Word & Song by Anthony Esolen

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"Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly"
Our song this week is a traditional carol set to an ancient Welsh tune. So it is fitting that we listen to it sung by a wonderful old Welsh men's choir…
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Debra Esolen
9
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
It requires more than any one of us can muster to revive a truly popular culture. We can't recreate such world. But we can experience it at a second…
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Anthony Esolen
14
10:33
Going My Way (1944)
Bing was almost as fine an actor as he was a singer. His portrayal of Fr. O’Malley won the hearts of Americans. But Bing wasn’t the man who won an Oscar…
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Anthony Esolen
6
The Call
“The Call” is a deceptively simple poem with three stanzas of four lines each. The first line is always the “calling” line, beginning with the…
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Anthony Esolen
3
6:06
On Jordan's Bank
In our Hymn of the Week, “On Jordan’s Bank.” The poet calls us to make the way of the Lord straight and in our hearts and in our lives.
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Anthony Esolen
WAY
The word way is used abstractly, to denote a manner of living. Hence to follow the way of the Lord is to keep His commandments, as the Psalmist says.
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Anthony Esolen
7
5:20
Christmas is Coming
“Christmas is Coming” is not just a folk song like any other. It is a special kind called a round, and a round is a subset of what in formal music is…
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Debra Esolen
18
Resending "The Poor Relation's Story"
From Charles Dickens' Christmas Stories (1852)
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Anthony Esolen
1
25:54
The Poor Relation's Story
Another tale from Dickens' "Christmas Stories" is told by the Poor Relation, about whom people say, not thinking very deeply, that he is “his own worst…
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Anthony Esolen
25:54
Penny Serenade (1941)
George Stevens knew how to portray the subtleties of love between man and woman, particularly love which seems to have fallen into the sere and yellow…
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Anthony Esolen
8
[The time draws near the birth of Christ]
Today's poet, Tennyson, tells of the ache of hearing a beloved voice which is not there, and of not hearing the voice when everything in you expects to…
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Anthony Esolen
15
5:27
Hark, a Thrilling Voice is Sounding
The voice of John the Baptist, in today's hymn, pierces to the heart. We’re to wake up, to shake our sloth away, and to rise up in the dawning light.
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Anthony Esolen
1
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