On Epic Beginnings with Malcolm Guite
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As we celebrate the new year, there’s no better guide than the poet, Anglican priest, and scholar, Malcolm Guite. Through the years, Malcolm has written beautifully on how poetic language can help our imaginations apprehend truth that our reason cannot fully comprehend.
In this episode he describes Merlin’s Isle: An Arthuriad, his forthcoming four-volume epic poem on the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which will be published over several years by Rabbit Room Press. He has described his purpose: making a poem that restores the spiritual elements that have been shorn away from these legends and renews their deepest meaning for our time:
“You don’t have to invent yourself because somebody else who loves you has already done it. You from the beginning, the real heart of who you are, deeper and more beautiful than you could ever know, has shimmered in the Divine mind since before the beginning of time. And now he’s speaking to you.”
With this work, Malcolm brings into the 21st century the epic tradition that includes Lewis, Tolkien, Milton and many others.
This podcast is an edited version of an Evening Conversation recorded in 2025. You can find the full video here.
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