Neoclassical writers
Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was born in Rome largely thanks to the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, at the time of the rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but its popularity spread all over Europe as a generation of European art students finished their Grand Tour and returned from Italy to their home countries with newly rediscovered Greco-Roman ideals.
4 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Milton
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
CultureSocial philosophersWriters about activism and social changeEnglish male poetsEnlightenment philosophersSonneteersCritics of the Catholic ChurchEnglish essayistsChristian humanists17th-century English male writersEnglish non-fiction writersLiteracy and society theoristsEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsEpic poets17th-century English poetsLiterary theorists17th-century English writersAnglican poetsChristian poetsPeople from the City of London17th-century writers in LatinRhetoric theorists17th-century English dramatists and playwrightsMale essayistsMetaphor theoristsWriters from London17th-century English philosophersEnglish republicansEnglish political philosophersNeoclassical writersPamphleteersEnglish writers with disabilitiesEnglish educational theoristsCalvinist and Reformed poetsMythopoeic writersAnglican philosophersBritish free speech activistsBlind writersDeaths from kidney failure in the United KingdomEnglish Anglican theologians17th-century English educatorsRhetoriciansBritish philosophers of religionEnglish DissentersAlumni of Christ's College, CambridgeBlind poetsEnglish theologiansAnti-Catholicism in the United KingdomPope
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
CultureEnglish male poetsEnglish essayistsEnglish male non-fiction writersBritish male essayistsPeople from the City of London18th-century English male writersEnglish Catholic poetsNeoclassical writersRoman Catholic writers18th-century English non-fiction writersTranslators of HomerEnglish Roman Catholics18th-century British essayistsFreemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of EnglandTory poetsTuberculosis deaths in England18th-century English poetsSwift'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
CultureEnglish male poetsEnglish AnglicansEnglish male novelistsEnglish male short story writersEnglish satiristsAlumni of Trinity College DublinIrish male poetsEnglish short story writersAnglican writersEnglish fantasy writersNeoclassical writersEnglish pamphleteers18th-century pseudonymous writers18th-century English novelists17th-century Anglo-Irish peopleEnglish political writersAlumni of Hart Hall, OxfordPeople educated at Kilkenny CollegeIrish satiristsJonathan SwiftAnglo-Irish artists, Irish fantasy writers18th-century Anglo-Irish people, 18th-century Irish writers, 18th-century Irish male writersThe 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