Archive - Word & Song by Anthony Esolen

We Plow the Fields and Scatter

Is there a story behind our Hymn of the Week? Of course!

22 hrs ago •

The English word farmer did not refer to the soil. It came from the Norman French word for a contract between a landowner and the tenant who worked his…

Jan 20 •

5:56

"Cocktails for Two"

Sometimes a Song can stay in the deep secret recesses of the mind, perhaps for decades, until something awakens a musical memory.

Jan 18 •

Rumpelstiltskin

A treat for kids -- and hey, for us too!

Jan 17 •

9:58

I Confess (1953)

When "I Confess" begins, the crime has already happened. The church caretaker has committed murder and has confessed his guilt — only, not to the…

Jan 16 •

Excerpt, from Elegy in a Country Churchyard

Our poet, walking in a churchyard among the memorials, asks a question about human lives and all the secrets they hold. What were these people like?

Jan 15 •

5:38

Blest Are the Pure in Heart

Our hymn this week is by John Keble, from his collection of poems, The Christian Year. His poems are not just scribbled feelings, but prayer born of…

Jan 14 •

To be a human being is to have an interior life. And there are some things you will say only to the one person in the world you love best, or maybe only…

Jan 13 •

6:05

"It Was a Very Good Year"

Sometimes it is a very good year for a very good song sung by a very good singer.

Jan 11 •

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Listen now to Poetry Aloud | Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798)

Jan 10 •

23:53

The Country Girl (1954)

Directed by George Seaton

Jan 9 •

George Herbert’s “Matins” is really a kind of dramatic poem, because the poet isn’t the only one awake at dawning. God has anticipated him!

Jan 8 •

5:05

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