Download Link: Released on 30 October 2023
The panel reads five poems from Hebrew Melodies, a cycle of poems by Lord Byron originally set to music by Isaac Nathan, including one of Byron’s most-anthologised works, “She Walks in Beauty,” and a companion piece to “The Destruction of Sennacherib”.
I’m so glad that Dr. C has recovered and has returned for more literary discussions.
I was intrigued by Dr. K’s reference to the Star Trek episode “Is there no truth in beauty?”, so I had to watch it again. Dr. Miranda Jones’ black dress with multiple bright sensors really does evoke Byron’s description of beauty like the night with “starry skies”. The poem is quoted by the Medusan ambassador Kollos when mind melded with Spock when he says “She walks in beauty, like the night” to Uhura. I didn’t catch any other Byron quotes. However, the poem as a whole suggests the character arc of Dr. Jones when she conquers her jealousy of Spock and is able to mind meld with Kollos herself when she achieves “A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!”
I am excited that Dracula is next up for discussion. I hope Dr. C and Dr. K will discuss “Fragment of a Novel” by Lord Byron and the subsequent “The Vampyre” by John Polidori. It is so interesting that both Dracula and Frankenstein can trace their roots back to Byron’s ghost story competition.
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Susan
Thank you for an incredible episode. I had heard of these poems but never got around to reading them until now. As a Jew who still “longs for his home,” Byron’s melodies continue to be a ray of light in a dark time.