Musical Poetry: a poetry podcast where poems become music

Michael Appelt
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Musical Poetry is a poetry podcast where poems become music, reflection and conversation. Each episode brings one poem and then recites it in the form of a song. Words and music intertwine to create moments of reflection, beauty, and peace.

  1. Jun 11

    The Still, Sad Music: Wordsworth, Harmony and the Tired Soul

    In this second contribution to our Musical Poetry series linking poetry with King Charles III’s concept of Harmony, we turn to William Wordsworth’s “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.” This episode explores nature, memory, exhaustion of the soul, and the hope of restoration. Wordsworth’s phrase “the still, sad music of humanity” becomes the emotional centre of the discussion and inspires the song featured at the end of the episode. Our colleagues from Google’s NotebookLM discuss the attached letter, which reflects on Wordsworth, King Charles’s idea of Harmony, and the need not only to cope with the world we have created, but to become bearers of harmony ourselves. Featuring the song: “The Still, Sad Music.” Read the full companion letter attached to this episode here:The Still, Sad Music: Wordsworth, Harmony and the Tired Soul

    The Still, Sad Music: Wordsworth, Harmony and the Tired Soul

  2. May 10

    Each and All — after Ralph Waldo Emerson

    In this episode of Musical Poetry, we begin a new series on harmony, inspired in part by the documentary Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, which explores King Charles III’s lifelong concern for nature, sustainability, and the idea that humanity is part of nature, not apart from it. That idea led us to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem “Each and All.” At its heart are the unforgettable lines:“All are needed by each one;Nothing is fair or good alone.” Emerson, who lived from 1803 to 1882, reminds us that beauty does not exist in isolation. A bird needs the river and the sky. A shell needs the shore and the sea. And perhaps we, too, need one another more deeply than we usually admit. For this episode, “Each and All” has been transformed into a contemporary Irish folk song, carrying Emerson’s message into a new musical form. A reflection on beauty, belonging, nature, community, and the quiet truth that harmony begins when we understand that nothing is fair or good alone.

    Each and All — after Ralph Waldo Emerson

  3. May 1

    Work, Work, Work (The Song of the Shirt)

    A modern adaptation of The Song of the Shirt by Thomas Hood, reimagined as a solemn South African–inspired Afro-soul lament. First published in 1843, Hood’s poem exposed the hidden cost of labour: exhaustion, poverty, and lives quietly worn away behind everyday goods. More than a century later, its message still resonates.While workers today benefit from rights fought for over generations, those protections face new pressures. In a world driven by efficiency, automation, and artificial intelligence, the question is no longer only how we treat workers — but whether we still see them at all. This song transforms one woman’s silent struggle into a communal voice. The repeated words “Work, work, work” become a chant — not just of labour, but of endurance, dignity, and warning.Released for Labour Day, this piece asks:What is the true cost of work when the worker is slowly broken — or replaced?

    Work, Work, Work (The Song of the Shirt)

  4. Apr 26

    She Walks in Beauty (A Musical Interpretation of Byron)

    A quiet kind of love.In this episode of Musical Poetry, Michael Appelt brings Lord Byron’s timeless poem “She Walks in Beauty” into a new space, a reflective, 90s-inspired ballad shaped by restraint, warmth, and emotional honesty. Written in 1814, when Byron was just 26, the poem captures a fleeting moment:a woman seen in candlelight, where light and darkness exist in perfect balance.This musical interpretation leans into that stillness,stripping away excess, allowing the words to breathe,and letting quiet admiration take the lead. 🎧 Best experienced with headphones🎬 Video version available with visuals and subtitles (where supported)

    She Walks in Beauty (A Musical Interpretation of Byron)

  5. Apr 18

    Spring Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar

    A light returns.In this episode of Musical Poetry, we bring Spring Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar into a new space—set to a warm jazz big band arrangement that lets the poem breathe, swing, and gently unfold.Written in the early years of Dunbar’s career in the 1890s, Spring Song captures something simple and timeless:the quiet shift from cold to warmth, from stillness to movement, from waiting to beginning again.No grand statements.No heavy weight.Just the sound of life returning.This interpretation leans into that simplicity—carried by rhythm, lifted by brass, and held together by a sense of understated joy.

    Spring Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar

  6. Apr 4

    We didn’t … you loved anyway.

    We talk about love. This short Musical Poetry episode explores what remains when everything else falls away. A modern poem, an indie rock track,and a truth that refuses to leave: love anyway.

    We didn’t … you loved anyway.

  7. Mar 29

    End of the Road (But Not Quite)

    In this episode we present a deeply reflective piece written just moments before Michael's 60th birthday. Born under the impression of unfolding events in the United States, and with little improvement since, this text is less a poem and more an emotional short essay shaped into music. “End of the Road (But Not Quite)” explores aging, fragile systems, shifting societies, and the quiet ways things drift before they break—while holding on to a small, stubborn sense of hope. If your platform supports video, this episode includes visuals with subtitles in English and German.

    End of the Road (But Not Quite)

  8. Mar 18

    One poem. One dawn. Many languages | A multilingual Haiku on the Middle East

    A haiku.Three lines.One moment. In this episode of Musical Poetry, the same poem is spoken across multiple languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Persian. The journey moves toward the Middle East, ending in a quiet Persian stanza where only one word remains: Sahar - dawn. This multilingual poem reflects on current tensions in the region, but ultimately points to something deeper: a shared human longing for light after darkness. Come and listen. One Dawn — Many Tongues Missiles cross night skies,Oil waters choke the silence,the desert waits for dawn. Raketen durch die Nacht,Ölwasser würgt die Stille,die Wüste wartet auf Morgen. Missiles dans la nuit,les eaux de pétrole étouffent le silence,le désert attend l’aube. Missili nella notte,le acque del petrolio soffocano il silenzio,il deserto attende l’alba. Misiles cruzan la noche,las aguas del petróleo ahogan el silencio,el desierto espera el alba. Tilim chotzim layla,mei ha-neft chonkim et ha-dmama,ha-midbar mamtin la-shachar. Gere avrin lelaya,maya d’nefta chanqin shalya,madbara maska l-safra. Sawārīkh taʿbur laylan,miyāh an-naft takhnuq as-samt,as-sahraʾ tantazir al-fajr. Moshak-hâ dar shab,sokut bar kavir,sahar.

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Musical Poetry is a poetry podcast where poems become music, reflection and conversation. Each episode brings one poem and then recites it in the form of a song. Words and music intertwine to create moments of reflection, beauty, and peace.

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