Signpost – Pretty Gardens in Paint

13 June 2025

Episode 6.01 – Signpost: Pretty Gardens in Paint

Where we’ve been and where we’re going, and we take a pause in a museum gallery, too!

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

Thomas Gainsborough painting: Mr. and Mrs. Andrews (1750): https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-mr-and-mrs-andrews

Literary Terms Reviewed:

• narrative distance
• dramatic irony
• inter-textuality
• ekphrasis
• allusion
• polysemy
• sfumato

Reading Strategies Reviewed:

• Embracing uncertainty and ambiguity
• Asking why questions
• Our interpretation process: notice, significance, pattern, coherence
• Engaging our experience; engaging others

Authors & Titles Reviewed:

• Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”
• Horace, Ode 1.11
• Roman Krznaric, Carpe Diem Regained
• Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”

Concepts and Themes Reviewed:

• Carpe diem as “pluck” or “harvest”
• Accountability
• Uncertainty
• Ethics of Choice
• Ethical Attentiveness

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     Pastoral Splendour
06:38     Opening Theme
07:16     Signposting
09:19     Literary Terms
17:22     Interlude: The Andrewses
21:28     Strategies for Meaning
28:52     Interlude 2: The Andrewses
33:21     Authors and Titles
37:23     Interlude 3: The Andrewses
40:47     A Few Themes
47:43     Final Visit: The Andrewses
51:20     Closing Theme and Credits

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Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-6-01-pretty-gardens-in-paint/

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. “6.01 Signpost: Pretty Gardens in Paint,’” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 13 June 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.