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Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few journals. His epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, will chronicle the major events of the American Revolution if he lives to complete it. Though he writes history articles for American Essence magazine, he lists his primary occupation on official forms as ‘poet.’ He is, in other words, a vagabond.
My Last Duchess The Duke of Ferrara recalls his last wife. by Robert Browning That's my last Duchess painted...
. El Pescado They gloat: the age of Pisces, it is over. They chant to call Aquarius’ forces in. In...
Brian -- yes, I think "or pulse as starlight flares" would be absolutely right. It gets rid of "quasar" and…
Mary Jane, this is a wonderful translation of Rilke's original German. I love how you maintained the rhyme-scheme and the…
Wow! Very impressive, and imaginatively creative, translation feat!
Good advice Nathan - totally agree.
Thanks Margaret. Speaking of Langston Hughes, it’s an endless fascination to me that my (and many other people’s) two favorite…
That is a great title and the books are wonderful, true, and patriotic. None of this modernist junk! They should be in every school!
I am grateful to have your support, Roy. Since sales of Vol. 1 have tailed off and the possibility for exposure is so much greater when the text is visualized, I’m planning on making a video playlist of the entire book. Doing TJ in Hell chapter now, but it’s going to take a while.
Andrew, I find your poetry thoroughly entertaining. It is obvious you have a passion for luscious language, the wonder of literature, and the wild side of history – all of which you treat your readers to in your superb works. My order’s in!
Much thanks for your endorsement here, Susan—and on the back cover of V2 as well!
I loved it, man, and so much better it is to be read to than to actually read. I don’t know why this is so, except that you have made it so. The vagabond returneth, and all the world rejoices. Keep fighting the good fight.
Glad you enjoyed, Kip. Watching takes less effort than reading. The downside is that the creator’s interpretation imposes itself on the viewer, so that the potential reader is robbed of the experience of imagining it in his head. But since most people are dumb, only a minority suffer from this imposition.
It is quite evident to me that Andrew Benson Brown is a genius – in the Byronic manner – at this mock-epic genre. The inventiveness, the imagination, and the linguistic fluency are all staggeringly great. Add to that the double bonus of his superb reading voice and the witty graphics – heck, he should be America’s Poet Laureate! Let’s all keep plugging him because – oh so annoyingly – he’s young too!!!
I wish I still felt young. No chance in any of us becoming laureates unless Trump takes control and sweeps away the DEI frauds. Naturally there are older, wiser people I wish I could nominate. If I ever become a millionaire I will have some silver crowns custom-made and ship them first class.
These are wonderful readings of wonderful work, Andrew. You write outstanding poetry but what makes it unique for me is the voice in which you write — it is highly respectful of the classics (your take on “Of arms and the man I sing…”) and in carefully wrought couplets; and yet there is a use of language and imagery that is cheeky and modern. I don’t want to call it “mock epic” because the story is indeed epic and you’re not really mocking it. Mockery is reserved for modern times in which respect for the magnificent acts of the Founding Fathers has been deeply degraded. Your poem is a unique blend of history plus commentary, as much cinematic as it is poetic. Yes, one can find the echoes of Byron and Pope and even Milton and Homer. But I’m also reminded of modern films like Shrek which present something timeless in a style which blends traditional story-telling with a contemporary voice that veers into the sassy and irreverent, but one which contains truth and a beating heart. Your work is highly entertaining and deeply provocative.
Always so astute, Brian. So many poets have riffed on Virgil’s opening. It’s overdone, really. I would say it is ‘mock-epic’ in the standard definition of that term. At the same time, that is kind of an unfortunate term because the average person doesn’t understand what it is and I always have to explain it. In an obscure footnote in Vol. 1 I categorize different styles of mock-epic. You have the Popean style, which is very mocking. Then there is the Byronic, which is half-mocking, half-serious. Then there is Ariosto, who is more ‘light epic,’ and sometimes just gets classified as epic. It’s all on a spectrum. It is comparable to the different styles of satire, where black satire makes fun of everything, while more moderate satire might make fun of one thing in order to elevate another, like Horace mocking city-dwellers but praising the agrarian lifestyle.
Hey you ! Were those first two notes from Eroica !?!? Sweet connection.
I’m not sure I’d call it a mock epic, though I largely agree with Brian, otherwise. I might only be splitting hairs to consider it a crass-epic. Which I very much like. The crassness winds up though and we get a serious and striving classic invocation of the muse, a very strong introduction, indeed.
This epic should be the text in American history class.
And the closure is Eroica, too… ?
Don’t let them grind you down.
Crass-epic — I like it! Eroica, yes. I try to include music that reflects the subject matter. No one ever seems to notice the connection, but it’s there.
When I showed someone a copy of the book recently, he said the cover gave “textbook vibes.” I think this was supposed to be a criticism. But since becoming a textbook is the primary way that authors are remembered, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.
The heroic! The revolutionary. Eroica is a perfect pick!
Rando idea — maybe shoot it to Prager U, who seem to be having good luck getting good things back into school systems… -?
I’m probably too much of a small fry for PragerU to pay attention, but wouldn’t that be nice!
I love this! An absolute PRO’s prologue.
Thanks, I hope my invocation informed you about the state of things—an infocation?
I love this too, Andrew! It’s impossible to stop reading — and watching! “Utopias are raised without a building standard.” is a line I hope to use often in casual conversation.
Also, “When Zeus was cradle-robbed of worshippers.”
And if I’m very lucky, some day I may be able to rhyme “happiness” with “crappiness”!
Many thanks, Cynthia.
Dear ABB, All kinds of problems here. Please keep me on your list for reading these. As always, anything you deem useful is yours.
Drop a line.
Line dropped. Haven’t forgotten about you, Sally–hope all is well.