Celebrating the Life of Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)
“A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.” —Robert Frost To many in America, Robert Frost is the grandfatherly originator of “The...
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By John Martin
- Mar 19
- 6 min
What Is Art?
This isn't an essay. But it isn't a manifesto either. A manifesto is something one writes before one has started. An essay is something...
By Adam Sedia
- Mar 5
- 3 min
Behind the Lines: Nothing Gold Can Stay
Even though Robert Frost was born in California, he is known as a quintessentially New England Poet. His family roots were there and he...
By Dana Gioia
- Feb 23
- 1 min
What Is Poetry? 10 Observations About the Art
This video is the first in a series of introductory talks on the art of poetry. They explore how to read, study, and enjoy poetry. The...
By Adam Sedia
- Feb 1
- 27 min
Yeats and the Occult
Modernism produces obscure poetry because it denies the existence of absolute truth. Without a fundamental truth to reveal, poetry is...
By Adam Sedia
- Dec 19, 2022
- 5 min
Beyond the Lines: “Mont Blanc” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
In his essay “A Defence of Poetry,” Shelley described a poem as “the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth.” His sweeping...
By Daniel Leach
- Nov 20, 2022
- 20 min
An Evening in the "Simultaneity of Eternity"—with Shakespeare, Keats, and William Warfield
The following is a workshop and dialogue on the art of classical poetic recitation. We at The Chained Muse believe that a revival of...
By Adam Sedia
- Oct 29, 2022
- 32 min
From Modernism to Subversion: William Carlos Williams and the Beat Poets
Although shocking for its time, Beat poetry was not unanticipated. It developed from modernist antecedents it readily acknowledged, most...
By John H. B. Martin
- Oct 13, 2022
- 8 min
Grace and Flavour: A Response to C.S. Lewis's "Christianity & Culture"
In a previous essay (De Gustibus (Et Pulchritudinis) I argued that Beauty is absolute and not relative, and is therefore not merely a...
By Adam Sedia
- Sep 1, 2022
- 7 min
Behind the Lines: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 142
The sonnet is inextricably intertwined with the Renaissance, and stands as one of the most powerful and enduring legacies of that time....
John H. B. Martin
- Aug 17, 2022
- 25 min
The Politics of Intimacy
"So intimate this Chopin that I think his soul Should be resurrected only among friends Some two or three, who will not touch the bloom...
By Adam Sedia
- Aug 12, 2022
- 23 min
Clarity and Obscurity:The Essences of Classicism and Modernism Compared
Classical and modern poetry are inarguably different. Indeed, modernism’s chief boast is its break with classicism and tradition more...
By David B. Gosselin
- Jul 24, 2022
- 11 min
Poetry, Art and Civilization Today: Reflections on Shelley's "A Defence of Poetry"
In honor of the 200th anniversary of Percy Bysshe Shelley's death, The Chained Muse is proud to present a month-long celebration of life...
By Adam Sedia
- Jul 7, 2022
- 5 min
Beyond the Lines: Shelley's "Ozymandias"
In honor of the 200th anniversary of Percy Bysshe Shelley's death, The Chained Muse is proud to present a month-long celebration of life...
By Daniel Leach
- Jul 6, 2022
- 20 min
P. B. Shelley and the Motivführung Principle in English Poetry
In honor of the 200th anniversary of Percy Bysshe Shelley's death, The Chained Muse is proud to present a month-long celebration of life...
By Johnny Payne
- Jul 1, 2022
- 7 min
The Endless Vitality of “Ode to the West Wind”
In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the poet's death, The Chained Muse is proud to present a month-long celebration of Percy...
By David B. Gosselin
- May 21, 2022
- 9 min
From the Beautiful to the Sublime: Schiller's "Guides of Life"
Two kinds of genius may escort you throughout life. True Goodness falls on him who lets them lead as one. Beauty enlivens and makes brief...
By John H. B. Martin
- Apr 20, 2022
- 14 min
Beyond the Lines: Shakespeare's ''Phoenix and the Turtle''
This is a poem I have known and loved for as long as I can remember. It has exerted a charm and fascination for me simply by virtue of...
By Adam Sedia
- Apr 2, 2022
- 9 min
Why Amanda Gorman Is Not a Poet
Amanda Gorman became something of a phenomenon, fêted as a celebrity from the moment she read her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” amid the...
By Daniel Leach
- Feb 25, 2022
- 10 min
Beyond the Lines: Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”
It was out of an atmosphere of intensive study of the classics, impassioned dialogue with his collaborators on creative method, and a...
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