Perfectly Poetic
Perfectly Poetic is a podcast that digs into poetry from every angle—classic, modern, obscure, and everything in between. Hosted by Allen Mowery, it’s a show for the curious and the critical, exploring the meaning, context, and cultural weight behind the lines. It’s not about idolizing poets or pretending every poem is profound. It’s about engaging with language, questioning assumptions, and finding unexpected insight in verse—whether it moves you, annoys you, or leaves you wondering why it exists.
Episodes
Tired of people calling 17 syllables “genius”? So am I.
In this brutally honest, occasionally unhinged episode of Perfectly Poetic, Allen Mowery finally unleashes his pent-up frustration about the most overrated poetic form of all time: the haiku. From childhood worksheet trauma to seasonal name-dropping, syllable policing, AI-generated nonsense, and the myth of Bashō's frog — no stone (or smooth river pebble) is left unskipped.
Prep...
In this final chapter of our Romanticism series, we bring the velvet curtain down with a sharp, necessary reality check. After indulging in the beauty, the yearning, and the drama of Romanticism, it’s time to ask the uncomfortable questions: What happens when feelings become fact? When perception overrides truth? When self-expression becomes a substitute for self-governance?
In this episode, Allen Mowery unpacks the paradox at the h...
In this darkly delightful episode, we stop swooning over daffodils and start whispering to ghosts. Welcome to the stormy underworld of Romanticism—the side that’s drenched in moonlight, mourning, madness, and metaphysical despair. We explore what happens when emotion becomes obsession, beauty turns to terror, and the soul starts writing poetry with a quill dipped in melancholy.
From Charlotte Dacre’s guilt-laced internal ruin to Nov...
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 a...
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, an...
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 res...
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...
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 pa...
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"
– "Spirit...
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
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
The epilogue of Tennyson's In Memoriam was written for his sister Cecilia's wedding day in 1842 and brings a closure to one of his most notable works. Written partly as a memorial after the death of a close friend in 1833, In Memoriam deals with the struggle of loss and existential being and finally finds closure in the uplifting verses about the marriage of his beloved sister.
What is the purpose of continuing on in the face of the cruelty which this world has to offer? It is a hope and a purpose outside ourselves which brings meaning to our existence.
"Footsteps of Angels" – 1839
"A Psalm of Life" – 1839
In this episode, we read two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which deal with the mortality of humanity and the fragility of our minds and spirits. Yet, in the end, there is always hope.
"The Haunted Chamber" – 1839
"The Beleaguered City" – 1839
In this episode, we hear two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which address the juxtaposition of sorrow and beauty in this natural world.
"The Reaper and the Flowers" – 1839
"Flowers" – 1839
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