Kyba to encounter this poem, in which George Herbert explores the metaphysics of sin and love.
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Kubla Khan: Beware, Beware!
Do you seek beauty, or do you fear it? In "Kubla Khan," Coleridge places most of humanity on the second side of that equation; tune in to hear Erika Kyba's analysis and find out why.
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Kubla Khan: Caverns Measureless to Man
Have you ever enjoyed a time in your life (or lived through a period of history) marked by prosperity, abundance, and opulence—yet felt a certain unease, especially when reminded of chaotic forces that could upset the bliss you find yourself in? Samuel Taylor Coleridge might have something to say...
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The Holy Communion: Leaping the Wall
How do you imagine God in relation to yourself? Is He a distant entity, to be admired from without? Or does He seek to be with you, making His way into your inner soul? Tune in to hear George Herbert's answer to this question in "The Holy Communion," read and analyzed by Erika Kyba.
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The Tables Turned: A Study Break
Perhaps you've encountered YouTube videos appearing on your feed to tell you to get off YouTube. In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba to encounter the poetic version of this phenomenon in Wordsworth's "The Tables Turned." Wordsworth seems to exhort the student to do away with his...
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The Grasshopper and the Ant: Not Quite a Morality Tale
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba for another bilingual episode. She reads La Fontaine's famous "The Grasshopper and the Ant" in French and English. Tune in to discover a new twist on the moral that you might have thought you knew.
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The Oak and the Reed: Let us See the End
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba for a bilingual episode. She reads La Fontaine's "The Oak and the Reed" in French and English, exploring a poem-parable that discusses the fall of the mighty and the survival of the humble.
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I Taste a Liquour Never Brewed: Inebriate of Air
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba to read Emily Dickinson's "I Taste a Liquour Never Brewed." It's a poem about getting drunk on the beauty of the universe...which the poet believes has fundamental, eschatological importance.
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How Many Nights: Who’s Afraid of the Dark?
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba to read Galway Kinnell's "How Many Nights," the work of a modern existentialist poet. We all remember our childhood fears of the dark, and how they dissipated with the sunrise. What are we to do, though, with a more adult, existential version…
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Nobody Knows This Little Rose: Taken From the Ways
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba to read Emily Dickinson's "Nobody Knows This Little Rose." It's a deceptively simple little poem, in which the poet wrestles with one of the most profound human tragedies.
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The Poetry Fix: Comus, Part Seven
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba to read the continuation of Comus and the Lady's first encounter. We have already seen that our heroine has a very high view of her own powers of virtue and discernment...but her naiveté is exposed in this episode, as she blindly puts her…
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Comus: Square my Trial to my Proportioned Strength
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba to read the continuation of Comus and the Lady's first encounter. We have already seen that our heroine has a very high view of her own powers of virtue and discernment...but her naiveté is exposed in this episode, as she blindly puts her…
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Comus: Such Divine Enchanting Ravishment
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba to read the excerpt of Milton's "Comus" in which Comus and the Lady are united for the first time. Erika finds that Comus's reaction to the Lady's song parallels one of Milton's most famous scenes in Paradise Lost...
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Comus: The Lady Enters
In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba in the journey through Milton’s Comus as the leading lady makes her first appearance. The lady presents herself as a courageous paragon of virtue, but the poet opens up her view of morality to some questions.
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Comus: A False Shepherd
Join Erika Kyba to encounter the rising action of Milton's Comus, as the wicked spirit Comus hears the approach of a noble lady and plots to seduce her by passing himself off as a harmless shepherd. The lady enters, not finding Comus at first, but wary of the sounds of revelry that she heard from...
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Comus: A Trickster Spirit
Join Erika Kyba to read an excerpt from Milton's Comus, in which the titular trickster spirit is introduced. She discusses Comus's use of rhetoric, mixing the pleasurable with the destructive and so using it to bait his listener.
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Mortality: Their Story we Cannot Unfold
Join Erika Kyba to conclude reading William Knox's "Mortality." Today, Erika discusses the difficulty of preserving the memory of the dead.
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Mortality: Why Should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud?
Join Erika Kyba for an unflinching look at death as she reads William Knox's "Mortality." Our poet reminds us that all of our earthly triumphs are necessarily ephemeral—but what does that tell us about how we should choose to live our lives?
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Old Ironsides: The Eagle of the Sea
Join Erika Kyba to encounter "Old Ironsides," the famous elegy that saved the USS Constitution from being scrapped. She discusses how masterfully Holmes pits mercenary concerns against a respect for what is beautiful and noble, weaving in themes of national identity throughout the poem.
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The Dream of the Rood: The Journey Heavenward
Join Erika Kyba for a celebration of Easter in the conclusion of The Dream of the Rood. She analyzes how the Passion, in the poet's vision, exceeds the boundaries of history and continues to move our lives.
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The Dream of the Rood: Mary and the Cross
Join Erika Kyba and continue your Lenten journey through the medieval Crucifixion poem, "The Dream of the Rood." In today's excerpt, the poet crafts a parallel between the Cross of Christ and Mary, His mother. Erika analyzes why the poet has chosen to link these two figures together, and what…
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The Dream of the Rood: A Tale for All Times
Join Erika Kyba and continue your Lenten journey through the medieval Crucifixion poem, "The Dream of the Rood." In today's excerpt, the poet begins to pull in more and more anachronistic medieval imagery to describe the Crucifixion. What is the significance of this artistic choice? Get your…
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The Dream of the Rood: Suffering is not the Enemy
Today, we continue our Lenten reflections on The Dream of the Rood. Join Erika Kyba as she discusses how the poet imagines the Cross as Christ's shield partner in battle. The poet leads us away from identifying suffering as the villain of the Passion, showing us the bigger picture: the Passion…
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The Dream of the Rood: The Tragedy and the Glory
Today, we enter into the Lenten season by reading The Dream of the Rood. Join Erika Kyba to meditate on the poet's reframing of the Crucifixion's tragedy.
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The Legend of the Knight of the Red Cross: The Road to Error
Today, we continue our journey through Spencer's Faerie Queene. Join Erika Kyba to analyze the forest symbolism that Spencer uses to set up the themes that will pervade this canto, and strap in as the Knight of the Red Cross seeks his first battle in the Den of Error.
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The Legend of the Knight of the Red Cross: What's Up With Una?
Today, we continue our journey through Spencer's Faerie Queene. Join Erika Kyba as she analyzes how Spencer draws a connection between the poem's female lead, Una, and the symbol of the Lamb of God. We talk about the importance of not judging Una as your typical damsel in distress too quickly;...
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The Legend of the Knight of the Red Cross: An Untried Knight and a Lovely Maiden
Today, we continue our journey through Spencer's Faerie Queene. Erika Kyba discusses some of Spencer's typical conventions, such as introducing characters by their appearances and actions, allowing the reader to judge their behavior before the poet names them.
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Prologue to the Legend of the Knight of the Red Cross: Choose Your Fighters
Today, Erika Kyba introduces you to Spencer's Faerie Queene. In this episode, we read the Prologue to the Legend of the Knight of the Red Cross (narrated by the lovely Sophia Kyba), and discuss Spencer's intriguing choice of Greek gods to invoke as his muses.
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The Milk-Maid and the Milk-Pail: Of Daydreams and Lost Opportunities
Today, Erika Kyba reads La Fontaine's "The Milk-Maid and the Milk-Pail," a witty and practical French fable about the danger of getting carried away in a daydream.
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We Should not Mind so Small a Flower: Restoring the Kingdom
Today, Erika Kyba reads Emily Dickinson's "We Should not Mind so Small a Flower," in which poet uses the flower of a mustard seed as a metaphor for God instantiating the Kingdom of Heaven through the smallest and most easily overlooked means.
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Architect's Watercolor: Each Minute is Encounter
Today, Erika Kyba reads Arthur Sze's "Architect's Watercolor." This is a poem that toes the line between potentiality and reality.
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Comus: To Quench the Draught of Pheobus
Today, Erika Kyba continues to analyze Milton's "Comus," and we learn what makes the wicked spirit, Comus so dangerous: he menaces the rational faculties of men, and tempts them, through inordinate pleasure, to animality and indignity. Alexandra Comus joins us once again to narrate the part of…
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Comus: The Rank Vapors of this Sin-Worn Mold
Today, Erika Kyba introduces Milton's "Comus," a purported morality masque which is perhaps not what it seems to be. Alexandra Comus narrates the part of the Attendant Spirit.
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Sic Transit Gloria Mundi: Accept this "Bonnie Doon"
Today, Erika Kyba reads through the end of "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," by Emily Dickinson. We begin to tie together the themes of moral bankruptcy, surface versus substance, and modernity, served with a slice of devilry.
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Sic Transit Gloria Mundi: Insolvency, Sublime!
Today, Erika Kyba reads "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," by Emily Dickinson, a witty societal critique dashed with a commentary how certain astronomical discoveries have altered the way we understand and behave towards the universe around us.
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The Abyss: Above, Below, On Every Side
Today, Erika Kyba reads "The Abyss," by Baudelaire, and attempts to explore the poet's terror of the infinite.
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The Benefactors: The Pinch of Pain and Fear
Today, Erika Kyba reads "The Benefactors" by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling mediates on how all innovation springs from the "pinch of pain and fear" that drives man.
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Adam's Curse: As Weary-Hearted as that Hollow Moon
Today, Erika Kyba reads "Adam's Curse" by William Butler Yeats. Yeats muses on how all beautiful and lovely things require labor...and how this laboring after the beautiful has become an "idle trade" in the hollow age of modernity.
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The Boston Evening Transcript: Who Are You, When Evening Falls?
Today, Erika Kyba reads "The Boston Evening Transcript," by T. S. Eliot. Much in the same vein as Henry David Thoreau, Eliot mediates on our constant obsession with the news, and what that does to the human person.
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Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers: A Meditation on Legacy
Today, Erika Kyba reads "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers," by Emily Dickinson. In this poem, Dickinson plays with the image of a tomb acting as a lamp, and she meditates on legacy, death, and history.