Edward Lear’s “How Pleasant To Know...”
The Daily Poem

Edward Lear’s “How Pleasant To Know...”

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 25, 20263 min
  • One speaker
  • Arts & culture

Today’s poem is a comic self-portrait in verse from a poet who spent years working as a painter. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

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Today's poem is by Edward Lear.

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There are some truly great self-portraits out there.

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0:00

Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Friday, September 25th, 2026. Today's poem is by Edward Lear. This is a kind of poetic self-portrait in the realm of painting.

0:22

There are some truly great self-portraits out there. one of my very favorite is not an entirely serious one. It's Norman Rockwell's self-portrait, or rather his triple self-portrait,

0:34

where he renders himself in three different styles, each one a little more caricatured or cartoonish than the last. And I think that Rockwell and Lear have some commonalities.

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