Marvell’s Garden and Ours – Otium

27 June 2025

Episode 5.18 Marvell’s Garden and Ours: Otium

Speaking of links back to Andrew Marvell’s poetry–weren’t we?–we add a new concept into our repertoire which exposes some of our misapprehensions about nature, leisure, and work. And we read Marvell’s poem “The Garden” while we think green thoughts about it.

Confused about our episode numbering? Don’t be! Since this episode is more about Andrew Marvell’s work, it appears as a Journey 5: Andrew Marvell episode, though it aired in the context of Journey 6 where the concept of otium became important to us!

New to Literary Nomads? Check out episode 5.00 to find out what we’re all about: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/an-introduction-and-irony/

Listener Survey Available!  Please let me know what you thought of Season 5, and get some free stuff, too!

• https://forms.gle/rZEaGFhniuv78BwF7

Reading Ahead, Journey 6:

• Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow”:  https://eyeofmidas.com/scifi/LeGuin_VasterThanEmpires.pdf
• Ursula K. Le Guin: “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”: https://archive.org/download/the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas-ursula-k-leguin/The%20Ones%20Who%20Walk%20Away%20from%20Omelas%20-%20Ursula%20K%20LeGuin.pdf

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/

CHAPTERS

00:00     Reverie in Roma
04:32     Opening Theme
05:05     Building Nature
11:15     Reading” The Garden” by Andrew Marvell
15:14     Green Thoughts
23:05     Otium
37:35     Closing Theme and Credits

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Transcript: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-18-marvells-garden-and-ours-otium/

Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/WKGp1YWrazNZ3TLt8 

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Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

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CREDITS:

Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

USING THIS WORK:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

MLA CITATION:

Chisnell, Steve. “Marvell’s Garden and Ours: Otium,’” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 27 June 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.