English male poets
The Lake Poets were a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake District of England, United Kingdom, in the first half of the nineteenth century. As a group, they followed no single "school" of thought or literary practice then known.
19 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aldous Huxley's dystopian 1932 novel Brave New World and its vision of a future of test tube babies, free love and round-the-clock surveillance.
9 April 2009
Featuring: David Bradshaw, Daniel Pick, Michèle Barrett
Culture20th-century English novelistsEnglish travel writersPhilosophers of literatureEnglish male short story writersJames Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients20th-century English philosophersPhilosophers of technologyMale essayistsEnglish emigrants to the United StatesBritish philosophers of culture, English pacifistsEnglish science fiction writersEnglish male novelistsBritish philosophers of mindPeople educated at Eton CollegeEnglish male poetsAnti-consumerists20th-century mysticsAlumni of Balliol College, OxfordEnglish short story writersNew Age predecessorsEnglish essayistsEnglish satirists20th-century British essayistsLost Generation writersEnglish agnosticsDuke University facultyAuden
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss WH Auden's life and poetry from Europe before WWII, reflecting on his travels to Spain, China and Germany and the rise of totalitarianism.
19 December 2019
Featuring: Mark Ford, Janet Montefiore, Jeremy Noel-Tod
CultureAmerican literary critics, American male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish male dramatists and playwrights20th-century English male writersAmerican male essayists, American male poets20th-century American male writersAmerican male non-fiction writersEnglish LGBTQ poetsGay academics20th-century English poets20th-century English non-fiction writersGay dramatists and playwrights, Gay poetsMembers of the American Academy of Arts and LettersEnglish emigrants to the United StatesAnglican poetsAmerican lecturersModernist theatre20th-century American essayistsEnglish male poetsAmerican LGBTQ poetsEnglish literary criticsAlumni of Christ Church, OxfordNaturalized citizens of the United StatesEnglish essayistsFormalist poetsLGBTQ AnglicansOxford Professors of PoetryEnglish male non-fiction writersBritish male essayistsDickens
Melvyn Bragg discusses the achievements of Charles Dickens What is his political and literary legacy to our age?
12 July 2001
Featuring: Rosemary Ashton, Michael Slater, John Bowen
English travel writersEnglish prisoners and detaineesEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish AnglicansLiteracy and society theoristsAnglican writersEnglish male short story writersWriters of Gothic fictionEnglish philanthropistsEnglish historical novelistsTrope theoristsBurials at Westminster AbbeyVictorian novelists19th-century English novelists19th-century travel writers19th-century English non-fiction writers19th-century British journalists19th-century English historians19th-century British philanthropistsEnglish male novelistsBritish critics of religionsCritics of the Catholic ChurchPeople from Somers Town, LondonEnglish male poets19th-century pseudonymous writersLecturersEnglish reformers19th-century English dramatists and playwrights19th-century English poets19th-century British short story writersEnglish satiristsWriters about activism and social changeEnglish male non-fiction writersWriters from the London Borough of Camden19th-century English essayistsBritish social reformersBritish male essayistsGeorge Herbert
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author of 'the most beautiful poem in the world' whose works on his relationship with God offered comfort to Charles I when he faced execution.
07 November 2024
Featuring: Helen Wilcox, Victoria Moul, Simon Jackson
CulturePoet priestsSonneteersPeople celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar17th-century English Anglican priestsAnglican saintsAnglo-Welsh poets17th-century deaths from tuberculosisEnglish male poetsAnglican poetsTuberculosis deaths in EnglandLutheran saintsAlumni of Trinity College, CambridgePeople educated at Westminster School, London17th-century Christian mystics17th-century English male writersProtestant mystics17th-century English poetsAnglican writersGerard Manley Hopkins
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the works of Hopkins, unpublished in his lifetime, who FR Leavis called 'the only influential poet of the Victorian age and the greatest'.
21 March 2019
Featuring: Catherine Phillips, Jane Wright, Martin Dubois
John Clare
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss John Clare, the 'Northamptonshire peasant poet', whose writing was as celebrated as his life was humble.
9 February 2017
Featuring: Jonathan Bate, Mina Gorji, Simon Kövesi
John Donne
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the extraordinary life and work of one of England's finest love poets and, as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, most remarkable preachers.
12 January 2023
Featuring: Mary Ann Lund, Sue Wiseman, Hugh Adlington
CulturePeople from the City of London17th-century Anglican theologiansLutheran saintsLiteracy and society theoristsIndependent scholarsPamphleteers17th-century English Anglican priestsChristian poetsAnglican poetsAlumni of Hart Hall, OxfordEpigrammatistsMetaphor theoristsPoet priestsEnglish people of Welsh descentPeople celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar16th-century English male writersCritics of the Catholic ChurchLiterary theoristsEnglish male poets16th-century English poets17th-century English poetsMetaphysical poetsWriters from LondonSonneteersPhilosophers of religionAnglican saintsEnglish satiristsWriters about activism and social changeEnglish male non-fiction writers17th-century English male writersMarlowe
Melvyn Bragg discusses Christopher Marlowe; a forger, a brawler, a spy, but above all a playwright, a poet and the most celebrated writer of his generation.
7 July 2005
Featuring: Katherine Duncan-Jones, Jonathan Bate, Emma Smith
16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsLatin–English translatorsDeaths by stabbing in England, English murder victims, People murdered in England16th-century English male writersEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish male poetsPeople of the Elizabethan era16th-century English poetsEnglish Renaissance dramatists16th-century English translatorsEnglish spiesMilton
Melvyn Bragg examines the literary and political career of the 17th century poet John Milton, examining work such as Paradise Lost as well as his role as propagandist during the English Civil War.
7 March 2002
Featuring: John Carey, Lisa Jardine, Blair Worden
Mythopoeic writersChristian humanistsBlind writersEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsPeople from the City of LondonLiteracy and society theorists17th-century English dramatists and playwrights17th-century English philosophersEnglish writers with disabilitiesBritish philosophers of religionPamphleteersNeoclassical writersRhetoriciansBritish free speech activistsEpic poetsChristian poetsSocial philosophersMale essayistsAnglican poetsDeaths from kidney failure in the United KingdomMetaphor theoristsEnglish DissentersRhetoric theoristsAlumni of Christ's College, Cambridge17th-century writers in LatinLiterary theoristsCritics of the Catholic ChurchEnglish male poets17th-century English writersEnglish theologians17th-century English poetsEnglish Anglican theologiansWriters from LondonAnti-Catholicism in the United KingdomBlind poetsCalvinist and Reformed poetsSonneteersAnglican philosophers17th-century English educatorsEnglish essayistsEnglish political philosophersEnlightenment philosophersEnglish educational theoristsWriters about activism and social changeEnglish non-fiction writersEnglish republicans17th-century English male writersPope
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the satirist Alexander Pope. One of the greatest poets of the English language, his brilliant satires have made him popular in our age but not in his own.
9 November 2006
Featuring: John Mullan, Jim McLaverty, Valerie Rumbold
Neoclassical writersEnglish Roman CatholicsTory poetsEnglish essayists18th-century English poetsPeople from the City of London18th-century British essayistsEnglish male poetsEnglish male non-fiction writersRoman Catholic writersTranslators of HomerEnglish Catholic poetsFreemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England18th-century English non-fiction writersTuberculosis deaths in England18th-century English male writersBritish male essayistsRobert Graves
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of the author of I, Claudius, especially his love and war poems and his ideas on the source of all creativity.
10 October 2024
Featuring: Paul O'Prey, Fran Brearton, Bob Davis
Culture20th-century English novelistsEnglish atheists20th-century atheists20th-century English male writersEnglish people of Irish descentPrix Italia winnersEnglish writers with disabilitiesEnglish LGBTQ poets20th-century English poetsEnglish male short story writers20th-century English non-fiction writersPeople educated at Charterhouse SchoolJames Tait Black Memorial Prize recipientsEnglish historical novelistsPeople with post-traumatic stress disorderBisexual male writers20th-century English LGBTQ peopleEnglish bisexual men, English bisexual writers, Royal Welch Fusiliers officersBritish Army personnel of World War IBisexual memoiristsEnglish male novelists20th-century English memoiristsEnglish male poets20th-century translatorsEnglish World War I poetsBisexual novelistsBisexual poetsEnglish short story writersEnglish literary criticsOxford Professors of PoetryEnglish male non-fiction writersShakespeare and Literary Criticism
Melvyn Bragg discusses the enduring popular and academic appeal of Shakespeare and examines whether literary criticism and the academic institution ruins the pleasure of reading.
4 March 1999
Featuring: Harold Bloom, Jacqueline Rose
16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsSonneteersEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish male poetsPeople of the Elizabethan era17th-century English dramatists and playwrights16th-century English poets17th-century English male writers17th-century English poetsEnglish Renaissance dramatists16th-century English male actors, 17th-century English male actors, Burials in Warwickshire, English male stage actors, King's Men (playing company), Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare family, William Shakespeare, Writers from WarwickshireShakespeare's Life
Melvyn Bragg discusses what we know about the life of William Shakespeare, a tantalising conundrum that has exercised minds since the day the playwright died.
15 March 2001
Featuring: Katherine Duncan-Jones, John Sutherland, Grace Ioppolo
16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsSonneteersEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish male poetsPeople of the Elizabethan era17th-century English dramatists and playwrights16th-century English poets17th-century English male writers17th-century English poetsEnglish Renaissance dramatists16th-century English male actors, 17th-century English male actors, Burials in Warwickshire, English male stage actors, King's Men (playing company), Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare family, William Shakespeare, Writers from WarwickshireShakespeare's Work
Melvyn Bragg discusses whether the work of William Shakespeare is 'not of an age but for all time' or increasingly irrelevant museum pieces embalmed in out of reach language.
11 May 2000
Featuring: Frank Kermode, Michael Bogdanov, Germaine Greer
16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsSonneteersEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish male poetsPeople of the Elizabethan era17th-century English dramatists and playwrights16th-century English poets17th-century English male writers17th-century English poetsEnglish Renaissance dramatists16th-century English male actors, 17th-century English male actors, Burials in Warwickshire, English male stage actors, King's Men (playing company), Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare family, William Shakespeare, Writers from WarwickshireSir Thomas Wyatt
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Tudor courtier who found a way to write extraordinary and enduring poetry while under the intense scrutiny of Henry VIII's machinery of state.
09 May 2024
Featuring: Brian Cummings, Susan Brigden, Laura Ashe
Swift's A Modest Proposal
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jonathan Swift's satirical 1729 pamphlet A Modest Proposal, which reveals much about attitudes to the Irish and the poor in 18th-Century Britain.
29 January 2009
Featuring: John Mullan, Judith Hawley, Ian McBride
CultureIrish male poets18th-century English novelistsEnglish AnglicansPeople educated at Kilkenny CollegeAnglican writersEnglish political writersEnglish male short story writersNeoclassical writersEnglish fantasy writersAlumni of Hart Hall, Oxford18th-century pseudonymous writersEnglish pamphleteersEnglish male novelists18th-century Irish writers18th-century Irish novelists, 18th-century Irish poetsEnglish male poets18th-century Anglo-Irish people, 18th-century Irish male writersAnglo-Irish artists, Irish fantasy writersJonathan SwiftEnglish short story writersEnglish satirists17th-century Anglo-Irish peopleAlumni of Trinity College DublinIrish satiristsThe Scriblerus Club
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Scriblerus Club which included some of the sharpest satirists of the 18th century.
9 June 2005
Featuring: John Mullan, Judith Hawley, Marcus Walsh
Thomas Middleton
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the star writers for the London stage in the age of Shakespeare, much in demand for his own work and for rewriting the work of others.
20 March 2025
Featuring: Emma Smith, Lucy Munro, Michelle O’Callaghan
Wilfred Owen
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of Britain's greatest war poets, who published only 5 poems in his short life yet whose works became seen as a warning of the futility of wars.
27 October 2022
Featuring: Jane Potter, Fran Brearton, Guy Cuthbertson
CultureWar writersBritish Army personnel of World War IEnglish people of Welsh descentArtists' Rifles soldiersPeople with post-traumatic stress disorder20th-century English male writersEnglish male poetsRecipients of the Military Cross20th-century English LGBTQ peopleEnglish World War I poetsLost Generation writersEnglish writers with disabilitiesEnglish LGBTQ poets20th-century English poets