"The Wall" by Donald Justice

Tech woes: There's some static at 10:36 where I say "end rhyme." Sorry!

Topics discussed in this episode include:

-Wonderful exchanges with David, Robert , Quartez , Jack, Cameron , and Kevin.
-The Iowa Writer's Workshop
-Philip Levine's The Bread of Time
-Rhythmic modulations (a spondee it ain't!)
-This is the literary device. This is the moment. This is anaphora.
-Adam and Eve are unfazed by your divine glory.
-Proverbs 9:1
-False Utopias
-Poe's The Imp of the Perverse
-Felix Culpa Redux
-Virgil's Georgics
-Goated bible verse Isaiah 45:7
-Blake's The Tyger 
-The Chronic(what!)cles of Narnia
-Ersatz fruit would be a good band name
-Satan is the god of this world
-The burden and blessing of intelligence

Text of poem:

The Wall

for J.B. 

The wall surrounding them they never saw;

The angels, often. Angels were as common

As birds or butterflies, but looked more human.

As long as the wings were furled, they felt no awe.

Beasts, too, were friendly. They could find no flaw

In all of Eden: this was the first omen.

The second was the dream which woke the woman.

She dreamed she saw the lion sharpen his claw.

As for the fruit, it had no taste at all.

They had been warned of what was bound to happen.

They had been told of something called the world.

They had been told and told about the wall.

They saw it now; the gate was standing open.

As they advanced, the giant wings unfurled.