Podcasts by Words That Burn
Explore the compelling and intricate world of poetry with Ben, a passionate Irish enthusiast of poetry.
Journey through the labyrinth of poetic expressions and techniques one masterpiece at a time.
In each episode, Ben carefully dissects a chosen poem, providing listeners with a comprehensive guide on how to delve into poetry analysis themselves. Each detailed examination draws attention to the poet's biography, the cultural and historical context that shaped the poem's creation, and an exploration of the myriad literary techniques employed to create resonant and emotionally charged works of art.
For those yearning to expand their understanding of poetry in a soothing, accessible manner that will deepen appreciation without overwhelming, Words That Burn offers an inviting gateway.
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Further podcasts by Benjamin Collopy
Podcast on the topic Bücher
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The Deluge and The Tree by Fadwa Tuqan from 2023-11-29T19:57:31
Donation Link:
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign: ...
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An Interview with Irish Poet Daragh Fleming from 2023-11-08T14:22:52
Join us in this riveting episode of Words That Burn, where we delve into the poetic and mental health journey of Daragh Fleming, an acclaimed poet and mental health advocate from Cork, Ireland. ...
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Halloween Special 2023 from 2023-10-27T14:43:47
Words That Burn Halloween Special 2023
Step into the shadowy world of poetry with the Words That Burn Halloween Special. This episode meticulously unravels the spine-tingl...
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An Interview with Irish Poet Jessica Traynor from 2023-10-18T12:12:08
In this special episode, I got a chance to chat with Irish Poet Jessica Traynor about her sequence of witch poems from her 2018 collection The Quick.
Jessica Traynor is an ac...
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The Haw Lantern by Seamus Heaney from 2023-09-27T09:51:38
In this episode, we reflect upon the profound impact of Seamus Heaney, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the poet’s passing by examining his poignant piece, "The Haw Lantern."
OBIT [Ambition] by Victoria Chang from 2023-09-06T12:52
What does it mean to truly grieve and can we ever move on from it?. In this episode, I explore OBIT [Ambition] by Victoria Chang, a poignant reflection on how we grieve not just physica...
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Earth Presses Against Us by Mahmoud Darwish from 2023-08-09T14:36:14
Delve into the poetic world of Mahmoud Darwish on this week's episode of Words That Burn. Uncover the heart-wrenching narrative of "Earth Presses Against Us" from his 1986 anthology,
Knives We Used On Our Skin from 2023-07-19T06:00:20
This week's episode is deep dive into the unflinching poetry of Irish poet, Molly Twomey.
It looks at the complex layers of Twomey's poignant masterpiece, "Knives We Used on Our Skin"....
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Love After Love by Derek Walcott from 2023-05-24T06:28:32
Dive into the realm of self-compassion and forgiveness in this episode of 'Words That Burn'. We delve deep into the transformative words of Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, particularly focusing on...
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Midnight In The Foreign Food Aisle by Warsan Shire from 2023-02-08T10:33:34
When we are forced to leave a life behind, what price do we truly pay. This question is the one at the heart of Warsan Shire's poem Midnight In the Foreign Food Aisle.
Join me as ...
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Car Graveyard by Charles Simic from 2023-01-25T07:00:56
How can we make peace with an ending? Can we make peace with them at all. In this episode of Words That Burn, we'll be taking a closer look at the poetry of the late Charles Simic. The episode w...
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An Interview With Irish Poet Luke Morgan from 2023-01-04T10:59:23
I have a chat with Irish poet Luke Morgan about his latest collection Beast and all the themes of shape shifting and transformation that are in it. We talk about the ways we carve out i...
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Cotton Candy On A Rainy Day by Nikki Giovanni from 2022-12-06T12:55:05
Change is hard, it’s a well worn statement. It can be difficult for us personally to go through, it can be difficult for others to accept. Despite all that the hardest aspect of it may be when c...
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A Bronze God, or a Letter On Demand by Clifton Gachagua from 2022-11-14T07:00:36
What does it feel like when we burn for those we love? Do we burn more in their presence or in their absence? More importantly what is the line between love and worship? All these questions are ...
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Halloween Special 2022 from 2022-10-28T06:00
It can be easy to relegate Halloween to the realm of a kitsch festival every year but to do so would be a mistake. Here in Ireland Halloween or Oíche Shamhna, was an important festival for both ...
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Hokusai by Anne Carson from 2022-10-03T06:00:59
Where does practice turn to obsession? Is anger when pursuing perfection inevitable?
These are two of the questions explored in Anne Carson's Hokusai. In the poem Carson takes a ...
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Shadowboxer by Anne Carson from 2022-09-20T16:59:56
How do we deal with trauma and regret? If we're honest, it's usually not well. This seems especially true for men. Difficult emotions around remorse, guilt and vulnerability are rarely expressed...
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Tired by Langston Hughes from 2022-08-23T15:52:50
Should we accept the world as it is? Harsh realities and all? Langston Hughes certainly didn't think so.
In his poem Tired, he lures the reader in with a soothing recognition of t...
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Torn by Ada Limón from 2022-08-08T07:04:12
Do you ever feel at odds with yourself or the world around you? I think it's an unavoidable truth of being human to be torn on occasion. U.S Poet Laureate Ada Limón has certainly felt and recogn...
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Meditations In An Emergency by Frank O' Hara from 2022-07-19T06:29:51
What should we do in a time of crisis? Become stoic? Take stock? Flounder in existentialism? In the case of Frank O' Hara, why not all three?
In Meditations In An Emergency, the speaker fi...
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The Yearner by Rachel Long from 2022-06-27T07:04:55
Do you ever wish for a blank slate? What would it cost?
These are exactly the questions that Rachel Long's The Yearner hopes to answer.
This week's poem looks at the pressures we...
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Since Feeling Is First by E.E. Cummings from 2022-06-09T07:20:41
Is love truly madness?
It's certainly foolishness for Poet E.E. Cummings.
In this episode I explore Since Feeling is First , one of his more famous love poems that looks at ...
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Sceimhle by Nuala Ní Dhomnaill from 2022-04-20T22:12:31
What does Paranoia really feel like?
It's an absolute nightmare according to poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill's Sceimhle. In this poem Ní Dhomhnaill fuses folklore and terror to create an...
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Outrageous by Stephen Sexton from 2022-02-09T23:33:07
What do you associate with the good times in your childhood? For Stephen Sexton it's Super Mario World, the classic 1991 video game for the SNES. In his truly moving poem Outrageous...
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The Courage of Shutting Up by Sylvia Plath from 2021-12-01T17:48:03
What is defiance exactly? Is it an act of bravery in the face of a tyrant? A bold battle cry against a Goliath? Or could it simply be a refusal to engage, to fuel, the passions of our abusers? <...
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The Courage of Shutting Up by Sylvia Plath from 2021-12-01T17:48:03
What is defiance exactly? Is it an act of bravery in the face of a tyrant? A bold battle cry against a Goliath? Or could it simply be a refusal to engage, to fuel, the passions of our abusers? <...
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Halloween Special 2021 from 2021-10-29T10:31:46
It's the season of things that go bump in the night! So in honour of Halloween I've brought you two poems about creatures that make a big bump.
The first poem is Windigo by Louise...
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To Autumn by John Keats from 2021-10-21T16:56:41
Is beauty more important than depth? Is nature the ultimate form of beauty? Do you believe in giving in to experience over rationality?
If you answered yes to any of the above question...
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at half eleven in the Mutton Lane in, I am fire, slaughter, dead starlings by Doireann Ní Ghríofa from 2021-09-29T06:00:39
Why do we find those who light fires within us? The people we know will burn us to the ground? The lure of chemistry and lust is a hard one to turn from and yet when we manage it, there is a qui...
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Two Reflections by Seán Hewitt from 2021-08-26T06:00:30
To what extent can the natural world help inform our inner lives? More importantly can it paradoxically irritate and soothe some of the wounds we've managed to accrue? Séan Hewitt certainly seem...
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Fame by Charlotte Mew from 2021-08-06T06:30:40
What lurks behind the glory days? Is there salvation in nature? Or has humanity moved to far forward in it's relentless pursuit of progress? These are the questions that Charlotte Mew puts to us...
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Gravity and Center by Henri Cole from 2021-07-08T07:00:48
Is love always a positive thing? How many forms can it take? More importantly, how can we learn to accept it. These are all questions tackled in Henri Cole's poem Gravity and Center. I...
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Ghazal by Mimi Khalvati from 2021-06-15T12:35:59
How do we capture those brief and fleeting moments when we fall in love with someone? Might I suggest a ghazal? On this week's episode we take a look at Ghazal by Mimi Khalvati. Khalvat...
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Never to Dream of Spiders from 2021-05-13T14:16:17
What responsibility do we have to use our voice? More importantly who is that responsibility to? If we were to follow the example of poet and activist Audre Lorde, the answer would be everyone. ...
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I Give You Back from 2021-04-07T11:00:24
Fear is one of our oldest companions and in many cases an unwelcome one. In her poem, I Give You Back , Joy Harjo explores the toxic and often suffocating relationship we can have with ...
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An Interview with Katie Condon from 2021-03-12T18:08:42
I was lucky enough to get to talk with poet and academic Katie Condon about her new poetry collection Praying Naked. In the interview Katie delves into what made her begin to write poet...
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The Panther from 2021-03-04T18:58:22
What does it mean to make art in the modern world? Is it for public consumption or is it simply for personal expression and
achievement? More importantly what happens when we grind down t...
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You'd Think the Sky Would Run Out of Water from 2021-02-11T08:00:29
Which poet gives love a grander form? Byron? Keats? Cummings? What about the everyday love. The kind of love that stumbles and doesn't flare into a phoenix like eruption? The kind of love that h...
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The Act of Counting from 2021-02-03T08:00:01
Who gives a voice to the displaced, the exiled, the lost? Someone who attempts to do so in every way is Nathalie Handal. In this poem, The Act of Counting , she takes us on a journey i...
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Send No Money from 2021-01-21T07:00:39
This week I take a look at the poem Send No Money by Philip Larkin. It's a poem that focuses on many of the narratives given to us by society, the ways in which they are present and how, quite o...
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Inner Life from 2021-01-13T08:00:43
This week I take a look at the poem Inner Life by Ariana Reines. It is a poem that perfectly encapsulates the deeply personal kinetic style in which she writes her poem. It is a p...
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The Men are Weeping in the Gym from 2020-11-26T13:07:48
This week I take a look at The Men are Weeping in the Gym by Andrew McMillan, a poem that looks at the devastating effects that toxic masculinity and body image issues can have on whole...
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Boy Breaking Glass from 2020-11-18T08:00:01
Race and oppression were always at the heart of Gwendolyn Brooks and this particular poem was a watershed moment for her career. A poem brimming with necessary destructive energy and an homage t...
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Shooting Script, 1987 from 2020-11-05T14:38:32
This week I take a look at the poem Shooting Script 1987 by Inua Ellams. The poem is a dissection of the way in which race and culture inform our sense of identity but more importa...
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Halloween Special 2020 from 2020-10-28T13:10:54
Halloween is upon us and so I chose three poems to send a shiver down your spine and take a look at what makes them so memorable.. They are:
This Living Hand by John Keats Listen
Eye Contact from 2020-10-15T08:04:55
This week I take a look at Eye Contact by Caroline Bird. It's a poem of pain and haunting in intimate relationships, with a dash of the surreal and Victorian gothic thrown in ...
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Derry Morning from 2020-10-07T13:26:52
In Memory of the Northern Irish poet Derek Mahon, who passed away last week, I took a look at his poem Derry Morning. Over the course of the episode I look at the way in which the poem ...
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Dido to Aeneas from 2020-10-01T09:42:59
This week I take a look at the poem Dido to Aeneas by Barbara Guest. As a poet Guest tends to create pieces and verse of extreme beauty her language is a decadence all it's own. Of...
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Home by Starlight from 2020-09-16T07:00:27
This week I take a look at the poem Home by Starlight by Paula Meehan. I'll be focusing on how Meehan uses the ancient history of Ireland to create a poem of lament for a lost time...
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What Work Is from 2020-09-09T08:29:40
This week I take a look at the poem What Work Is by Philip Levine. I'll be focusing on how Levine tried his best to present the working classes in a new and dignified ...
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The Honey Bear from 2020-09-02T02:09:45
This week I take a look at the poem The Honey Bear by Eileen Myles, I'll look at how Myles is able to capture the essence of any given moment of her life in sparse yet intense verse. H...
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Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond. from 2020-08-26T07:00
This week I take a look at the poem Somewhere I Have Never Traveled, Gladly Before by E.E. Cummings. I focus on how the poem encapsulates, not only the hallmarks of his style, but also ...
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Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond. from 2020-08-26T07:00
This week I take a look at the poem Somewhere I Have Never Traveled, Gladly Before by E.E. Cummings. I focus on how the poem encapsulates, not only the hallmarks of his style, but also ...
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