SMP #24 Expostulation and Reply by William Wordsworth
The Troubadour Podcast
English - October 27, 2019 13:00 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MBBooks Arts Health & Fitness poetry literature literature and life historical stories wisdom of the ages Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: MM #9 "Air and Angels" By John Donne
Next Episode: Conversation with Screenwriter and Poet, Paul Guay
In his conversation poem, "Expostulation and Reply," William Wordsworth brings the art of argument into poetry.
A school teacher, Matthew, trained in the classical method of jamming facts into people's foreheads, admonishes young William for sitting out in nature and contemplating it. “Up! Up! and drink the spirit breath’d / “From dead men to their kind," he says.
In other words, get out of nature and read your books young Willy!
Well, you can imagine the young romantic poet had something to say about that!