Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - this is episode 278 - Whitman on Democracy - and This is the final episode - for now - about Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman wrote many lengthy poems about democracy - in fact I found a great poem about Democracy that would take almost two hours to read — but I am going to try and confine the poems in this episo…

Send us a text It is generally agreed that O Captain, My Captain is Walt Whitman’s masterpiece. But to understand this poem you need to look at the connections between Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman, and Whitman’s love, Peter Doyle.Oleh George Bartley

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 276 - Beat! Beat! Drums! After three episodes on President Abraham Lincoln, I would like to delve into arguably America’s greatest poet - a man whose entire outlook on life was intertwined with this positive views of and strong belief in democracy - Walt Whitman. Art historian Mary Berenson wrote, "…

Send us a text On the fourth day of March, 1865, the President of the United States stood on the east steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. to deliver his second inaugural address. Now Four years earlier, Abraham Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address as disaster loomed. The divided nation had that sent him to the White House aft…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 274 - A Two-Minute Masterpiece: The Gettysburg Address Explained This episode delves briefly into Edward Everett's two hour speech at Gettysburg prior to President Lincoln's two minute address, and breaks down Lincoln's words and concepts in his address.…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 273 - The Better Angels of Our Nature For the next three episodes, I would like to delve into three speeches by Abraham Lincoln - not only because of their excellence but because of how conditions in Lincoln’s time can be compared to many political challenges of today.…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - this is episode 272 where I look at Frederick Douglass, and yes, a little about Edgar Allan Poe. Now while Poe and Douglass came from vastly different backgrounds with fascinating writing styles, they both share a mastery of suspense in their respective works. In this episode, I want to concentrate on Dougl…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 270 - Life, Liberty, and Happiness. The United States Declaration of Independence is an extremely important document in the history of the United States of America, and was ratified on July 4, 1776. It says that the Americans were no longer under British rule. …

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley - and this is episode 269 - Give Me Liberty. Presidential elections in the United States only occur once every four years, and it could be argued that 2024 is the most important Presidential election of our lives. So after a great deal of thought and research, I decided to take a b…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 269 - Marrying Your Cousin Many people believe that one of the most controversial subjects regarding Poe is the fact that he married his much younger cousin. Virginia Eliza Clemm. - I guess you could say that the relationship began as a familial bond. Poe first met Virginia when she was seven years …

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 266 - Poe’ First Story - Part Two After all the background of the previous episode, I’d like to devote this episode to the actual story of Metzengerstein. After listening to this episode, you might like to go back and listen to Part One - even if you have alrea…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 266 - Poe’ First Story - Part One Most Poe scholars seem to believe that Poe’s first published story was Metzengerstein. Metzengerstein was published by The Philadelphia Saturday Courier on the 14 JANUARY in 1832. So today I would like to look at some backgroun…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - this is Episode 265 - Celebrate Poe’s Most Important Episode Yet - This is the first episode of this podcast that is NOT Poecentric - an episode that a does not deal primarily with Poe or his writings - but a very personal account of my prostate cancer, the importance of early treatment, as well as the pros…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 264 - Baltimore, Part Two - and let me emphasize that this and the previous episode are about the time that Poe spent in Baltimore after he left West Point - his final days in Baltimore shortly before his earthly demise.…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 263 - Baltimore, Part 1 - and let me emphasize that this and the following episode are about the time that Poe spent in Baltimore after he left West Point - not his final days in Baltimore shortly before his earthly demise.…

Send us a text MerchantWelcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 262 - John Allan’s Death - In this episode I want to zero in on what I feel was one of the major influences on Poe’s work - John Allan. Although - to my knowledge - he never directly encouraged his son to be a writer - I believe that Poe was highly influenced - in a negative way - by the fre…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - episode 261 - The War of 1812 Revisited. This is a look back at the highest rated - at least audience wise - podcast episode of Celebrate Poe so far - with almost 500 downloads. Now, historian Alan Taylor, the author of The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian All…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - this is episode 260 - the Wilmer Manuscript Collection. When you think of Edgar Allan Poe, what works come to mind? Perhaps The Raven or Annabel Lee - or one of his many stories such as The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, Berenice, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Murders in the Rue Morgue or the Wil…

Send us a text This the final episode of a series that looks at what might have happened if Edgar Allan Poe had chosen a different path - if he had decided to become a soldier after his time at West Point, and not one of the greatest of all American writers. And we invariably go off to discuss other subjects as well including the creative process a…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - my name is George Bartley, and this is episode 257 - Waking at 6 AM This and the following podcast episodes are an alternate or what if history exercises. The episodes look at what might have happened if Edgar Allan Poe had chosen a different path - if he had decided to become a soldier after his time at We…

Send us a text This and the following podcast episodes in this series are an alternate or what if history exercises. The episodes look at what might have happened if Edgar Allan Poe had chosen a different path - if he had decided to become a soldier after his time at West Point, and not one of the greatest of all American writers. And we invariably…

Send us a text This and the following three podcast episodes were begun as what if history exercises. These episodes look at what might have happened if Edgar Allan Poe had chosen a different path - if he had decided to become a soldier after his time at West Point, and not one of the greatest of all American writers. And we invariably go off to di…

Send us a text Welcome back to Celebrate Poe - This is episode 254 - Poe’s Views on Democracy. Today I would like to talk with Mr. Poe about his views of government - and especially about what he might have thought about the specter of Donald Trump. I had previously been under the impression that Edgar Allan Poe was somewhat reactionary in his poli…

Send us a text This podcast episode deals with an address given by Robert G. Ingersoll - one of the individuals who spoke at Whitman’s funeral. He was the poet of Love. He was not ashamed of that divine passion that has built every home; that divine passion that has painted every picture and given us every real work of art; that divine passion that…

Send us a text The main title of this episode, Call Me By Your Name, is taken from the text of a letter written to Whitman by one of Whitman’s admirers - none other than Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. Trickle drops! my blue veins leaving! O drops of me! trickle, slow drops, Candid from me falling, drip, bleeding drops, From wounds made to free…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 251 - When Whitman Met Peter - this episode deals with an essential area of Walt Whitman’s life and creative spirit - in fact, you might even say that a twenty-something immigrant served as an inspiration and a muse for some of the poet’s greatest works. Of course, during Pride Month, this podcast c…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - This is episode 250 Whitman and the Civil War. Walt Whitman was forty-two years old when the Civil War started. Some critics would charge that he should have joined the Union Army, but anyone who knew him, like his friend and biographer John Burroughs, could hardly conceive of the mild and empathic poet as …

Send us a text This is episode 249 - America’s First Gay Bar While the word gay certainly wasn’t used to connote same sex attraction during Walt Whitman’s lifetime, Whitman DID patronize an establishment at 647 Broadway that today might be considered a gay bar. And that drinking establishment was known as Pfaff’s - spelled PFAFFs. I have even heard…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - This is episode 248 - America’s Poet - This is the first full episode of Pride Month dealing with Walt Whitman. This episode emphasizes that Whitman continually revised and added new poems to his masterpiece "Leaves of Grass" over his lifetime to symbolize the organic, ever-changing nature of the work itsel…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is Episode 247 - Same Sex Attraction in the 19th Century As I write the script for this podcast episode, tomorrow is the first day of LGBTQ month - and similar to previous years, I decided to devote the entire month to individuals who are viewed as gay heroes. The month o…

Send us a text Today I’d like to take a slight change of pace with a look at an area that is not often associated with Edgar Allan Poe, but an area in which the Allan family vacationed - White Sulphur Springs during the summers of 1812, 1813, and 1814. Prior to the Civil War, the White Sulphur Springs area was called western Virginia, but all that …

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is Episode 245 - Byron’s Influences on Poe. This episode is the third - and final - for now - episode about Lord Byron, and does not deal as much with Byron’s escapades in Europe, but how he influenced Edgar Poe. The episode delves into the young Edgar Poe as an imitator …

Send us a text This is Episode 244 of Celebrate Poe - Darkness - the second of three episodes about Lord Byron Where we left off, it is said that Lord Byron awoke one morning and found himself famous. The first run of his latest book of 500 copies sold out in three days. Pretty impressive for the time! This episode also takes a deep dive into Byron…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe, Episode 243 ˜- Dangerous to Know. This My name is George Bartley, and this is the first of three episodes about Lord George Byron. A few episodes ago, I talked about the love of Lord Byron and his dog - and hoped I got across the point that Lord Byron was a fascinating person. Then it struck me - it might be…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 242 - Dreamland, Continued . Hopefully this should be the last episode regarding Edgar Allan Poe’s Dream Poems - at least for now. And, hopefully, by the end of this episode, you will have an firm understanding of what Ultima Thule means.…

Send us a text This podcast to takes a deeper dive into some of Poe’s so-called Dream Works - or your works that dealt with the experience of dreaming. This episode will revisit A Dream With a Dream (perhaps the work most associated with the movie Inception.). But the majority of the episode will introduce the concept of Ultima Thule, as well as Po…

Send us a text This episode deals with the use of animal metaphors in Poe’s works - concentrating on The Conqueror Worm and perhaps the most well-known of all poetic metaphors - The Raven. And imagine that (instead or a raven) Poe used an owl - or a parrot. What differences might that change in metaphors make?…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 239. This episode deals with arguably the two greatest writers of the 19th century - Mark Twain and Edgar Poe - and their fascination with (and love of) cats in their lives and literature.Oleh George Bartley

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 238 - Remains of a Friend. Now I admit that examining Poe’s life - while certainly interesting and informative - can be a bit tedious at times. For a complete change of pace, I thought I would look at the pets of several famous writers for the next an episode o…

Send us a text This episode looks at how Edgar Poe was directly influenced by the works of William Shakespeare. This episode deals with a list of quotes from Shakespeare in Poe’s handwriting that can be seen at the Poe Museum in Richmond (when the author of this podcast saw that list, he became as excited as a young girl at a Taylor Swift concert!)…

Send us a text Episode 236 - A Star is Born is the first of two episodes that deal with the influence of William Shakespeare (the anniversary of his birthday was earlier this week.). The first episode deals with the influence of Shakespeare's plays (and acting in general) on the marriage of David and Eliza Poe. Using some original information that …

Send us a text This episode continues a series that compare’s elements of Christopher Nolan’s Inception with Poe’s dream works. The episode ends with Poe’s poem Dreams - a classic work that weaves a narrative transitioning from a sense of hope in dreams to a realization of their illusory nature. The speaker reminisces about reveling in dreams of li…

Send us a text Welcome to Celebrate Poe - episode 234 - Spinning Tops, Part Two In this episode, Celebrate Poe continues its examination of some of Poe’s works against the background of Christopher Nolan’s movie - Inception. First, it is important to remember that many of Poe's tales are narrated by characters with questionable sanity or motives. S…

Send us a text Spinning Top, Part One is a the first of five episodes devoted to an examination of Poe's "Dream Works" and Christopher Nolan's movie "Inception." This episode emphasizes that Poe's characters are often haunted by memories and past traumas, while Inception reflects this with Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) grappling with his deceased wife M…

Send us a text This episode takes a deep dive into the three dreams of Richard III - from a dream about falling off a ship to the admonitions of "Despair and Die" before the Battle of Bosworth in The Tragedy of Richard III.Oleh George Bartley

Send us a text This episode delves into (for the most part) some of the some shorter passages from Shakespeare dealing with dreams passages that are also among the most well known. Sections vary from Julius Caesar to Henry IV, Part 1 to Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet to The Tempest, among others.Oleh George Bartley

Send us a text Episode 230. To Be or Not Episode 230 continues an examination of Chronos time and Kairos times through an examination of Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy from Shakespearae’s Hamlet. Special attention is paid to Hamlet’s decision NOT to act - that waiting for Kairos - or the right moment to make a decision - is a decision in i…

Send us a text Episode 229 of Celebrate Poe is a continuation of an examination of the concepts or Chronos and Kairos - this time centered around the story of Easter - for example - how concept of kairos time is intricately related to the narrative of Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. The use of kairos time in the Easter Story emphasizes that Jesus' dea…

Send us a text Episode 228 of Celebrate Poe is entitled “What Is a Day?” The podcast (and several episodes after it) were influenced by a sermon given by the Rev. Julia Wentworth at Trinity Episcopal Church in Indianapolis earlier this year. This episode deals with Chronos and Kairos time, and delves into the role of time in the Creation story, Mar…

Send us a text This episode deals with J. Robert Oppenheimer - the complex figure who is the subject of this year’s Best Picture. This episode compares the figures of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edgar Allan Poe. Obviously, from different centuries, the two figures share many common complexities because of their backgrounds, talents, accomplishments, …