Poem text and context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2021/05/28/emily-dickinson-grief/

POEM TEXT / CONTEXT

"I measure every Grief I meet" (Maria Popova reads Emily Dickinson)

Kindly recorded for Brain Pickings. Poem text and context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2021/07/26/david-whyte-the-truelove

David Whyte reads his poem "The Truelove"

Poem text and context: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/04/02/rumi-love-gold

"Let's Love Each Other" by Rumi (translated and read by Haleh Liza Gafori)

Recorded at the 2022 Universe in Verse — an annual charitable celebration of the wonder of reality through stories of science winged with poetry, created and hosted by Maria Popova.

Poem text and context: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/05/20/trees-at-night-helene-johnson-rebecca-solnit

The Universe in Verse: Rebecca Solnit Reads "Trees at Night" (1925) by Helene Johnson

Poem text and context: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/06/02/octopus-poem/

Originally published in the 40th anniversary issue of Orion Magazine. Art by TK.

POEM TEXT

“The Age of the Possible” by Maria Popova

Story:  https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/06/05/the-cello-and-the-nightingales-beatrice-harrison

STORY

Beatrice Harrison and the nightingales (1920s)

Poem text and context: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/06/07/on-looking-up-by-chance-at-the-constellations

Reading by Alexandra Horowitz for The Universe in Verse: https://www.themarginalian.org/the-universe-in-verse/

The Universe in Verse: “On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations” by Robert Frost

Recorded at the 2022 Universe in Verse: theuniverseinverse.org

Poem text and context: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/06/14/the-beginning-and-the-end-robinson-jeffers

"The Beginning and the End" by Robinson Jeffers (excerpt read by Natalie Batalha)

Transcript, context, and photographs: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/06/17/jad-abumrad-caltech-commencement/

TRANSCRIPT

"Radiolab" creator Jad Abumrad's 2022 Caltech commencement address

Recorded at the 2022 Universe in Verse. Poem text and discussion: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/07/22/to-the-young-who-want-to-die-gwendolyn-brooks

Roxane Gay Reads "To the Young Who Want to Die" by Gwendolyn Brooks

Poem text and context: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/07/29/emily-dickinson-in-a-library/

Music: "Reverie" by Claude Debussy, performed by Simone Renzi (public domain)

"A precious mouldering pleasure" by Emily Dickinson (read by Maria Popova)

Poem text and context: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/08/03/sappho-fragment-31-jealousy/

Sappho: Fragment 31 (translated by Anne Carson, read by Maria Popova)

The second piece from "The Listeners" — composer Caroline Shaw's collaboration with PBO. Background and text: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/08/07/caroline-shaw-the-listeners/

Uploaded with Caroline Shaw's kind permission. Find "The Listeners" on:

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/caroline-shaw-is-a-rose-the-listeners-live/1502167970
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/Caroline-Shaw-Rose-Listeners-Live/dp/B085QB9VTZ
?tag=xiff-20
CD purchase: https://philharmonia.org/product/shawcd/

Photograph: The rings of Uranus, captured by the Voyager spacecraft

Caroline Shaw: Is a Rose & The Listeners (Live)

BACKGROUND

"Let Your Soul Stand Cool" (The Listeners: No. 2 by Caroline Shaw & Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra)

The fifth piece from "The Listeners" — composer Caroline Shaw's collaboration with PBO. Background and text: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/08/07/caroline-shaw-the-listeners/

Uploaded with Caroline Shaw's kind permission. Find "The Listeners" on:

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/caroline-shaw-is-a-rose-the-listeners-live/1502167970
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/Caroline-Shaw-Rose-Listeners-Live/dp/B085QB9VTZ
?tag=xiff-20
CD purchase: https://philharmonia.org/product/shawcd/

Photograph: The "pale blue dot" of Earth captured from the outer reaches of the Solar System by the Voyager spacecraft.

"Of a Million Million" (The Listeners: No. 5 by Caroline Shaw & Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra)

More: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/07/16/david-bowie-vocal-track-ziggy-stardust/

MORE

David Bowie's isolated vocal track for "Ziggy Stardust"

Poem text and background: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/04/04/maya-angelou-recites-phenomenal-woman/

Maya Angelou recites her poem "Phenomenal Woman"

Recorded at TED 2014. Transcript and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/03/20/neil-gaiman-ghost-stories/

Neil Gaiman on why scary stories speak to us

Background and poem text: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/09/24/mary-oliver-reads-wild-geese/

Recorded by the Lannan Foundation in 2001.

DETAILS / POEM TEXT

Mary Oliver reads "Wild Geese"

Mary Oliver reads from her exquisite collection 'Blue Horses.' Background, poem text, and context here: http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/02/09/mary-oliver-blue-horses-fourth-sign-of-the-zodiac/

Excerpted from https://soundcloud.com/onbeing/sets/mary-oliver-listening-to-the

MORE/TEXT

Mary Oliver reads from Blue Horses

Background, context, and poem text: http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/18/amanda-palmer-wislawa-szymborska-possibilities-poem-reading/

Photograph by Allan Amato. 

MORE / POEM TEXT

Amanda Palmer reads "Possibilities" by Wisława Szymborska

Background, transcribed highlights, and more: http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/26/sense-of-nonsense-alan-watts-tao-of-philosophy/

CONTEXT / TRANSCRIPT

Alan Watts: Sense of Nonsense

Part of a remarkable story of how Jack Kerouac kept a young woman from taking her own life – read it here: http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/08/31/universe-one-song-jack-kerouac-lois-beckwith/

READ THE STORY

"Universe — One Song," a poem for Jack Kerouac by Lois Sorrells Beckwith

Background and context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/01/15/j-r-r-tolkien-reads-from-lotr/

J.R.R. Tolkien reads from The Lord of the Rings

Background, context, and transcribed text: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/04/13/james-baldwin-the-artists-struggle-for-integrity/

Recording by Pacifica Radio Archives.

CONTEXT / TEXT

James Baldwin: The Artist's Struggle for Integrity (full lecture)

Background and poem text: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/05/16/wait-galway-kinnell/

Galway Kinnell reads "Wait"

Poem text and proper context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/04/26/the-mushroom-hunters-neil-gaiman/

Original poem written for and recorded at "The Universe in Verse" (brainpickings.org/the-universe-in-verse/) – an evening of poetry celebrating science and the scientists who have taken us to where we are today, and a protest against the silencing of science and the defunding of the arts, with all proceeds donated to the Academy of American Poets and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Photograph by Molly Walsh, Academy of American Poets

CONTEXT / POEM TEXT

Amanda Palmer reads "The Mushroom Hunters" by Neil Gaiman

@AmandaPalmer reads Jane Kenyon's sublime poem of living with and through depression. Originally recorded for Brain Pickings. Poem text and context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/09/27/having-it-out-with-melancholy-jane-kenyon-amanda-palmer/

September 27, 2017

Amanda Palmer reads "Having It Out With Melancholy" by Jane Kenyon

Bulgarian folk from the Golden Record that sailed into the cosmos aboard NASA's Voyager mission in 1977. More about this song: https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/12/21/reflection/

More about the Golden Record project: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/02/10/murmurs-of-earth-sagan-golden-record/

MORE ABOUT THIS

Music from the Golden Record: "Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin" by Valya Balkanska, Bulgaria

Background, context, and poem text: https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/04/19/esperanza-spalding-william-blake-the-fly/

Esperanza Spalding performs "The Fly" by William Blake

David Foster Wallace's iconic 2005 Kenyon College graduation address. Context and transcript here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/12/this-is-water-david-foster-wallace/

Part 2 here: http://soundcloud.com/brainpicker/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water-2

David Foster Wallace: "This Is Water" (part 1)

David Foster Wallace's iconic 2005 Kenyon College graduation address. Context and transcript here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/12/this-is-water-david-foster-wallace/

Part 1 here: http://soundcloud.com/brainpicker/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water-1

David Foster Wallace: "This Is Water" (part 2)

Recorded for Brain Pickings. Poem text and context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/09/23/amanda-palmer-mary-oliver-when-i-am-among-the-trees/

Amanda Palmer reads "When I Am Among the Trees" by Mary Oliver

From a BBC radio segment broadcast on April 29th, 1937. Background and transcript:http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/29/craftsmanship-virginia-woolf-speaks-1937/ 

MORE/TRANSCRIPT

On Craftsmanship: The only surviving recording of Virginia Woolf's voice

Background and transcript: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/21/ernest-hemingway-1954-nobel-speech/

Portrait of Hemingway by Yousuf Karsh

Ernest Hemingway's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1954

Poem text and context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2020/08/19/david-whyte-sometimes/

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