11. St. Thomas More's Dialogue of Comfort with Dr. Michael West

Jacob Terneus, PhD student in ancient and medieval philosophy at Marquette University, talks with Patrick about his recent article in the Imaginative Conservative: Motion, Moments, & Sculptural Art: The Time and Imagination. He references to sculptural works in his essay and in our discussion: Bernini's Apollo and Daphne and Ghiberti's Baptistry Doors. I would also encourage everyone to go read his other recent publication, Speech & Knowledge in Plato's Major Hippias, over at the Voegelin View.

Dr. Michael West, affiliate assistant professor of English and Director of Studies in Catholic Faith & Culture at the University of Dallas, joins the show to discuss the distance learning program he directs. Recently, Studies in Catholic Faith & Culture began releasing some of its courses and talks on YouTube for free. We focused on Dr. Gerard Wegemer's reflections on St. Thomas More's A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation. Other books mentioned in the episode: Dante Purgatorio Dicken Pickwick Papers Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451, Golden Apples of the Sun Christopher Alexander A Pattern Language

Patrick discusses the Roman poet Ausonius (4th cent. A.D.) with Dr. Lionel Yaceczko, teach of Latin and Greek at the Heights School in Potomac, MD. For those looking to read this brief poem, the Loeb edition is out of copyright and can be found here. It begins on p.310.

Patrick speaks with Bo Bonner about a multitude of books and how they speak to life with the suspension of public Masses around Holy Week. Bo is executive vice president of the Newman Idea and director of mission and ministry at Mercy College in Iowa. He also co-hosts a weekly broadcast on Iowa Catholic Radio, the Uncommon Good. Works discussed in this episode: Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power by Josef Pieper Paradise Lost by John Milton "The Proof" by Richard Wilbur Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh On Bullsh*t by Harry Frankfurt Bo has also written for Church Life Journal on Pieper's most famous work, Liesure : the Basis of Culture.

Patrick interviews Gerald Russello, editor of The University Bookman, about his recent article in the Intercollegiate Review: It's Time for Conservatives to Stop Being Content with J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Show Links: Bradley Birzer's Beyond Tenebrae: Christian Humanism in the Twilight of the West The Novels Charles Williams 10 Blatantly Obvious Christ Figures in the 'Star Wars' Universe via the Babylon Bee Nick Ripatrazone's Longing for an Absent God: Faith and Doubt in Great American Fiction And also the writings of Stratford Caldecott on the cultural imagination of comics.

Patrick is joined by Katy Lemieux, the brains behind Actors Reading Outloud. We share a couple poems: Wordsworth's My Heart Leaps and Marie Howe's What the Living Do. We discuss the nascent idea for Actors Reading Outloud from her joint work with her husband on staging Auden's For the Time Being. We talk Steinbeck for a spell, especially The Red Pony (which I'm happy to see has a better cover in new editions.) Katy is also a writer-at-large on the arts for the Dallas area and we discuss her interview with David Lowery, Tom Stoppard, and so much more.

Annie and Patrick reconnect after our February hiatus. Annie recites Fr. Hopkins' God's Grandeur. Patrick recounts reciting it in a thunderstorm atop Mt. Quandary in CO. Patrick recites Ben Jonson's To Celia, a favorite of the IHP. And Annie recalls the perils of what we try to memorize late in the semester. Annie talks about her hiatus from Signs of Life during the period of social distancing and how we can support independent bookstores and coffee shops. Incidentally, Annie calls out Patrick for being pretentious and Patrick cowers behind David Hume's essay, Of the delicacy of taste and passion.

A conversation with David Arth where we recite some poetry and discuss the finer things. For those interested... The text of A.E. Housman's "Terence, this is stupid stuff" can be found here. The Auden poem on A.E. Housman is still under copyright but some sleuthing will soon deliver it to you. The text of William Wordsworths' "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" can be found here. If you're looking for a copy of The Shepherd Boy look now further. Please do watch this recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. And last, "Heaven Sent" is episode 11 of season 9 of Doctor Who. The soundtrack is available on Spotify.

An interview with Dr. Michael Boler, associate professor of Classics and director of the Honors Program at the University of St. Thomas, on his new book: Introduction to Classical and New Testament Greek: A Unified Approach.

Patrick and Annie sit down to talk about what they're reading, reflect on John Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer", and talk about Book 24 of the Iliad and friendship. Along the way, we discuss the proper order in which to read the Chronicles of Narnia, Rossetti's art inspired by Dante, the Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and Dennis Quinn's book on Wonder.