Episode Details

13 June 2025

Episode 6.01 - Signpost: Pretty Gardens in Paint

Where we’ve been and where we’re going, and we take a pause in a museum gallery, too!

New to Literary Nomads? Check out episode 5.00 to find out what we’re all about: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/an-introduction-and-irony/

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• https://forms.gle/rZEaGFhniuv78BwF7

Thomas Gainsborough painting: Mr. and Mrs. Andrews (1750): https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-mr-and-mrs-andrews

Literary Terms Reviewed:

• narrative distance
• dramatic irony
• inter-textuality
• ekphrasis
• allusion
• polysemy
• sfumato

Reading Strategies Reviewed:

• Embracing uncertainty and ambiguity
• Asking why questions
• Our interpretation process: notice, significance, pattern, coherence
• Engaging our experience; engaging others

Authors & Titles Reviewed:

• Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”
• Horace, Ode 1.11
• Roman Krznaric, Carpe Diem Regained
• Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”

Concepts and Themes Reviewed:

• Carpe diem as “pluck” or “harvest”
• Accountability
• Uncertainty
• Ethics of Choice
• Ethical Attentiveness

Reading Ahead, Journey 6:

• Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow”:  https://eyeofmidas.com/scifi/LeGuin_VasterThanEmpires.pdf
• Ursula K. Le Guin: “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”: https://archive.org/download/the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas-ursula-k-leguin/The%20Ones%20Who%20Walk%20Away%20from%20Omelas%20-%20Ursula%20K%20LeGuin.pdf

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/

CHAPTERS

00:00     Pastoral Splendour
06:38     Opening Theme
07:16     Signposting
09:19     Literary Terms
17:22     Interlude: The Andrewses
21:28     Strategies for Meaning
28:52     Interlude 2: The Andrewses
33:21     Authors and Titles
37:23     Interlude 3: The Andrewses
40:47     A Few Themes
47:43     Final Visit: The Andrewses
51:20     Closing Theme and Credits

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Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-6-01-pretty-gardens-in-paint/

Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/WKGp1YWrazNZ3TLt8 

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Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes