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Since they wrote in 17th century Massachusetts, poets Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are often overlooked in surveys of English literature. Today, though, we'll bring them back into the fold as we look at how their puritanical religious beliefs engaged with the pastoral and metaphysical poetic traditions that celebrated "Arcadia," that vision of unspoiled Nature.

The Works of Anne Bradstreet:

https://archive.org/details/worksofannebrads00brad/page/n7/mode/2up

The Works of Edward Taylor: https://archive.org/details/poemsofedwardtay00tayl

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Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com

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Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

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Charles II reopened the theatres in 1660 and inaugurated the second golden age of the English stage. Today's show looks at one of the bawdiest plays to come from the period, a "comedy of manners" whose clever use of language points to the reality of style over substance.

The Country Wife text: https://theater.lafayette.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/59/2021/03/The-Country-Wife.pdf

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!

Send us a text

Today marks the anniversary of one of the most mythologized battles in Anglo-Irish history: the Battle of the Boyne. In July of 1690, King William III soundly defeated James II and secured Ireland's Protestant supremacy while sowing the seeds for centuries of violent conflict. The battle also marks the debut of one of Ireland's most prominent writers, Dr. Jonathan Swift, whose poem "Ode to King William" celebrates the Orange victory.

Text of "Ode to King William": https://www.online-literature.com/swift/poems-of-swift/3/

Text of “Written for My Son to His Master, on the Anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne": https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/works/pba35-w0450.shtml

Additional Music:

"Derry’s Walls": Sam Wilson and the Loyalists, 1963

https://archive.org/details/lp_no-surrender_sam-wilson-the-loyalists/disc1/02.06.+Derry's+Walls.mp3)

"Boyne Water": Stuart Eydmann, 2020

https://ia601700.us.archive.org/13/items/raretunes-eydmann-boyne-water/RaretunesEydmannBoyneWater.mp3

"Awake The Trumpet's Lofty Sound": Heroic Music For Organ, Brass And Percussion; New England Brass Ensemble; CBS Masterworks (MS 6354), 1962

https://archive.org/details/lp_heroic-music-for-organ-brass-and-percussio_e-power-biggs-new-england-brass-ensemble

Support the show

Please like, subscribe, and rate the podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen. Thank you!

Email: classicenglishliterature@gmail.com

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it with a small donation. Click the "Support the Show" button. So grateful!

Podcast Theme Music: "Rejoice" by G.F. Handel, perf. The Advent Chamber Orchestra
Subcast Theme Music: "Sons of the Brave" by Thomas Bidgood, perf. The Band of the Irish Guards
Sound effects and incidental music: Freesounds.org
My thanks and appreciation to all the generous providers!