The Renaissance Geek

Heck Of A Geek?

I note with no small discomfort that lately the Heck Of A Guy posts have tended to the

• Computer/internet-geeky
  e.g., The Google Calculator Easter Egg, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, & The Answer To Life (AKA “42″)
• Music-geeky
  e.g., The Best Leonard Cohen Song You’ve (Probably) Never Heard
• Tool/toy-geeky
  e.g., Cool Ways To Use Your Digital Camera Or Camera Phone
• Geeky-geeky
  e.g., Urban Skills: The How-To Of Ketchup Decantation

The source of my consternation is, of course, obvious:

The BBC To The Rescue

In yet another instance of incredible serendipity, this very post is about a poetry offering with certifiably geeky aspects.

Quelle coïncidence, eh?

The BBC invites us to “Listen now or download some of the most significant poems by the Romantics” at their

Despite that off-putting “most significant poems” stuff, the readings of works by Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats and Clare are well done and altogether worthwhile. Plus, these will not appear on the exam, so relax and enjoy.

And, what could be better preparation for a weekend of passion than a Thursday evening spent listening to the poems these guys wrote? They were, after all, called the Romantics for a reason.

And If You Order Now

Even better, while you’re at the BBC site anyway, check out the

There you will find a dozen or two of poems read by their authors. It is a treat to hear, for example, Auden read his own Child’s Guide to Modern Physics or Ogden Nash deliver his own poem about Shelley. Those in my cohort (OK, other English Majors in my cohort) will be able to take sides, listening to readings by both Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.

But, the winner of DrHGuy’s Best of Show award — and the belated justification for the graphic at the top of this post — is an 1890 wax cylinder recording of The Charge of the Light Brigade written and read by this dude,

Lord Alfred Tennyson

Rock on.