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…
$120.00–$295.00Price range: $120.00 through $295.00
With hundreds of thousands of copies on the shelf, the Alice books seem to occupy a central place among the undisputed classics of the 19th century- and indeed of all English literature. It quickly becomes clear that this is no accident, but rather that these works of Nonsense have been carrying on a rich conversation with all other stories and…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
This mini-course is a novel way of introducing literary readers to the most formidable type of literature, lyric poetry, by focusing on those poems that C.S. Lewis admired the most. In addition to providing the literary tools to overcome the obstacles to reading lyric poetry, we will ask why Lewis admired Wordsworth, Herbert, and the metaphysical poets so much. Lewis's thought will also guide us on questions like: why is the sonnet the…
The period of British history from 1837 to 1901 was one in which both Britain and the world were altered remarkably. Changes abounded, in social customs, technology, political and military affairs, and the relations between person and person, citizen and government. Join Thomas Banks on June 30th-July 8th in this six-lecture exploration of the lives of five Victorian men and women who, in diverse ways,…
$120.00–$295.00Price range: $120.00 through $295.00
Individual Price: $120 (Non-Refundable) ***Family Rate for 3 or more students*** Price: $295 (Non-Refundable) The Harry Potter series rivals both The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings as the most popular fantasy series of all time. Behind all the hype, film franchises, amusement parks, cos-play, and controversy are stories deeply steeped in the same Literary Tradition as…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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…
Every era has to grapple with the eternal showdown of Plato vs. Aristotle. Plato is best-known for his transcendent Forms while Aristotle is forever aligned to the particulars of this world. But what are the universals? And what are the particulars? Is there any harmony of thought for the tutor and his pupil? This dialogue surrounding Platonic and Aristotelian philosophies…
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…
CLASS DESCRIPTION In this class, we will read the whole of Dante's Comedy, with a particularly focus on how Dante used the "great books" of his own day to construct a deeply spiritual and psychological journey, from despair and loss and divisiveness to a happiness so bright and full the human mind cannot take it all in. We will see…
In the face of our current crisis of meaning, many have looked for answers in theology, philosophy, education, even politics. But what if the current crisis we are suffering under is really a crisis of language—one that reaches far beyond concern about the USES of language and instead revolves around the very nature and purpose of language itself? The modern…
“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…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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…
Individual Price: $99 (Non-Refundable) ***NEW Family Rate for 3 or more students*** Price: $250 (Non-Refundable) The Harry Potter series rivals both The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings as the most popular fantasy series of all time. Behind all the hype, film franchises, amusement parks, cos-play, and controversy are stories deeply steeped in the same Literary Tradition…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
A Mini-Class by Dr. Jason Baxter Dostoevsky once proclaimed: "Mankind can live without science, and even without bread. But it cannot live without beauty." But what is beauty for Dostoevsky? And why is it so hard for mankind in modernity to find it? This five-part summer series will read Dostoevsky's greatest novel, Brothers Karamazov, within the context of European modernity,…
In the 5th century A.D., the world of the Roman Empire was slowly dying. Its rulers were increasingly weak, literature and philosophy largely exhausted, the cities and provinces impoverished, the ancient religion and civic patriotism atrophied and enfeebled. Goths, Vandals and Huns spilled over the borders. Men all around fearfully anticipated the end of things. And in a middling town…
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…
Dispelling the Myth of Modernity: A Recovery of the Medieval Imagination The myth of modernity is that it has no myth. But, even as we deny its existence, we are being blindly shaped, distorted and even enslaved by the myth of our age. As CS Lewis writes in The Silver Chair, “Of course, the more enchanted you get, the more…
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…
G.K. Chesterton was among the most popular English writers of the early Twentieth Century. As a novelist, poet, biographer, essayist, and Christian apologist he produced a large and grandly diverse body of writing that has in the past century inspired the admiration of George Orwell, Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, George Bernard Shaw, Franz Kafka, Theodore Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Agatha Christie, Kingsley…
(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…
SHAKESPEARE: The Bard for All and For All Time Join us April 12th-15th! The genius and lasting influence of William Shakespeare is undisputed. However, many of us seeking to redeem our educations sometime struggle to jump in. We need help knowing how to read and understand Shakespeare and how to articulate why we should be reading him and why we…
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…
When confronted with a very old work of literature, the modern reader struggles for several reasons. The biggest obstacle is that the shared literary, cultural, and imaginative traditions of the work have long since passed from our memories, and as a result, we simply do not understand the imaginative context (i.e. the imaginative language) the work is written in. Sadly,…
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…
The Taming of the Shrew may be Shakespeare’s most misunderstood play! Angelina Stanford will lead you through Elizabethan Cosmology, the form of the play, the tradition of the taming of the shrew stock plot, the sources of the play, and much more so that you too can read the play as the original audience understood it. Discover how this play…
(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…
The writings of the great 19th century Russian masters are among the richest in the literature of the world. The personal and political dramas, the skepticisms and struggles, beliefs and fanaticisms that gave life to the Russian world of that era are all richly presented in the works of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol and their peers. This course will begin…
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…
THE BATTLE OVER CHILDREN'S LITERATURE What books should children read, is a question that parents, teachers, and even clergymen have wrestled with for centuries. But this is a question that cannot be answered apart from larger questions about the nature of children and the purpose of stories. How do children learn? How is virtue cultivated? What is the moral imagination…
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…
NOTE: This purchase provides access to the recordings a previously live class. Almost 20 hours of instruction. Fairy tales are universal. We find them in every time and in every culture. For as long as there have been words, people have been telling these stories. Why? Why do we tell these stories? Why do we share these stories with our…
Looking for the perfect gift for a friend or loved one for Christmas? Try a House of Humane Letters online gift certificate! Give the gift of a webinar, summer class, mini-class, or conference for any special occasion. Send it by email to the recipient or email it to yourself and print it out to give as a physical gift! Recipients…
Looking for the perfect gift for a friend or loved one for Christmas? Try a House of Humane Letters online gift certificate! Give the gift of a webinar, summer class, mini-class, or conference for any special occasion. Send it by email to the recipient or email it to yourself and print it out to give as a physical gift! Recipients…
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: These are the streaming videos for a conference held in April 2021. To View the Videos after purchase, log in, click Orders, then View, then Click Here to View the Videos, and you will be taken to the video player and playlist. On the eve of the outbreak of World War Two, Christian writers, intellectuals, poets, and academics began to gather…
Shakespeare’s three great Roman tragedies remain definitive representations of political power, tyranny, anarchy, unrestrained passion, and the corruptibility of men. Join classicist Thomas Banks this October for his three-session short class on Shakespeare’s Romans; enjoy the supreme excellence of Shakespeare’s dramatic verse; discover the historical basis of the three plays in the writings of Plutarch; and enter into the world…
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
THE 2019 LITERARY LIFE CONFERENCE For over three decades, Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins have been passionate advocates for the centrality of stories and books for, not only, education--but for all of life. Join Angelina and Cindy for an Online Conference exploring the literary life. (These are the recordings of the conference sessions) Session 1: Cindy Rollins “Once Upon…
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…
Note: This purchase allows you to stream the recordings of the conference. We live in disrupted and disenchanted times. So, for that matter, have many in the past few centuries. How ought to we form our minds and hearts to meet with grace and magnanimity the confusion of the age in which we live? To these questions few modern authors…
Note: This is the recording of a LIVE 5-day class taught by Angelina Stanford (over 8 hours of instruction!) Also note that this course was recorded many years ago when I was associated with another company. I no longer have any association with them and do not endorse them. Learn how to read this medieval romance like the original audience!…
Note: This class is completed, but you may work through the course at your own pace. After you purchase the class, you will receive a link to the virtual classroom. Instructor: Thomas Banks The plays of the ancient Greeks are the first great examples of dramatic literature known to us, and the reading of them is a lasting pleasure and…
(Self-paced option only) Instructor: Angelina Stanford, MA Intimidated by Flannery O’Connor? She’s weird, violent, and grotesque. Many readers are left wondering, what did I just read? Her stories present a world of Dark Grace headed for a collision with Modernity, and it’s an uncomfortable crash, but a beautiful one! This course explores the Christian imagination and redemptive vision of Flannery…
"It’s all in Plato, all in Plato: bless me, what do they teach them at these schools!"--C.S. Lewis When Lewis had his Professor Kirk speak those memorable lines, he was only partly joking. Especially in the search for beauty, Plato has been the single most important philosopher for the pre-modern, Christian and classical worldview. This interdisciplinary course--designed for to be…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Language study is the science of relations and patterns. This class teaches the fundamentals of the English language through an overview of the structure of a sentence, including the parts of speech, inflection, and syntax. Students who have been learning grammar informally through reading, copywork, and dictation may use this course as a first formal grammar course. The class is…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
While Ancient Classical Greek can be intimidating, it can also be very rewarding. The purpose of studying Classical Greek is first and foremost to read and appreciate authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Euripides, and many others. Studying Classical Greek can also illuminate many important and foundational aspects of the literary tradition. It is also important to note that students…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
A year-long in-depth study of Medieval and Renaissance English literature. Each work will be fully placed in its historical, philosophical, literary, and imaginative context. CS Lewis said that it's the duty of the reader to read the Great Books like the original audience; otherwise we cannot understand what we are reading. This takes work because we come to these texts…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The collapse of the western Roman Empire marked the end of one world and the beginning of another. In this course students will be introduced to the formation of Christian Europe and its development over the course of nearly ten centuries. Students will be immersed in the kings, queens, soldiers, thinkers, monks, pilgrims and popes of the Medieval world, and…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The literary, intellectual and religious revolutions that took place in the 19th and 20th centuries were events whose echoes remain with us still. The purpose of this course is to guide the student through some of the best literary fiction written in that time period, placing each book within its historical and imaginative context with background information on the authors’…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
After the French Revolution, Europe had been changed permanently in its political, cultural, and spiritual life. The Napoleonic Wars, Industrial Revolution, Victorian Age, followed in the 20th century by the two world wars and growth of totalitarianism, represent one of the most dramatic and most violent periods of recorded history. Students who enroll in this course are encouraged but not…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The aim of this course is to offer an accessible introduction to the very first rudiments of the Latin language, and, by necessity, the principles which will aid the student in the future study of other languages. It is a beginning course that will expect no previous experience from its students and which is structured with the goal of preparing…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
This course is a continuation of Latin II. In this class, students will take the knowledge of Latin grammar and vocabulary they have acquired in their previous studies and apply it to the reading of original Latin texts from the time of the Roman Republic down to the beginning of the Christian era. Assigned readings will include a considerable amount…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
This course is the continuation of Latin 1. In this class, students will complete Wheelock’s Latin and practice reading longer and more complex passages from ancient, medieval, and Renaissance authors. The latter half of the course will orient students towards the foundational genres of Roman literature such as epic, history, lyric poetry, epistles, and satire. The aim of Latin 2…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The language of the ancient Roman people is well worth studying for its own sake, but especially for the sheer joy of reading the Romans in their own words. Many important Western texts, such as Virgil’s Aeneid, are best enjoyed in the original language. There are other benefits to studying Latin, of course, but we should always approach another language…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
This class is designed both for Adults and High School Students who are looking for a foundational year in how to read before taking my other classes. Some students prefer to take this class as a capstone year as well because we do cover some literary theory. This class will provide training in the skill and art of reading. With…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Please Note: This class has a rotating book list so that students may take the class more than once. Good Books is a gentle but thorough introduction to the Literary Tradition for Middle School students. With an emphasis on reading slowly, we will cover basic story patterns and archetypes, motifs and themes that dominate the Great Works of Literature.…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
A year-long in-depth study of Early Modern English literature. Each work will be fully placed in its historical, philosophical, literary, and imaginative context. CS Lewis said that it's the duty of the reader to read the Great Books like the original audience ; otherwise we cannot understand what we are reading. This takes work because we come to these texts…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Over the course of the 16th century, it became more and more obvious that the Medieval era had drawn to a close and given way to new developments in religion and culture. New continents were discovered, the forms and aims of the arts branched out in new directions. The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation worked enormous changes in the structure…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The understanding of the grand narrative of the Hebrew Bible is the cornerstone of the understanding of story. In this course, students will study the history of the Hebrew people through reading the principal historical narratives of the Old Testament from the Exodus to the end of the Old Testament, illustrated by the laws of Moses, the stories of the…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Welcome to a year of Beowulf in the Anglo-Saxon literary tradition! In this 32-week class, we will dive into the story, language, and world of Beowulf, translating it line by line as we go. The first term will include basic grammar review, a study of alliterative meter, and early essays in translating alliterative verse. As we find our translating feet,…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
In this year-long class, we will learn the foundations of Old English grammar while being introduced to various literary forms in the language. The first term consists of grammar knowledge, poetry reading, and initial translations. The second term includes more advanced grammar and continued poetry and narrative translations. Students will be expected to do in-class readings. Throughout the year, students…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
A year-long in-depth study of the literature of the Greeks and the Romans. Each work will be placed in its own historical and philosophical setting. A main purpose of this course is to give the student a richer understanding of the pre-Christian classical world and its religious, literary and intellectual ideals. This class and the ancient history course are…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The political, social, religious and intellectual experiences of the Greeks and Romans are set in the very roots of the historical development of Europe and the Americas. It is the aim of this course to introduce students to the life of Greece and Rome, their thinkers, statesmen and soldiers, alongside their philosophies, religions and wars. The period this class takes…
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
