What is Word & Song?
Word & Song is the place to go for meditations on the beauty and sometimes the wildness of the English language, on English poetry, on classic hymns, on the sometimes forgotten gems of the Golden Age of film, and on popular music in its American heyday. We have a lot of fun, and we learn a lot too as we go along. And what’s a teacher but someone who says, “Come, look at the great thing I’ve found!” Well then, we’ll be looking at — and listening to — some great things!
— Anthony Esolen
Perhaps you’ve never seen (or haven't for a long time) one of the old romantic comedies, showing how those two great antagonists, man and woman, come together across all their fascinating and frustrating differences? The Film of the Week offers you “It Happened One Night.” Perhaps you haven't realized just how great a part of ordinary life poetry used to be? The Poem of the Week gives you “The Village Blacksmith.” You love the old hymn, “For All the Saints,” but can't put a finger on just what makes it so powerful? The Hymn of the Week shines a light on what the poet is doing with the verse and the Scriptures. You say you’re gong to pull out all the stops — but what the heck does that mean? You can find out in our Word of the Week. You remember that your mother -- or maybe your grandmother -- used to hum old folk tunes, and maybe you never even knew their names. Sometimes a Song sends you “Love’s Old Sweet Song,” and it rings bells in your mind. It turns up the volume on a distant cultural memory. Where did the song come from? Who composed it, who sang it? What makes it so fine? Perhaps you will find yourself humming the tune and letting its beauty work in your heart and the hearts of your own children and grandchildren.
There’s a treasure trove of goodness, beauty, and truth we wish to open to our subscribers at Word & Song. We’re doing what we have been doing for decades in college classrooms, but now we are trying to reach a wider audience, because the world needs light and hope and all the good things that still belong to us and are just waiting to be reclaimed. Why not join us?
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