You thought I had exhausted my stores of patriotism.

You thought I had said everything I have to say about July 4th.

But no, while you are relaxing by the pool eating that leftover barbecue.

Sit back and let me tell you one more thing. So since we're on the subject of Alfred Lord Tennyson and his banger poem about England and America in 1782 commemorating

the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War.

It occurred to me that I did an episode a little while back.

It was just nuts and bolts about how to read a poem.

And I haven't done another one of those since, but you guys did say that you really liked that and that this was helpful as sort of a, you know

Poetry if poetry is not really your thing and this is a perfect opportunity to do that because we've got a short poem that I think is really awesome that not that many people read at least in my experience and we can use it to kind of get back into these questions, these technical questions about how you can get to know a poem better if you've not really spent a ton of time with a bunch of other poetry.

And I think this is a really great example of how to do that because, at least when I read it, this poem gives me a vibe. It has a very particular mood, and it's not immediately obvious to me why it has that vibe or what that vibe is but I know it has a feeling that I associate with a certain type of thing.

And so I want to look closer at it

and see if the technical elements can help me

figure out where that vibe comes from and what it is.

So the first thing remember to do whenever

you're getting to know a new poem

is just to read it, start to finish,

and to read it aloud.

I did that on Tuesday.

I'm gonna do it again now because it's short and it rules. Here we go. O thou that sendest out the man to

rule by land and sea, strong mother of a lion line, be proud of those strong sons of thine who wrenched their rights

from thee.

What wonder if, in noble heat, those men thine arms withstood retaught the lesson thou hadst taught and in

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