Romanticism. The age of passion, poetry... and maybe just a little too much fainting onto chaise lounges. In this episode of Perfectly Poetic, Allen takes a long, emotionally complicated walk through the overly perfumed garden of 19th-century love poems. Featuring full readings of Byron, Hemans, Moore, Landon, and Shelley, this episode explores the syrupy, swoon-heavy side of Romanticism — the poems that confuse longing with love and fantasy with fact.

But it doesn’t stop in the 1800s. We draw the not-so-subtle lines between these melodramatic verses and our modern dating culture — complete with swiping, soft launches, emotional martyrdom, and “u up?” texts disguised as destiny. It’s deeply philosophical, hilariously brutal, and surprisingly poignant.

If you’ve ever projected a full love story onto someone who matched your energy for three days, this one’s for you.

In This Episode

• Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty” and the art of poetic projection

• Felicia Hemans’ flaming ode to obedience in “Casabianca”

• Thomas Moore and the emotional limbo of unlabeled relationships

• L.E.L.’s glamorized grief in “The Grave of a Suicide”

• Percy Shelley’s overly sensual nature metaphors in “Love’s Philosophy”

• • A full cultural and philosophical breakdown of modern love, dating apps, emotional detachment, and the fantasy trap we still fall for
  • One fainting couch, emotionally speaking

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  Poems Featured (in full):

• • “She Walks in Beauty” – Lord Byron

  • “Casabianca” – Felicia Hemans

  • “Oh! Call It by Some Better Name” – Thomas Moore

  • “The Grave of a Suicide” – Letitia Elizabeth Landon

  • “Love’s Philosophy” – Percy Bysshe Shelley

  
  

  Connect with Us:

  Website: perfectlypoetic.comInstagram: @perfectlypoeticpodcastFacebook: facebook.com/perfectlypoeticEmail: poetic@perfectlypoetic.com

  
  

  Tags

  #Romanticism #LordByron #PoetryPodcast #DatingCulture #SappyPoems #LiterarySatire #PhilosophyOfLove #FeliciaHemans #DatingApps #PoeticMeltdown #ThomasMoore #RomanticPoets #PerfectlyPoetic #Shelley #EmotionalProjection

Before poetry became a Pinterest quote or a cringey greeting card, it was wild. Soulful. Dramatic. Welcome to the world of Romanticism — the literary movement where emotion was a weapon, nature was sacred, and your existential crisis could become a 42-line poem.

In this first episode of the Romanticism series, we dig into what made the Romantics tick (spoiler: feelings), how they turned heartbreak and thunderstorms into high art, and why their unapologetic emotional chaos still hits home today. Featuring poetic heavyweights like Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, and Byron, we explore how Romanticism wasn’t just about writing pretty things — it was about feeling hard, living fully, and refusing to be numb.

This isn’t your high school English class. This is poetry with teeth, rain-soaked revelation, and a little bit of dirt under the fingernails.

Highlights include:

• What Romanticism actually was — and what it was pushing back against

• Nature as temple, therapist, and truth-teller

• Byron’s smoldering ego, Shelley’s political rage, Keats’s gorgeous grief

• Why this 200-year-old movement still describes your most vulnerable self better than your therapist

Links & Resources:
perfectlypoetic.com

Instagram: @perfectlypoeticpodcast

Facebook: facebook.com/perfectlypoetic

Email: poetic@perfectlypoetic.com

Tags: Romanticism, poetry, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Shelley, nature, emotion, literary rebellion

Some kids are born to play tag. Others sit on the swing set and contemplate mortality. Edgar Allan Poe? Definitely the swing set type.

In this episode, we take a dive (not a dramatic, Gothic plunge—just a tasteful dip) into one of Poe’s lesser-known but deeply revealing poems: Alone. With his signature melancholy flair and all the emotional baggage of a moody Victorian vampire, Poe explores what it means to feel cut off from the rest of humanity, even from childhood.

We break down the lines, the metaphors, and the angsty undercurrents, while also wrestling with bigger questions: Is Poe being honest? Is this performative sadness? Or is it just good branding?

Expect literary analysis, a splash of sarcasm, and a reminder that feeling different has a long poetic pedigree.

• The full reading of Alone (moody candlelight optional)

• How childhood alienation shaped Poe’s poetic voice

• The art of the tortured persona (and whether it’s legit or literary theater)

• Line-by-line breakdown of key images: demons, storms, and that pesky, joyless dawn

• Why this poem still hits home for misfits, introverts, and brooding creatives everywhere

“Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe

You don’t have to wear all black or write with a quill by moonlight to appreciate Poe. Sometimes poetry just knows how to say what you’re too tired or too weirded out to say yourself. And that’s kind of the whole point.

Follow, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the show—especially if you're the kind of person who also secretly thinks the world is out to get you (poetically, of course).

Podcast: Perfectly Poetic
Episode Length: 15:21
Host: Allen Mowery

Connect with us:

Website: perfectlypoetic.com
Instagram: @perfectlypoeticpodcast
Email: poetic@perfectlypoetic.com

Poetry is often associated with romance, and rightfully so, as some of the most beautiful verses in literature have spawned from the heart in love. But poetry has also been born of love gone awry.

Discover the comically-lurid story behind one of England's most-recognized poems along with the mournful and little-known poetic verses written by an imprisoned queen awaiting her execution. Love is strong, but it doesn't always conquer.

FEATURED POETRY:

"My Darling Wife" — Nathan Roberts
"O, Death, Rock Me Asleep" — Anne Boleyn
"Greensleeves" — Unknown

Subscribe to Perfectly Poetic wherever you get your podcasts. Discover more at perfectlypoetic.com.

This episode is sponsored by Melton Trading Co. – Improving lives in developing communities

FEATURED MUSIC:

Music: "What a Friend" by Allen Mowery (www.allenmowery.com)
Used with permission

Music: "Medieval Chateau" by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Music: "Bonfire" by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Music: "Village Ambiance" by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Music: "Planning" by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Music: "War Shout" by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

A man of means, with his wife and four daughters by his side, the life of Horatio Gates Spafford was set to be the idyllic dream for which so many in the Victorian era longed. But tragedy was beckoning on his doorstep. Death, heartache, and financial ruin were the reality for this grieving soul who, alongside his wife, faced the deepest of sorrows in what was once a happy life. Yet, in the midst of his visceral pain, Spafford wrote of hope, of peace, and the humanitarian efforts of he and his children still reverberates today.

Poetry included in this episode:
– "It Is Well With My Soul"
– "A Song in the Night"

Subscribe to Perfectly Poetic wherever you get your podcasts. Discover more at perfectlypoetic.com.

This episode is sponsored by Melton Trading Co. – Improving lives in developing communities

His life was fraught with heartache.  Tormented by grief and mental illness, he turned to substance abuse, which likely contributed to his death at the age of 40.  Yet, somehow in the midst of the dysfunctional haze, he penned some of the most iconic verses in American literature.  Join us as we begin to explore the life and poetic works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Poetry included in this episode:
– "Alone"
– "Spirits of the Dead"
– "The Sleeper"

Subscribe to Perfectly Poetic wherever you get your podcasts.  To learn more, visit perfectlypoetic.com.

This episode is sponsored by Melton Trading Co. – Improving lives in developing communities

Written only a few short years before his death at age 39, "The Marshes of Glynn" is one of the most well-remembered poems by American poet Sidney Lanier.  Filled with emotion and vibrant literary imagery, Lanier describes the peace and calm he found amongst the marshes as he battled not only the demons haunting his memory but the disease which would soon claim his life.

"The Marshes of Glynn" by Sidney Lanier, 1878

This episode is sponsored by Melton Trading Co. – Improving lives in developing communities

Written in 1865 by poet John Greenleaf Whittier, "Laus Deos!" is a celebration of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the Unite States and looks ahead to a bright new future.

This episode is sponsored by Melton Trading Co. – Improving lives in developing communities