Within the world of stories, there is one kind of character which seems to cross every boundary- blurring lines of distance and time to greet us from many lands with many different faces, but with the same familiar voice. In Robin Hood, in the 108 outlaws of Liangshan marsh, in the Cowboys of the Wild West, in King David and…
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Less well-known than the Narnia books dedicated mostly to the Pevensy siblings, The Horse and His Boy is a tale of lost and recovered identity that traverses a foreign desert landscape filled with oriental gardens, bustling market places, fishermen with mouths full of the words of poet sages, tyrannical kings, and battle-worn heroes inconveniently appearing on horseback to retard the…
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This is an audio-only recording of a previous talk by Angelina Stanford. This talk is available free to students in our "How to Read Fairy Tales" mini-class. To register for the mini-class and access this talk for free, click here. Runtime: 1 session, 72 minutes
This is recording of a previous talk by Angelina Stanford. This talk is available free to "Fellows" tier members of The Literary Life Podcast Patreon. To become a supporter and access this talk for free, visit www.Patreon.com/theliterarylife. Runtime: 1 session, 72 minutes
This is a bundle of previously recorded talks from Angelina Stanford as part of the Literary Life Online Conferences from 2019-2025. My, What Big Teeth You Have: Little Red Riding Hood's Journey to Hell Part of the 2019 Conference; Runtime: 1 session, 76 minutes The Fairy Tale World of Lewis, Tolkien, and Sayers Part of the 2020 Conference; Runtime: 1…
This is recording of a previous talk from Angelina Stanford as part of the 2025 Literary Life Online Conference - "Living Language: Why Words Matter." Runtime: 1 session, 126 minutes
This is recording of a previous talk from Angelina Stanford as part of the 2024 Literary Life Online Conference - "Dispelling the Myth of Modernity: A Recovery of the Medieval Imagination." Runtime: 1 session, 137 minutes
This is recording of a previous talk from Angelina Stanford as part of the 2023 Literary Life Online Conference - "Shakespeare: The Bard for All and for All Time." Runtime: 1 session, 126 minutes
This is recording of a previous talk from Angelina Stanford as part of the 2022 Literary Life Online Conference - "The Battle Over Children's Literature." Runtime: 1 session, 122 minutes
This is recording of a previous talk from Angelina Stanford as part of the 2021 Literary Life Online Conference - "Reading in an Age of Crisis." Runtime: 1 session, 88 minutes
This is recording of a previous talk from Angelina Stanford as part of the 2020 Literary Life Online Conference - "Re-Enchanting the World: The Legacy of the Inklings." Runtime: 1 session, 84 minutes
Shepherds and their flocks have a special place in the literary tradition as singers and poets, appearing not only in the Biblical world but also in the classical world. The Roman poet Vergil, best known for his epic The Aeneid, first tried his hand at a genre called "pastoral poetry" before he turned his attention to writing epic. In Vergil's…
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Edgar Allan Poe, while one of America’s most popular authors, is also America’s most deeply misunderstood author. The French have long admired Poe for his mythopoeic powers, but Americans largely think of him as the Stephen King of his day, revelling in fright, horror, and nihilistic violence. Or, as one critic put it, “his tales are nothing more than complicated…
Great Britain, in the middle of the 17th century, became the site of a turbulent and destructive civil war, in which the rival armies were those of King and Parliament. Of the many historic personalities brought forth by those violent times, none has been so extravagantly praised or severely condemned as Oliver Cromwell, who rose from being a little-noticed Member…
From 800 to 1066, the people we know as “The Vikings” reshaped the history, politics, and culture of Europe, raiding, conquering, settling, and trading from Byzantium in the east to North America in the west, and Iceland to the coasts of Spain and Italy. 800 years later the rediscovery of their literature and mythology took European culture by storm, inspiring…
Enlightenment broke the Chain of Being, “untenanting creation of its God.” The Medieval Reason snapped through the clouds into the heavens, and eighteenth-century England wallowed in materialistic and utilitarian philosophy, “scoffing ascent / Proud in their meanness: and themselves they cheat.” The veil between earthly and heavenly things became an iron curtain, and material things were stripped of symbolical understanding…
For centuries, writers have drawn inspiration from the literary tradition as well as the living page of nature to shape their literary lives. But what about the composer? How does attention to nature as well as a deep understanding of folktales and myth affect a person whose first language is music? Join Querida Thompson as she guides us through Bedrich…
Why has nature been called the first book? And what does it mean to say that we must know nature to know stories? These are the questions we will be exploring in this webinar. It may be that this “book of nature” is the common tongue between us and an older age, and we must recover our eyes to see…
“The Inklings”—it is a name we love, and, for many of us, it conjures up a whole cosmos of worlds and imaginings. But when C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield called themselves “the Inklings,” they had something specific in mind. Despite their great differences in temperament and vocation, this circle of friends—which grew to include Charles…
By the time of Lewis Carroll’s death in 1898, Macmillan had printed over 150,000 copies of Alice in Wonderland and over 100,000 of its companion Through the Looking Glass. The Alice books remain the most translated into foreign languages after the Bible and Shakespeare. It has become one of the most widely quoted books in the Western world. There were…
“You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it’s this boy?” During the production of the original Star Wars series, writer/director George Lucas conceived of a score of other films about the mythological beginnings of his 20th century medieval romance, chronicling the origins of the villainous Darth Vader and his fall…
In 1897, in a small town in the north of France, there ended the life of a young woman known to almost nobody. Her existence had not been marked by any visible greatness or any exceptional act. Within a few decades of her death, a pope would describe her as "the greatest of modern saints" and her exceptional holiness would…
Plato's Republic stands as one of the most influential texts in the literary and philosophical tradition, and many of its key ideas still capture our imaginations. In this webinar, Dr. Anne Phillips will explore the background of the Republic and the flow of its argument, with a particular focus on the metaphorical and allegorical imagery that Plato uses to paint…
Just as the modern reader struggles with the loss of the shared literary, cultural, and imaginative landscape of the literary tradition, so has the modern listener lost touch with the imaginative language of music. C.S. Lewis says that it is the first duty of a reader to read the work like the original audience and this is no less true…
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There are certain historical characters whose lives seem woven out of the stuff of romantic fiction more than attested fact. One such character is the last Catholic queen of Scotland. The life of Mary Stuart spanned a period of religious revolution, war, intrigue, plot, and political drama unparalleled in the history of her country. Join us on Thursday, September 5th to…
King Alfred of Wessex, the only sovereign in British history on whom the epithet "Great" has been traditionally bestowed, never ruled over the whole of Great Britain, nor even over the whole of England. Yet after his death he stood in the memory of his nation not only as a great bulwark against their enemies and as a liberal patron…
Few things divide us moderns from our ancient forebears as our different ways of understanding the past. We are apt to think of history as a science, the duty of whose practitioners is to describe, with clinical detachment, long ago events "as they actually happened, as plain matters of fact". But in the world of ancient Greece it was not…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording.") “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” From these words began one of…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording." The Slides and the Chat Box are also in Your Account right under View Recording.) Tolkien &…
This webinar taught by Dr. Jason Baxter will introduce (or reintroduce) readers to Dante's Inferno by focusing on how the moral urgency of Dante's collapsing world led him to attempt a daring form of poetry which he thought could save the world. In particular, we'll focus on how Dante's Franciscan understanding of history led him to recycle a Boethian sense…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording.") The modern mind and imagination have been altered and influenced by few characters so profoundly as by…
A Webinar by Thomas Banks and Michael Williams The 20th century was an era in which poetry gradually became less and less culturally visible. Among the last exemplars of the craft who were truly public figures of international reputation were an American who became an Englishman, and an Englishman who became an American. T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden were each the master…
King Henry the Eighth, the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, has been credited both by admirers and enemies with having brought to an end the old England of the late middle ages and ushering in the new England of early modern times. On November 17th, Thomas Banks will talk about King Henry's life, wars, marriages, innovations in church and state, and the…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording.") Evelyn Waugh was one of the comic masters of 20th century English literature. He was also…
Napoleon Bonaparte, whose ambitions, victories, and final defeat at Waterloo changed Europe permanently in the wake of the French Revolution, has inspired historians and students of history for many generations with admiration and hatred alike. On May 25th, Thomas Banks will describe his obscure origins, his rise to power in the aftermath of the Revolution, his triumphs in the field…
This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To view the recordings after the LIVE session, log in to your account on www.houseofhumaneletters.com, click on My Account and then Orders to view the recording Jonathan Swift was the last great defender of the Ancients in what was known as The Battle of the Ancients versus the Moderns. He was…
This purchase is for streaming access to the video of a previously live webinar. To access this video after purchase, (make sure you are logged in on a computer) click Dashboard, then Orders, click the order you want to view and then click the link that says View the Recording. America does not have any story form comparable to the…
This purchase is for streaming access to the video of a previously live webinar. "The French Revolution", an English historian once wrote, "was a like a bomb...which, when it exploded, destroyed its creators." Its explosion was of a magnitude felt not only within the borders of France, but throughout Europe as well. Neither were its effects limited to the arena…
In 1944, when Allied troops were jumping behind enemy lines and disembarking under heavy fire on Normandy’s beaches, a film unit from the British Ministry of Information, on orders from Prime Minister Churchill and led by Sir Lawrence Olivier, was producing a film which was meant to boost the soldiers’ morale. However, unlike many other propaganda films of the same…
Note: This purchase gives you lifetime access to the streaming video of a previously live webinar. The greatest result of the First World War was, unquestionably, the deaths of twenty million human beings. Other tragedies bred by that conflict included the disruptions of politics, religion, and society on every continent over the course of many decades. This was the first…
Everything you need for Advent Read-Alouds This Advent Bundle Includes Recordings of these previous classes: An in-depth mini-class on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol taught by Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks. With the approach of Advent, it’s the perfect time to explore Charles Dickens’ classic tale of selfishness and redemption and the Christmas spirit. Drawing on her expertise…
Note: This is a streaming video of a previously LIVE webinar. See below for instructions on viewing the recording. In 1667, Paradise Lost, the greatest narrative poem in the English language, appeared in print. John Milton, the author, was a blind, gout-afflicted scholar and retired civil servant living in obscurity as he approached his 60th birthday. He had not published…
Note: This is the streaming video for a previously live webinar. People have written stories about animals for nearly as long as we have written stories about ourselves. From the fables of Aesop to the folk tales of Joel Chandler Harris, tales of four-footed tricksters and furry fools have found a permanent place in the literature of several civilizations. Join…
Note: This purchase gives access to the streaming video of this webinar. George Orwell did more to shape the imagination and political obsessions of the last century than almost any other writer of his generation. Both his fiction and nonfiction writings have begotten many imitators, and their language and characters have entered the common vocabulary of the English-speaking world. Join…
This is the recording of a LIVE webinar taught by Angelina Stanford (over 90 minutes). To view the recording, login to your account, click Dashboard, then Orders, then View. Learn what a fairy tale is, how to read one, and how to find the Gospel in every story. Price: $15
To View the Video after purchase, log in, click Orders, then View, then Click Here to View the Video, and you will be taken to the video player. Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular. -Aristotle- Want to love poetry, but you just don’t know how to? Already love…
Poetry and Classical Myth: The Influence of Greek and Roman Myth on English Poetry Join classicist and poet Thomas Banks for a webinar on the influence of classical mythology on English poetry. The influence of Greek and Roman mythology on English poetry has been immense. The imagery, recurring themes and narratives of the great works of the English language owe…
Join Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks for a 3-day IN-DEPTH look at Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol--- just in time for Christmas! With the approach of Advent, it’s the perfect time to explore Charles Dickens’ classic tale of selfishness and redemption and the Christmas spirit. Drawing on her expertise in Victorian literature, folklore, and mythology, Angelina Stanford will reveal the…
In the days leading up to Christmas, it is good to appreciate the poetry of the sacred season, of which the poets of England and America have offered so much. On December 4th, Thomas Banks will read and discuss several classic Christmas poems by George Herbert, Christina Rossetti, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and others with commentary on their historical background. He…
