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“The Prelude” by William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

A behemoth of a poem, The Prelude is essentially a philosophical autobiography in blank verse, the story of the growth of the poet’s mind. In the course of the poem, Wordsworth explores his own imagination as worthy fodder of an epic.The poem evolves out of Wordsworth’s overarching metaphor that life’s journey is a circular one whose end is “to arrive where we started / And know that place for the first time” (T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding, lines 241-42). The poem dramatizes several journeys, both literal and figurative, through which Wordsworth tries to reconstitute hope in a dark time.

The Google Books edition is more than 250 pages, so better leave this one for a long weekend or holiday. But please make time for it. It is even richer than Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” As long English poems go, “The Prelude” is the most insightful look at the human condition of the past three centuries.

Art Tatum, Forgotten Genius of the Piano

Art Tatum was born a century ago last month and remains the most admired jazz pianist who ever lived. Tatum’s virtuoso technique left his colleagues speechless. As Fats Waller said, “When that man turns on the powerhouse, don’t no one play him down.” Even the classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz so loved Tatum’s playing that he made his own arrangement of one of Tatum’s specialties, Tea for Two. Yet outside of his home town of Toledo, Ohio, the centennial of his birth on Oct. 13 went virtually unnoticed and unremarked upon. Today reverence of his talent is universal among jazz pianists, yet he is essentially unknown to musical audiences.

Below is a rare 1954 TV performance of “Yesterdays” by Jerome Kern.

How Much Land Does a Man Need – Audio

Leo Tolstoy, the Russian author of War and Peace and How Much Land Does a Man Need.

What follows is an audio recording of “How Much Land Does a Man Need.” The audio is provided by LibriVox and is in the public domain.

Here the link the the text of the story.

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How Much Land Does a Man Need

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Promotional DVD for the latest project from The Jazz Mandolin Project’s Jamie Masefield — a modern interpretation of the classic story “How Much Land Does A Man Need” by Leo Tolstoy.

How Much Land Does a Man Need – Summary

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This guy’s Readers Digest version of Tolstoy’s classic story is well delivered.