Welcome to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.

I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Tuesday, July 16th, 2024.

Today's poem is by the great Elizabeth Barrett Browning, lived 1806 to 1861, and was married to the also great Robert Browning, both poets.

The poem is called a musical instrument.

And it seemed appropriate for a summer's day because it is a poem about Pan, the god from Greek

mythology, kind of minor god. And Pan always seems like a very summary being.

He's akin to Bacchus and Cilinus and Dionysus.

A close friend of mine who is also a teacher, loves to talk and jest about Dionysus being the patron, the patron god of summertime for students and teachers.

The academic year is governed by Apollo, who is very rational and ordered.

And then for the soul to remain healthy and balanced,

there has to be this season kind of a breaking loose that Dionysus takes over

and rules in a kind of festal, chaotic way, which for good or for ill is often a good

characterization of how summer goes for students and teachers. So Pan is in that genre of minor gods.

He is not a genre of minor gods.

He is not a god of the city.

He is a god of nature.

And there's a little bit of edge or danger to being one of those gods.

This poem also, and this is where this meets up with the other major thematic element of this poem,

this poem is also about becoming a poet, about the identity of a poet,

and I think in the end, even about being a human who will accept a relationship with the gods.

This is a poem about inspiration and what inspiration does to you.

I think you can read it on one allegorical level as speaking about what it means to become a poet.

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