Talk Write

Reentering Eden, Dante is his own guide for the first time since his journey began. Meeting with Matilda, the active soul, as Virgil watches from a distance, ever the proud father. Trans. John Ciardi Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Dante moves through the sheet of living flame to ascend beyond the realms of the lustful; Virgil shares his last words with his student. Trans. John Ciardi Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Dante and Virgil meet the rest of the lustful company as they continue their sojourn through the last cornice of Purgatory. Trans. John Ciardi Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In the rung of the late-delayers, Dante and Virgil meet three souls who died by violence. Trans. John Giardi Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

After three cantos of setting the scene, Dante and Virgil finally begin their ascent. Encounters with the sun and the indolent. Trans. John Giardi Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

The contumacious are condemned to carry on wandering in Canto 3 of Dante's Purgatorio. Translation: John Ciardi Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Dante and Virgil's encounter with the angel-guide; Cato urges the souls not to dilly-dally: Canto 2. Translation: John Ciardi Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Dante and Virgil emerge from Hell and come to the antechamber of Purgatory. Cato of Utica and Baptism: Dante's Purgatorio Canto 1. Translation John Ciardi Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Having come to Mount Zion, the psalmist reflects on the mercies and grace that have seen him this far. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Today we have Yeats's rhapsodizing and lyrical "Sailing to Byzantium." Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Lenten Week 3: Psalms 123 and 124 Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

My short story "The Three and a Half Deaths of Berry Qin" Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Descriptions of nature, silence, and characterization underscore Ivan Turgenev's masterful "A Sportsman's Notebook" (Sketches from a Hunter's Album, trans. Charles and Natasha Hepburn) Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Prose stylistics in Emerson's essay, "The Poet." Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Anthony Burgess spoofs the James Bond spy novel with food contests and free will. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

A heartbreaking dialogue between two sisters in C.S. Lewis's "Till We Have Faces" showcase the author's skill in managing irony and tragedy. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

We take another dive into C.S. Lewis's hell-novel "The Great Divorce" and see how the author depicts love gone bad. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Lenten Week 1: Psalms of Ascent 120, 122 Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

A short story I wrote back in October while traveling through Yunnan. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Captain Ahab reaps what he sews in chapter 135 of "Moby Dick." Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

She was Rachel, weeping for her children, for they were not. Ahab shows even more of his monstrous character in this chapter leading up to the great hunt for the white whale. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

"Let Ahab beware of Ahab" Ahab confronts his first mate in Chapter 109 of Melville's "Moby Dick." Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

"Death to Moby Dick!" Captain Ahab's manic speech against the White Whale in Melville's "Moby Dick" Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Images of monsters in Melville's 16-line poem "The Maldive Shark." Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

"I will lift up mine eyes to the hills" Songs of trust and travel: Psalm 121 Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe