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
Critics of the Catholic ChurchChristian humanistsBritish free speech activistsNeoclassical writersRhetoricians17th-century writers in Latin17th-century English writersMythopoeic writersRhetoric theoristsEnglish Anglican theologiansLiteracy and society theoristsBlind poetsEnglish political philosophersEnglish essayistsEpic poets17th-century English poetsEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsMetaphor theoristsWriters about activism and social changeChristian poetsSonneteersEnglish male poetsCalvinist and Reformed poetsDeaths from kidney failure in the United KingdomAnglican philosophersAnglican poetsBlind writersAnti-Catholicism in the United KingdomMale essayistsWriters from LondonPeople from the City of London17th-century English male writersEnglish writers with disabilitiesEnglish non-fiction writersLiterary theoristsBritish philosophers of religionEnglish DissentersAlumni of Christ's College, Cambridge17th-century English educatorsEnlightenment philosophersSocial philosophersPamphleteersEnglish educational theorists17th-century English philosophers17th-century English dramatists and playwrightsEnglish theologiansEnglish republicans17th centuryTheologyPope
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
18th-century English male writersBritish male essayistsEnglish essayists18th-century English non-fiction writersTranslators of HomerTuberculosis deaths in England18th-century English poetsEnglish Catholic poetsNeoclassical writersTory poetsFreemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of EnglandEnglish Roman CatholicsEnglish male non-fiction writersPeople from the City of LondonEnglish male poets18th-century British essayistsRoman Catholic writers18th centurySwift'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
CulturePeople educated at Kilkenny College18th-century Irish writersEnglish fantasy writersNeoclassical writersEnglish male novelistsAlumni of Hart Hall, OxfordEnglish pamphleteersAlumni of Trinity College DublinEnglish AnglicansEnglish male poetsIrish satiristsEnglish short story writersEnglish male short story writers18th-century Irish novelists, 18th-century Irish poetsAnglican writers18th-century English novelists17th-century Anglo-Irish peopleEnglish satiristsJonathan SwiftEnglish political writers18th-century Anglo-Irish people, 18th-century Irish male writers18th-century pseudonymous writersAnglo-Irish artists, Irish fantasy writersIrish male poets17th century18th centuryIrelandThe 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