Can reclaiming poetry spark a second renaissance and wake us from our digital slumber? John welcomes Adam Walker to the Lectern dialogue series, praising his balanced critique of higher education and his work on poetry as a spiritual practice and the possibility of a second renaissance. Adam, an English PhD from Harvard, explains he developed a critical vocabulary for “spiritual poetics” (using Wordsworth) and now teaches public literature courses outside the academy to bridge the widening gap between universities and the public. They discuss causes of the chasm: humanities shifting from teaching to research, insular theory-driven discourse, rising college costs, and market pressures that displace a “hermeneutics of beauty.” They argue imagination has been reduced to entertainment, digital media erodes attention, and art is evolutionarily vital. Adam describes his dialogic, analytic-spiritual-creative classes (e.g., Eliot’s Four Quartets) and concludes with hope that cultural “turns” and renaissances can emerge from dark periods through renewed engagement with beauty and art. Adam Walker is a public scholar and recent Harvard PhD graduate who specializes in the spiritual dimensions of poetry. After stepping away from the traditional academy, he founded the Versed community, a platform dedicated to making university-level literature accessible to everyday readers. Through his teaching and growing YouTube channel, Adam advocates for the close reading of poetry as a transformative spiritual practice. He believes that engaging with art and beauty is essential to awakening from our modern "materialist slumber" and actively champions the arrival of a "Second Renaissance." Website: https://www.adamgagewalker.com/ Substack:https://substack.com/@adamgagewalker YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@closereadingpoetry Versed: https://versedcommunity.mn.co/ Rainer Maria Rilke: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rainer-maria-rilke Abigail Adams Institute:https://www.abigailadamsinstitute.org/ William Wordsworth:https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-wordsworth Explore courses and teachings from The Lectern https://lectern.johnvervaeke.com/ Support the Lectern and join a growing community of wisdom seekers https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke John Vervaeke: https://johnvervaeke.com/ https://twitter.com/vervaeke_john https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke