ARIA LIGI

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 14

16 hours ago · 1 like · Andrew Benson Brown

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The veil of madness

Aria Ligi — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:22:20 GMT

Jerusalem, Plate 42, Jerusalem, Plate 42, “Thus Albion sat....” by William Blake

William Cowper

William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) suffered greatly from mental illness, along with suicidal ideation, depression, OCD, and low self-esteem. Like Blake, he was a poet, but unlike him, Cowper’s faculties seemed to be held together with a shoestring. When he was offered a Clerkship of Journals in the House of Lords, he had a breakdown during the examination, resulting in three separate suicide attempts. Later, there were several disparate breakdowns, along with a period in an asylum. Volume 2 of the Second Romantic Series, Unheard Cry poems for William Cowper, written for and dedicated to the late Scott Hastie, explores this further, while in Volume 13 of The Romantic Series Poiein, Poems for William Blake, we meet Cowper for the first time.

Cowper’s anxieties seem to have stemmed from religious toxicity, in which the victim spirals out of control through self-persecution, imagining God had condemned him to Hell, and worse, that God ordered he sacrifice himself. 1 Blake would have understood such convictions, having been immersed in Swedenborgian extremism from a young age.

The life of William Blake en précis

Where did his great faith in God and the divine emanate from? This connection was rooted in the seeds his mother planted long before his birth. Blake was born to James and Catherine Blake on 28 November 1757 in Soho, London. He was the third of seven (two children were deceased) and squarely in the middle. James Blake was a Hosier, and his wife a Moravian with ties to Swedenborgian beliefs. Blake was in the shadow of his elder brothers, James and John (who was the favored child). His brother Robert and sister Catherine were younger.

From the beginning, his family and, in particular, his mother championed notions anathema to the traditional themes and doctrines of the Church of England and of all other major religions at the time. Catherine was accepted into the religious sect of the Moravians (Who are often confused with Dissenters but are a sect all their own), led by Count Zinzendorf and Emmanuel Swedenborg. The religion embraced ideas around sex that even today would seem extreme (such as worshiping Christ’s wounds and using sex as a means to gain a symbiotic connection with the celestial). In turn, they viewed those such as Blake, who possessed artistic talents, as gifts from God. This belief system was, for Blake, a built-in support for his burgeoning talents. Catherine supplied young William with books, among which the most well-thumbed were the Bible, the works of Swedenborg, Milton, and Shakespeare. Later, he would come to appreciate and laud Paracelsus and Jacob Böhme. Although he did not receive any formal education past the age of ten, he was self-educated and continued to learn throughout his life. (This is accentuated by the fact that he learned Latin, Greek, and Italian in his sixties to read Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ in its original form).

To read more of Volume Thirteen of The Romantic Series, Poiein Poems for William Blake, join our Indiegogo campaign, where we delve into Blake’s

EARLY YEARS AMONG THE SWEDENBORIANS AND LATER MORVARIANS
APPRENTICESHIP AT HENRY PAR’S DRAWING SCHOOL
COURTSHIP OF CATHERINE BOUCHER
MARRIAGE TO CATHERINE
MYSTICISM- DID HE SEE ANGELS? GHOSTS?
GARDENING IN THE NUDE!
CHARGED WITH SEDITION
RUN-IN WITH NEIGHBOR
FORMATION OF BLAKEAN ACOLYTES
A JACK OF ALL TRADES

READ ANDREW’S REVIEW OF POIEIN ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 13

3 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

STAY TUNED!

Excerpt from Volume Thirteen, POIEIN, Poems for William BLAKE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cowper

Their little bodies

Aria Ligi — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:51:17 GMT

William Blake

Did you ever wonder why, in Mary Poppins, Bert says that by shaking a sweep’s hand, “good luck will rub off ”? In Blake’s time, many chimney sweeps were small boys and, worse, because they climbed up the flue, their spines became crooked; and because of exposure to smoke and coal, they developed breathing conditions and other health issues, making their survival a lucky thing indeed.

Blake advocated for children's rights and was the first to push for the enactment of child labor laws. Yet, there was much more to him than even that. He was more than a poet, more than an engraver, painter,

The life of William Blake en précis

William Blake is a mystery. In delving into the story that is his life, we more often than not come across stories that, while interesting, cause one to pause. Did Blake see Angels in trees? Was his death like the denouement of a grand opera? How do you parse the myth of Blake from the man? There are so many variations that it is problematic to ascertain fact from fiction. If we examine Blake’s death alone, in scenario one, he has a servant with him and his wife, Catherine; in the second, it is just Catherine. In a third, Catherine says he died like an angel, and a servant says so in a fourth. What seems odd but consistent are similar accounts of how he sat up, singing and smiling as he went. Even the most skeptical biographers (such as Churton) do not take this away when they say he was with Catherine when he departed. His demeanor of joy remained.

When young Blake was ten, he was sent to Henry Par’s Drawing School. His father bought plaster casts of legs, heads, and torsos for Blake to use as models. (This must have been extremely helpful, as live models were frowned upon at the time. Five years later, he was apprenticed to James Basire for seven years. There is a curious tale of when Blake’s father took him to interview potential Masters after meeting William Wynne Ryland. (Ryland was the engraver for King George III) Blake remarked, “He will live to be hanged.” As it happened, thirteen years later, he was.

To read more of Volume Thirteen of The Romantic Series, Poiein Poems for William Blake, join our Indiegogo campaign, where we delve into Blake’s

EARLY YEARS AMONG THE SWEDENBORIANS AND LATER MORVARIANS
APPRENTICESHIP AT HENRY PAR’S DRAWING SCHOOL
COURTSHIP OF CATHERINE BOUCHER
MARRIAGE TO CATHERINE
MYSTICISM- DID HE SEE ANGELS? GHOSTS?
GARDENING IN THE NUDE!
CHARGED WITH SEDITION
RUN-IN WITH NEIGHBOR
FORMATION OF BLAKEAN ACOLYTES
A JACK OF ALL TRADES

To read more about Blake’s own journey, for this is only a snippet, pledge for the Romantic Series!

READ ANDREW’S REVIEW OF POIEIN ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 13

4 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

STAY TUNED!

The Romantic Series is my gift to you! But we can’t do it without you!

A Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ is a statement that the Romantics’ ideals of Equality for all Matter!

With 11 Days to go, PLEDGE, COMMENT, SHARE! Say you stand with EQUALITY FOR ALL!

FROM THE DEPTHS OF DESPAIR

Aria Ligi — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:37:58 GMT

While writing the Romantic Series, many pressed me to include William Blake. Why I did not initially: I have to confess, I had not even considered him. At the time, he was an unknown figure to me. One lost in the mist, which seems rather appropriate, if we take into account his extremely unorthodox religious upbringing, political views, and who he was as a man. He lived out of time, even while occupying it.

If we consider this, his friendship with the long-suffering poet, William Cowper (who gets his own volume in THE SECOND ROMANTIC SERIES SO STAY TUNED!), underscores Blake’s compassion toward Cowper, which is emphasized here.

What it meant to be free thinkers who advocated for EQUALITY for all, and the cost they paid (monetary for Blake) and, for Cowper, his equilibrium.

Blake’s engraving of Cowper depicts a man, his head wrapped in a kind of sheath, in the throes of anguish, his eyes staring off into that great mist of the soul.

To read more about Blake's own journey, for this is only a snippet, pledge for the Romantic Series!

READ ANDREW’S REVIEW OF POIEIN ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 13

a day ago · Andrew Benson Brown

The Romantic Series is my gift to you! But we can’t do it without you!

A Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ is a statement that the Romantics’ ideals of Equality for all Matter!

With 11 Days to go, PLEDGE, COMMENT, SHARE! Say you stand with EQUALITY FOR ALL!

RADICAL, REBELLIOUS, RAVENOUS!

Aria Ligi — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 21:34:19 GMT

In Volume XII, Heresy’s Girl, Poems for Mary Darby Robinson, we find one of the least known yet most admirable of the Romantic Poets. See Andrew’s Review here ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 12

7 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

Robinson was not merely a poet; she advocated for the least fortunate, though at one time she was very fortunate indeed, being the mistress of the Prince of Wales (later George IV); yet her path was never easy… spending two stints in debtor’s prison, lampooned in the Penny Press by such artists as James Gillray. Tragedy struck with the early onset of rheumatism, which ruined her acting career and forced her to make her living with her pen while, as a single mother, she promoted such scandalous ideas as education for women.

To learn more about THE ROMANTIC SERIES!

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SHE WATCHED FROM A WINDOW

Aria Ligi — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:31:19 GMT

Mary Wollstonecraft

She is primarily known as the mother of feminism, but she was so much more! Where did her drive come from? In the current climate, rife with strife ( injustice towards those who are different, the immigrant, the disabled, people of color, those in the LGBTQ + community), while possibly not identifying her feminism with ours, would she see the links between her version of feminism and ours, and understand the whys… How can we know? The answer lies in Volume Eleven of the Romantic Series, Suffusions, Poems for Mary Wollstonecraft, where the journey begins:

⬇️The life of Mary Wollstonecraft en Précis⬇️

On April 27, 1759, Mary Wollstonecraft was born in Spitalfields, just north of London. She was the second child of John and Elizabeth Dickson Wollstonecraft. The Wollstonecrafts had seven children: Edward, Mary, Charles, Henry, James, Eliza, and Everina.

Though her father had money (which he inherited), he could not keep the family flush. What money they did have was eventually given to her older brother Ned (whom their mother favored over all the others). In addition, he became a drunk who beat his wife. The outcome for Mary was that she despised her father and loathed marriage. The two role models she had were a drunken, violent man and her mother, who never stood up to him. Mary took to sleeping outside her mother’s door to block her father (when he would come home late and inebriated) from access. However, this did not always work, and the toll it took on her mother was emotional and physical.

To learn more, see ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️💜💜💜💜😊😊😊😊

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 11

11 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

Read more of Volume Eleven of The Romantic Series, Suffusions, Poems for Mary Wollstonecraft, and join our Indiegogo campaign, where we delve into Mary’s

Plans to escape to save her mother from her father’s violence
How she established a Girls’ School
Became a Governess in Ireland
Her torturous relationships with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay
The birth of her daughter, Fanny Imlay
Providing for herself and her fatherless daughter
Several suicide attempts
Trip to France after the Revolution
Trip to Norway - where she wrote travelogues
Romance with William Godwin
The birth of her daughter, Mary Godwin (Shelley), and maternal mortality

Excerpt from Volume Eleven Suffusions, Poems for Mary Wollstonecraft

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The Diminutive 'i'

Aria Ligi — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:03:25 GMT

Lady Caroline Lamb

Recently, there was a comment on E.E. Cummings' use of the lowercase ‘i '; it was postulated that it is sometimes used to make their voice more ‘assertive.’ A way to thumb your nose at things you disagree with, such as religion. However, I would beg female writers, and others, who have survived mental illness or abuse, either not to do so, or if you do, to make it clear that its usage is a way to emphasize how you waded through such things, rather than to demean the self.

While writing volume ten, Biondetta, Poems for Lady Caroline, I was keenly aware of her diminishing sense of self, as she rode the highs and lows of bipolar disorder. I found in Caroline that there was a person there, even so long ago (1785-1828), whose signs of distress in her formative years only worsened later, manifesting in her obsession with Byron and subsequent need to degrade herself to gain attention. Surely if she lived in the twenty-first century, she would be evaluated for bipolar disorder, prescribed medication, and possibly read Women Who Love Too Much as a self-help guide. Yet even through what her relations called ‘odd behavior’, I don’t recall her using the lowercase ‘i’. (She did play with word usage), talking about her illness, to wit, in her earliest known poem, she writes:

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

‘I’m mad
That’s bad
I’m sad
That’s bad
I’m bad
That’s mad.’

There is a story of her running through a party with a serving platter over her naked lower half, a knife in her hand, threatening to cut herself. Though this may be apocryphal, the tale would be consistent with others. (such as cutting a shaft of her pubic hair and sending it, along with a bit of her blood, to Byron).

Lady Caroline Lamb

I was acutely cognizant of the shifts (highs and lows) evident in both her writing and her behavior when writing for her. In response to this, I felt it was imperative to give her voice emphasis, not by lessening it through the use of the lowercase ‘i’ but by writing verse that would shine a light on what she went through, her challenges, and triumphs.

Despite mental illness and later alcoholism, she advocated for her disabled son, Augustus, championed the much-maligned Queen Caroline of Brunswick, opposed capital punishment, wrote three novels, Glenarvon, Glen Hamilton, and Ada Reis: a Tale, illustrated Byron’s Childe Harolde, and set his Hebrew Melodies to music with composer Isaac Nathan.

Indeed, Lady Caroline made such an impression on me that she appears not only in Biondetta, Poems for Lady Caroline, Volume 10 of the Romantic Series, but in Volume Seven Byron Bound, Poems for Lord Byron, and later in the as-yet-unpublished Cavendish/Spencer/Ponsonby Series, in which there are poems specifically about her childhood and adolescence.

Excerpt from Biondetta

It is my hope that through such works, not only will they create space for people to talk about my work, but also to see themselves in her life, reflect on how she did/ did not handle it, and seek to better themselves through the tools she was unable to use, such as clinical, medical, and psychological help. Surely that would be the best way to honor not only her life, but yours as well.

To Learn More, see Andrew’s Substack ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 10

12 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

If you enjoyed this, consider making a pledge to the Romantic Series. Even a small pledge (such as $8 to the Indiegogo campaign) would be appreciated, as would commenting and sharing.

This is how we create a poetic community that unites rather than divides, goes beyond ourselves, and makes connections with a fervency that blesses all.

TALKING TURKEY

Aria Ligi — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 20:27:18 GMT

When you think about Mary Wollstonecraft, the ASSUMPTION is that she was some cold, austere, heartless woman who hated men and was therefore on some weird vengeance tour. This could not be FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

While Mary did promote early notions of feminism and was the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she was also a woman, and a woman whose emotions often were her downfall, loving two separate men, Henry Fuseli and later Gilbert Imlay. Neither man appreciated or respected her. Mary’s obsession with them (Fuseli being first, followed by Imlay) brings to mind Robin Norwood’s Women Who Love Too Much, given that she not only offered herself for a ménage à trois with both (Fuseli was married and Imlay was living with another woman at the time. Both women refused. ), and further had a child out of wedlock with Imlay (Fanny Imlay) and twice attempted suicide.

Mary’s story, relayed through Vol. XI Suffusions, Poems for Mary Wollstonecraft, is not one for the faint of heart. How she navigated such rough seas and, at the end of her life, found a partner (William Godwin) who loved and respected her is the crux of Suffusions. Without Mary Wollstonecraft, we would have no Mary Shelley and no Frankenstein (Can you imagine Halloween without Frankenstein’s creature?), nor would women’s place in the pantheon of writing have evolved, or would it have in the eyes of the world itself.

To learn more, see ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️💜💜💜💜😊😊😊😊

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 11

11 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

The Romantic Series is my gift to you, meaning humanity itself, but

WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!

Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ and its ideals of Equality for all!

MORE THAN MADNESS

Aria Ligi — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 14:43:00 GMT

Lady Caroline Lamb has often been dismissed, even by those in her family and others. Yet, her impact on society cannot be denied, including:

her advocacy for her disabled son,
Queen Caroline of Brunswick: while she stood trial for adultery (the punishment was death), Lady Caroline rode in the rain, protesting for the Queen. (who has her own volume in the 2nd Romantic Series!)
her stance against capital punishment,
Her open rebellion against her own class- she was OUTRAGEOUS!
and her artistic brilliance as a poet, illustrator, and novelist.

Most know her (if they know of her at all) solely by the fact that she said Byron was ‘Mad, Bad and dangerous to know,’ but there is so much more!

In a time when mental illness was hidden away, and in families such as hers, the result was often being placed in a straight waistcoat and driven to a madhouse; she fought these things, with her husband, William Lamb, steadfastly by her side.

In Biondetta, Poems for Lady Caroline Lamb, Vol X of the Romantic Series, she is treated not as a curiosity, but with dignity and respect, yet never sidestepping her struggles along the way.

Her story is NOT one for the meek, but it is well worth your time!

See Andrew’s review below 💜💜💜💜⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️😊😊😊😊

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 10

12 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

The Romantic Series is my gift to you! But we can’t do it without you!

A Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ is a statement that the ideals of Equality for all Matter!

With 20 Days to go, PLEDGE, COMMENT, SHARE! Say you stand with EQUALITY FOR ALL!

BENEATH THE SKIN!

Aria Ligi — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 20:19:21 GMT

You cannot go wrong with such enthusiasm as Michelle’s for Hymn to Equity and the entire Romantic Series as well! Her steadfast belief in my work is truly humbling.

She wowed me further with a MONSTER PLEDGE for the entire softbound boxed set! You can too! What does the boxed set include? ALL 14-volumes:

Vol. I, of the Romantic Series, Hymn to Equity, Poems for Wordsworth, Foreword by James Rovira, PhD
Vol. II, of the Romantic Series, Commemorating Life, Poems for Coleridge
Vol. III, of the Romantic Series, Poems for Dorothy Wordsworth, Orphaned Sparrow
Vol. IV, of the Romantic Series, Escape from the Nether Pit, Poems for Mary Shelley
Vol. V, of the Romantic Series, Sweeter than Honey, Poems for Percy Bysshe Shelley
Vol. VI, of the Romantic Series, Endymion Unchained, Poems for John Keats
Vol VII, of the Romantic Series, Byron Bound, Poems for Lord Byron
Vol. VIII, of the Romantic Series, Exquisite Rain, Poems for Leigh Hunt
Vol. IX, of the Romantic Series, Bel Esprit, Poems for Lady Blessington
Vol. X, of the Romantic Series, Biondetta, Poems for Lady Caroline
Vol XI, of the Romantic Series, for Suffusions, Poems for Mary Wollstonecraft
Vol. XII, of the Romantic Series, Heresy’s Girl, Poems for Mary Darby Robinson
Vol XIII, of the Romantic Series, Poiein, Poems for William Blake
Vol XV, of the Romantic Series, Déchirant, the Romantic Series, Poems for the Bluestocking Women

If a Monster Pledge is out of your price range but you are still keen to read it, the eBook Boxed set (for only $25) will suit you well.

How do I pledge? Simply go to the REWARDS page, scroll down until you find the item (s) you want, and click ADD TO PLEDGE.

With 22 days to go, now is the time.

Want to know more? Subscribe to Andrew’s Substack ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

The Romantic Series is my gift to you! But we can’t do it without you!

A Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ is a statement that the ideals of Equality for all Matter!

With 22 Days to go, PLEDGE, COMMENT, SHARE! Say you stand with EQUALITY FOR ALL!

MISSING YOU

Aria Ligi — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 20:17:28 GMT

This campaign, while wondrous in finally getting the work out there, has been bittersweet. With the absence of my dear friend, world-renowned poetry partner, who passed away 26th July, 2025. I am comforted, though, that I can still see and hear him through the video above. ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️

Since he did such a fulsome review of Volume One, Hymn to Equity, Poems for William Wordsworth, including reading several poems from it, I am at least heartened that I can share them with you. Scottie preferred the full version of his interview, so I have given you this.

I am also extremely grateful that he mentions the entire Romantic Series, since he read everything I have written and gave me invaluable feedback and encouragement along the way.

While I can no longer ask him what his reaction(s) would be to this campaign, I think he would, at the very least, be delighted and honored to have been part of it; I was equally so, in terms of supporting his work, providing him with many written reviews and edits along the way. It was the true poetic partnership, which one hopes for, for the road of a writer is, by definition, a long and lonely one, making such a kinship irreplaceable indeed.

READ THE LATEST REVIEW BY ANDREW BENSON BROWN, HERE

Subscribe to: and stay tuned for more!

The Romantic Series is my gift to you! But we can’t do it without you!

A Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ is a statement that the ideals of Equality for all Matter!

With 23 Days to go, PLEDGE, COMMENT, SHARE! Say you stand with EQUALITY FOR ALL!

BIRTHDAY TWIN! 🎉🎉🎉💖💖💖😊😊😊😊

Aria Ligi — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:47:15 GMT

Why do I say that? Because in writing for Lady Blessington, I discovered that we share the same birthday, which warmed my heart, given how generous, kind, prolific, intelligent, and even poetic she was! While she is not as well known as, say, Byron (though her Conversations with Lord Byron, written years after she interviewed him, she could recall them verbatim due to her eidetic memory! They became a sensation ). Her contribution to the Romantic movement and women’s place as writers within it is UNDENIABLE.

Lady Blessington, 1822

Like others you will meet later, such as Mary Wollstonecraft (Volume XI) and Mary Darby Robinson (Vol XII), her early years were not happy ones, living through domestic violence at the hands of her alcoholic, verbally and physically abusive father, and later an equally abusive husband she was sold into marriage with by that father to save them from financial ruin.

Yet, joy and love came later!

For more in-depth analysis, see Andrew’s review ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

23 days ago · 2 comments · Andrew Benson Brown

The Romantic Series is my gift to you! But we can’t do it without you!

A Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ is a statement that the ideals of Equality for all Matter!

With 24 Days to go, PLEDGE, COMMENT, SHARE! Say you stand with EQUALITY FOR ALL!

SURPRISE! 🎁🍾🎉🎈🥳💖

Aria Ligi — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:34:44 GMT

Good morning, Poets and Poetry Lovers! I am so wowed by this lovely review of Vol. IV of the Romantic Series by the horror and fantasy writer, as well as teller of tales with epic poetry:

Baroque

Review of Escape From The Nether Pit by Aria Ligi

The Romantic Series by Aria Ligi is an attempt to revive the old while still creating something new. It is an act of nekia, an ancient Greek word that refers to a rite by which the dead are summoned in order to consult about the future (for the dead exist outside of time). Each volume—there are fourteen in total—focuses on a different Romantic poet and …

18 days ago · Joseph Sale

He captures the essence of Vol IV with clarity and pith. I always believe in brevity (let’s get to the point, right?)

Currently, I am reading his Ourobomundus: a dark fantasy (Epic Poetry); stay tuned for my upcoming review! Btw, this is how writers support one another, don’t you think? I am on Canto 6, so I'm barreling through, but always with diligence and care.

Both of us, as poets, and he, a master class in fantasy/ Horror, check out his other works, such as The Book of Thrice Dead Series, at themindflayer.com

Joe is the only other poet that I am aware of whose approach to the muse is similar to mine, and that is a rarity indeed!

I am humbled by his review! For more in-depth analysis, check out Andrew Benson Brown’s Substack,

23 days ago · 1 comment · Andrew Benson Brown

The Romantic Series is my gift to you! But we can’t do it without you!

A Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ is a statement that the ideals of Equality for all Matter!

With 27 Days to go, PLEDGE, COMMENT, SHARE! Say you stand with EQUALITY FOR ALL!

HEART BURNING!

Aria Ligi — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:34:29 GMT

In looking at Hunt’s life, the word that echoes in my head is EXTRAORDINARY, and even simpler: WOW!

Leigh Hunt is more obscure than, say, Byron, Shelley, or Keats, but without him, we would have none of them!

How is that so? See the details below! ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Hunt ran a prestigious Salon for artists in the Vale of Health, which was so prestigious that Keats longed to be in it, and was further jealous over Shelley’s acceptance, which preceded his.

Hunt’s published articles citing the treatment of soldiers being kidnapped by the military (often whipped as many as 250 TIMES, even after they expired); in his newspaper The Examiner.

Served 2 years in Hoarsemonger Lane Gaol (For which his health never really recovered) on the charge of libel.
Had ten children
Traveled with his family to Italy to start a journal with Byron and Shelley
Published The Mask of Anarchy after Shelley’s death (however, due to fears for his safety, he had to wait over a decade to do so)

Volume VIII, EXQUISITE RAIN, Poems for Leigh Hunt, is not a biography; it is Hunt’s LIFE told through verse. His work and life, what he accomplished, is a blueprint for those seeking inspiration even today!

To learn more, check out Andrew’s in-depth review below ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

23 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

The Romantic Series is my gift to you, meaning humanity itself,

but we can’t do it without you!

Currently, we are at $948 with 30 days to go

A PLEDGE FROM YOU TO ➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️IS A STATEMENT

THAT EQUALITY MATTERS!

AND ANYTHING YOU CAN DO IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

CAPTAIN PEN RIDES AGAIN!

Aria Ligi — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 21:09:37 GMT

I am so honored to have Andrew Benson Brown’s review of Volume VIII of the Romantic Series, EXQUISIT RAIN: Poems for Leigh Hunt. ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

23 days ago · Andrew Benson Brown

If this post and Andrew’s review intrigue you and you are moved to like it, please COMMENT, SHARE, AND MOST OF ALL, PLEDGE TO THE ROMANTIC SERIES!

What is the Romantic Series? It is my fourteen-volume collection of poetry written expressly for and about the English Romantics of the 18th-19th centuries, beginning with Wordsworth and finishing with the Bluestocking women of the era.

The message of the Romantics, though they may seem far away, is a pressing one, especially now. It is to build a world in which EQUALITY FOR ALL IS THE NORM. This is an EQUALITY ACROSS ALL REAL AND IMAGINED BARRIERS SUCH AS RACE, GENDER, CLASS, AND ECONOMICS.

The Romantics dubbed this a PANTISOCRACY. THESE IDEALS WERE BASED ON WILLIAM GODWIN’S TOME, POLITICAL JUSTICE.

Godwin never lived up to his own ideals, but Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey planned to build a community on the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania using them as the foundation for their collective. Did they, in fact, do this? No. Due to personal struggles, they were unable to follow through, but Leigh Hunt, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron picked up the mantle, espousing Godwin’s notions and, with this in mind, established a literary journal, while living in Italy, dubbed THE INDICATOR, wherein they could write freely (without fear of being arrested for sedition). Hunt, who had already gone to prison for sedition, spending nearly two years there on the charge of sedition for citing the brutal treatment of soldiers, knew firsthand the damage both mentally and physically that a stint in jail could do.

Shelley, though struggling to support Mary and their children, handed out soup and blankets to the unhoused and refused to have sugar in his home because he knew it was picked by slaves; he traveled to Ireland to press the Irish Catholics to free themselves from what he viewed as superstitious thinking (religion) and wrote The Mask of Anarchy in response to the Peterloo Massacre. Lord Byron spoke in the House of Lords on behalf of the Luddites (framemakers), whose jobs were being taken over by automation, and later funded and strategized with the Greek rebels for the country’s independence. There are numerous statues in Greece honoring him for his efforts.

Romantics may seem like something in the dusty past, but what they were fighting for (EQUALITY) CONTINUES.

Not everyone can go out in the streets and march. SUPPORTING THE ROMANTIC SERIES IS IN ITSELF A STATEMENT THAT YOU SUPPORT EQUALITY FOR ALL.

The Romantics, whose dream was for a world based on equality and love, would understand it as such.

The Romantic Series is my gift to you, meaning humanity itself, but

We can’t do it without you!

Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ and its ideals of Equality for all!

Poetry is LIFE! Poetry is Healing!

SCANDAL ROCKED ... Seems familiar

Aria Ligi — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 22:07:55 GMT

In a time when women’s voices had not been heard before, Byron listened and was continually impressed and amazed. He joined Madame de Staël’s Salon in Coppet and was interviewed by Lady Blessington, whose Conversations with Lord Byron were first published in serial form but became so popular that they were reprinted in several volumes.

He was similarly overawed by Lady Caroline Lamb’s cantos, which were an homage to his Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, and later worked with her and Issac Nathan, setting his Hebrew Melodies to music.

Byron Bound, the titular poem from Volume VII of the Romantic Series, celebrates Byron’s very complicated relationship with women (including his mother, and later his estranged wife, Lady Byron), honoring such notables as Lady Caroline Lamb, Madame de Staël, and Contessa Teresa Guiccioli.

To learn more, see ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️💜💜💜💜😊😊😊😊

A Review of Aria Ligi's Romantic Series, Volume 7

a month ago · Andrew Benson Brown

The Romantic Series is my gift to you, meaning humanity itself, but

We can’t do it without you!

Pledge for➡️ The Romantic Series ⬅️ and its ideals of Equality for all!

Poetry is LIFE! Poetry is Healing!

Twin Toes

Aria Ligi — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 21:23:09 GMT

Esprit in Colloquoy, A Dialogue of alternating cantos, starting with Percy and ending with Mary, couples the politics of 19th-century Europe with the troubled relationship between Mary and Percy.

Both had had affairs, though Percy moreso than she. (And one has to think the one with Claire, her half-sister, and Jane Williams, her friend, the most hurtful). If we reference the multiple deaths and miscarriages, so many that I have lost count, and here I am guessing, but I would wager at least twelve (though AI only counts five; I disagree since it seems that Mary and her biographers seem to cite the death of a child, or miscarriage occurring numerous times), the losses were palpable affecting both Shelleys while infecting them with a melancholy that permeated their ability to communicate in any meaningful way concerning them.

Mary felt that these were ‘punishment’ for their abandonment of Percy’s wife, Harriet, and his children, a kind of karma, if you will. What Percy thought is less clear, yet he does speak of Mary’s coldness and a darkness that, like a great veil, cast a shadow over their once passionate and fulsomely open dialogue.

Esprit in Colloquoy is one of my all-time favorites from the series, for its exploration of this intense and complex pairing. No relationship is ever simple, but add politics and how it mirrors interpersonal strife, and you have a sweet-and-sour, but savory brew!

Read Andrew’s review ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️💜💜💜💜😊😊😊😊