Wendell Berry’s “Sabbath Poem III, 1994”
Today’s poem is, quite simply, one of my favorites. Berry uses Shakespeare to tell us we cannot see our life clearly until we have passed th...
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The Daily Poem
The Daily Poem offers one essential poem each weekday morning. From Shakespeare and John Donne to Robert Frost and E..E Cummings, The Daily Poem curates a broad and generous audio anthology...
Episodes
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Wendell Berry’s “The Guest”
Today’s poem confesses the discomfort and undesirability of loving our neighbor. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to d...
Wendell Berry’s “In a Motel Parking Lot, Thinking of Dr. Williams”
Today’s poem is part tribute, part poetic manifesto. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subsc...
Jane Austen’s “Mock Panegyric on a Young Friend”
Today’s poem marshals Austen’s characteristic wit to praise feminine virtues via comparison to American geography. Fellas, don’t try this at...
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Grief”
Today’s poem, pitting Victorian stoicism against Victorian sentimentality, contends that the truest grief is the most austere and long-lived...
Wendell Berry’s “Testament”
Composed in 1971 as a self-eulogy, today’s poem is a remembrance of Wendell Berry who embarked for the greater Port Royal yesterday at the a...
Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “The Last Leaf”
Holmes wrote that the man who inspired today’s poem reminded him of "a withered leaf which has held to its stem through the storms of autumn...
Francis Jammes’ “A Prayer to Go to Paradise with the Donkeys”
Today’s poem, translated by Richard Wilbur, is part animal appreciation, prayer for a good death. Happy reading. This is a public episode. I...
William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 71 (“No longer mourn for me when I am dead”)
Today’s poem has a different preoccupation than most Shakespearean sonnets–not immortalizing the beloved, but effacing the lover. Happy read...
John Milton’s Proem to Paradise Lost
Today’s poem is the opening lines of a famous epic poem–composed by a blind poet, about the fall of a great kingdom, a devious stratagem, an...
Shel Silverstein’s “Sick”
Today’s poem is angling for a day off. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get...
David Wagoner’s “The Junior High School Band Concert”
“No doubt, in his mind’s ear Some band somewhere In some music of some Sphere Was striking a note as pure As the wishes of Franz Schubert, B...
William Blake's "The School Boy"
Today’s poem is a more eloquent version of an appeal being made in many households this month. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If y...
Bill Watterson's "The Yukon Song"
Today’s poem turns the Yukon territory into every boy’s dream. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with o...
Thomas Dekker's "The Happy Heart"
Today’s poem ponders the soft pillow of poverty and even boasts a Beatles connection. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like...
John Donne's "The Good-Morrow"
“My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears.” In today’s poem, love awakens the sleeper to new life. Happy reading. This is a public episod...
Walter de la Mare's "Silver"
Today’s poem is bathed in moonlight. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get ac...
St. John of the Cross's "The Soul Aflame"
Today’s poem is another contemplation of ambivalence toward life that conceals a deeper commitment to life. Happy reading. This is a public...
Angela Morgan's "Work: A Song of Triumph"
Today’s poem is a very enthusiastic paean to work (doth the lady protest too much?). Happy Monday and Happy reading. This is a public episod...
Robert Louis Stevenson's "Consolation"
Today’s poem is a tender consolation after the loss of a friend, suitable for young and old alike. Happy reading. This is a public episode....