Formal Poetry Special

In one of their patented specials, Michael and Ethan discuss formal poetry—why is it? How is it?

Poems discussed:

“If We Must Die,” by Claude McKay

“Sestina of the Tramp-Royal,” by Rudyard Kipling

“On Claude McKay’s ‘If We Must Die,’” by Tonya Foster

In this episode:

  • The hosts are ANCIENT

  • We only do one cool thing on this podcast

  • Discussion of definitions, speaking of cool

  • To be clear, Ethan is trying to say he taught the sonnet wrong the first time he did it

  • Ethan tried for literally dozens of minutes to find the origin of the “One man’s terrorist” phrase, and Google had nothing. If you know it, go ahead and let us know and we will… be really grateful

  • Michael means “aleph,” which to be fair, seems very close to the Greek letter “alpha”

  • Sestinas probably make sense to somebody

  • Some very slight (a lot of) Kipling ambivalence

The next book is Michael and Ethan’s Annual Mondo Book, which we will spend four episodes on. This year’s Mondo Book is I Am a Cat, by Soseki Natsume. Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

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Your Hosts: Michael G. Lilienthal (@mglilienthal) and

Ethan Bartlett (@bjartlett)

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

Ethan Bartlett