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
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 essayistsSwift'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