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Expanding Eyes: A Visionary Education

This podcast is aimed at a non-specialist audience interested in acquiring what Northrop Frye called, in the title of one of his books, an educated imagination. Its materials are drawn from the many courses in literature and mythology that I taught, combined with material from my book The Productions of Time, for which I hope the podcast may provide an accessible introduction, with concrete examples.

Ep. 61: The Debate of the Devils in Hell. Satan’s Departure for Earth. The Devils Attempts to Pass the Time in Hell. Satan Encounters Sin and Death at the Gates of Hell.

37 mins; May 29, 2022

Ep. 60: The Catalogue of Devils as the Pagan Deities. The Building of Pandaemonium, Palace of the Devils. The Role of the Reader of Paradise Lost.

36 mins; May 22, 2022

Ep. 59: Paradise Lost, Book 1. Satan and the Rebel Angels in Hell after the War in Heaven. The Dramatic Intensity of Paradise Lost. Satan’s Powerful Speeches of Defiance.

36 mins; May 15, 2022

Ep. 58: Paradise Lost: the Famous Opening Invocation. The Meaning of “Things Unattempted Yet.” The Actual Order of Events in the Epic, Recounted Out of Order in the Poem.

38 mins; May 08, 2022

Ep. 57: Prelude to Paradise Lost. The Rewards of Reading Milton: the Musicality of the Verse, the Encyclopedic Vision, the Revolutionary Point of View

38 mins; May 01, 2022

Ep. 56: Book 24, the Meeting of Priam and Achilles. Achilles’ New and Unexpected Humanity and Compassion, His True Moment of Greatness

36 mins; April 25, 2022

Ep. 55: The Final Showdown. Hector Runs, but Finally Faces Achilles and Is Mortally Wounded.

37 mins; April 17, 2022

Ep. 54: The Workshop of Hephaestus and the Shield of Achilles with Its Intricate Design. Achilles Prepares for Battle. Briseis Mourns Patroclus. Achilles’ Horse Prophesies His Death.

37 mins; April 10, 2022

Ep. 53: Patroclus in Achilles’ Armor Goes into Battle and Is Killed by Hector. The Fight for the Body. The Death of Sarpedon and the Famous Speech of Zeus about Fate. Achilles’ Grief.

34 mins; April 03, 2022

Ep. 52: The Horrors of War and the Value of the Heroic Code. Hera Seduces Zeus to Distract Him. The Trojans Breach the Ramparts and Try to Set Fire to the Ships.

35 mins; March 27, 2022

Ep. 51: The Embassy to Achilles in Book 9. The Psychology of Achilles and His Refusal to Return to Battle. Books 10 and 11: The Spying Expedition and Major Achaean Players Taken Out with Injuries.

37 mins; March 20, 2022

Ep. 50: The Tide of Battle Turns. The Achaeans Driven Back to Their Own Defensive Walls. A Second Assembly Called to Deal with This Emergency.

37 mins; March 13, 2022

Episode 49: The Complex and Enigmatic Characterization of Paris and Helen in Book 6; the Character of Big Ajax in Book 7, Dueling with Hector; Paris’s Refusal to Return Helen to the Achaeans.

36 mins; March 06, 2022

Ep. 48: Diomedes, the Noble Alternative to Achilles. Hector with His Wife Andromache and Their Son Astyanax, a Loving Family.

36 mins; February 26, 2022

Ep. 47: The Contest between Paris and Menelaus; the Complex Character of Helen of Troy

35 mins; February 20, 2022

Ep. 46: The Heroic Code of Honor and the Result of the Quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, Spreading All the Way to Mt. Olympus

36 mins; February 13, 2022

Ep. 44: The Iliad, Book 1. The Rage of Achilles, and the Heroic Code of Honor That Leads to Tragic Conflict

37 mins; February 06, 2022

Ep. 44: Introduction to Homer’s Iliad. What Is Still Relevant about the Iliad. The Many Mysteries Surrounding the Poem and the Poet.

38 mins; January 30, 2022

Ep. 43: The Climactic Episodes of Virgil’s Aeneid: The Showdown between Turnus and Aeneas

35 mins; January 23, 2022

Ep. 42: The Hope of Breaking the Ironic Cycle of History. But the Price Paid for that Achievement.

36 mins; January 16, 2022

Ep. 41: The Aeneid’s Complex Vision: The Wish for a Just War and a Just Peace Versus the Tragic Realities.

36 mins; January 09, 2022

Ep. 40: The New World, and Juno as the Spirit of Negation. Queen Amata and Turnus Possessed by the Fury Allecto.

36 mins; January 02, 2022

Ep. 39: The Great Visionary System of Virgil’s Underworld in Book 6 of the Aeneid.

36 mins; December 26, 2021

Ep.38: The Quest to Reach Italy. The Entrance to the Underworld and the Cumaean Sibyl.

37 mins; December 19, 2021

Ep. 37: The Tragic Love Affair of Dido and Aeneas. The Aeneid: Cyclical Pessimism vs. the Hopeful Vision of Possible Progress

38 mins; December 12, 2021

Ep. 36: The Wanderings of Aeneas after the Fall of Troy

37 mins; December 05, 2021

Ep. 35: The Trojan Horse and the Fall of Troy

35 mins; November 28, 2021

Ep. 34: Virgil’s Aeneid and Its Providential Vision of History. Two Exiles: Aeneas and Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Their Tragic Destiny.

35 mins; November 21, 2021

Ep. 33: The Opening and Book 1 of Virgil’s Aeneid: The Quest for a New Home

35 mins; November 14, 2021

Ep. 32: Introduction to Virgil’s Aeneid: The Story Continues

37 mins; November 07, 2021

Ep. 31: The Controversy Over Book 24. Drawing It All Together: The Total Thematic Pattern of the Odyssey. Odysseus in Later Literature.

36 mins; October 31, 2021

Ep. 30: The Bow Contest, the Showdown, and the Aftermath. Penelope’s Trick and the Reunion with Odysseus

31 mins; October 24, 2021

Ep. 29: How Odysseus Got His Name: The Episode of the Scar. The Bow Contest.

36 mins; October 17, 2021

Ep. 28: The Reunion of Father and Son; Plotting and Disguises; Odysseus’s Old Dog Argos.

35 mins; October 10, 2021

Ep. 27: Athena’s Regard for Odysseus as Trickster and Liar; the Working-Class Hero Eumaios the Swineherd; Telemachus Returns to Ithaca.

35 mins; October 03, 2021

Ep. 26: Odysseus Returns to Ithaca, the Halfway Point of the Odyssey

35 mins; September 26, 2021

Ep. 25: The Mythical Patterns of the Odyssey

38 mins; September 19, 2021

Ep. 24: Homer’s Odyssey. The Wanderings, continued. Descent to Hades, the Land of the Dead.

36 mins; September 12, 2021

Ep. 23: The Wanderings, Books 9-12. The Kikones, the Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops.

38 mins; September 05, 2021

Ep. 22: The Big Party for Odysseus and the Songs of the Bard

36 mins; August 29, 2021

Ep. 21: The High Comedy of the Odyssey: Odysseus and the Teenager, Nausikaa

35 mins; August 22, 2021

Ep. 20: Calypso’s Paradisal Island. Odysseus’ Heroic Refusal of Immortality

36 mins; August 15, 2021

Ep. 19: Telemachus Visits Menelaus and Helen, and Learns about Marriage

35 mins; August 08, 2021

Ep. 18: Becoming a Man: Telemachus Confronts the Suitors

36 mins; August 01, 2021

Ep. 17: Homer’s Odyssey, Book 1: Telemachus and His Coming of Age

37 mins; July 25, 2021

Ep. 16: Introduction to Homer and the Odyssey

38 mins; July 18, 2021

Ep. 15: The Ending of the Divine Comedy: The Vision of God as “All in All”

36 mins; July 11, 2021

Ep. 14: Paradiso, Cantos 19-20: Predestination, the Hardest Christian Doctrine

35 mins; July 04, 2021

Ep. 13: Paradiso, Canto 1, continued. The ascent to the heavenly spheres.

36 mins; June 27, 2021

Ep. 12: Purgatorio, Cantos 30-33: Reunion with Beatrice. Paradiso, Canto 1: Imagining the Experience of Heaven

36 mins; June 20, 2021

Ep. 11: The Purgatorio and the theme of reunion. The use and abuse of art. The achievement of true freedom.

37 mins; June 13, 2021

Ep. 10: Dante’s Purgatorio and the Hope of Self-Transformation

37 mins; June 06, 2021

Ep. 9: Purgatorio, Canto 1: The Hope of a Purgatorial Life

36 mins; May 30, 2021

Ep. 8: Inferno, Cantos 33 and 34: Satan and the Worst Sinners in History, the Betrayers

35 mins; May 23, 2021

Ep. 7: Inferno, Canto 26: The Ulysses Canto. Forbidden Knowledge

34 mins; May 16, 2021

Ep. 6: The Complexities of Love

36 mins; May 09, 2021

Ep. 5: The Nature of Evil. The Damnation of the Unbaptized

36 mins; May 02, 2021

Ep. 4: Romantic Love Continued, and the Vestibule of the Uncommitted

38 mins; April 25, 2021

Ep. 3: The Invention of Romantic Love

39 mins; April 18, 2021

Ep 2: In the Dark Wood: Dante’s Mid-life Crisis and Ours

34 mins; April 11, 2021

Ep. 1: The Expanded Vision of the Imagination

33 mins; March 28, 2021

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Expanding Eyes: A Visionary Education

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