Sonneteers
A sonnet is a poetic form which originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention and the Sicilian School of poets who surrounded him then spread the form to the mainland.
13 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Christina Rossetti
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti.
1 December 2011
Featuring: Dinah Birch, Rhian Williams, Nicholas Shrimpton
CultureAnglican saintsSonneteersEnglish women poetsVictorian poets19th-century English women writersEnglish fantasy writersWriters from the London Borough of CamdenVictorian women writersBurials at Highgate CemeteryEnglish hymnwriters19th-century British writersPoets from LondonPolidori-Rossetti family, British people of Italian descent, English people of Italian descentGerard 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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the works of Hopkins, unpublished in his lifetime, who FR Leavis called 'the only influential poet of the Victorian age and the greatest'.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
CultureAnglican saintsWriters about activism and social changeEnglish male poetsPhilosophers of religionSonneteersCritics of the Catholic ChurchEnglish male non-fiction writers17th-century English male writersLiteracy and society theorists16th-century English poets17th-century English poetsLiterary theoristsLutheran saintsPeople celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendarAnglican poetsChristian poetsEnglish satiristsPeople from the City of LondonEnglish people of Welsh descentMetaphor theoristsWriters from LondonEpigrammatistsPamphleteers16th-century English male writers17th-century Anglican theologiansAlumni of Hart Hall, OxfordIndependent scholarsMetaphysical poetsPoet priestsJorge Luis Borges
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the Argentinian master of the short story, Jorge Luis Borges.
4 January 2007
Featuring: Edwin Williamson, Efraín Kristal, Evelyn Fishburn
CulturePhilosophers of literaturePhilosophers of mindPhilosophers of cultureSonneteersAphoristsPhilosophers of mathematicsLiteracy and society theoristsPhilosophers of artLiterary theorists20th-century essayistsTrope theoristsMetaphysics writersMetaphor theoristsPhilosophers of pessimismSurrealist writersLecturers20th-century translatorsPhilosophers of timeJerusalem Prize recipients20th-century mysticsAnthologistsBlind writersCommanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of GermanySpanish-language poetsHaiku poetsMagic realism writersPhilosophers of identityBlind poetsLorca
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work of Federico Garcia Lorca, author of Blood Wedding, Yerma and The House of Bernarda Alba, executed by Franco's forces, his body unrecovered.
4 July 2019
Featuring: Maria Delgado, Federico Bonaddio, Sarah Wright
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 KingdomShakespeare 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
CultureEnglish male poetsSonneteers17th-century English male writersEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsPeople of the Elizabethan era16th-century English poets17th-century English poets17th-century English dramatists and playwrightsEnglish Renaissance dramatists, 16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsBurials in Warwickshire, Shakespeare family, English male stage actors, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, 17th-century English male actors, Writers from Warwickshire, 16th-century English male actors, Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare, King's Men (playing company)Shakespeare'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
CultureEnglish male poetsSonneteers17th-century English male writersEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsPeople of the Elizabethan era16th-century English poets17th-century English poets17th-century English dramatists and playwrightsEnglish Renaissance dramatists, 16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsBurials in Warwickshire, Shakespeare family, English male stage actors, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, 17th-century English male actors, Writers from Warwickshire, 16th-century English male actors, Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare, King's Men (playing company)Shakespeare'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
CultureEnglish male poetsSonneteers17th-century English male writersEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsPeople of the Elizabethan era16th-century English poets17th-century English poets17th-century English dramatists and playwrightsEnglish Renaissance dramatists, 16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsBurials in Warwickshire, Shakespeare family, English male stage actors, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, 17th-century English male actors, Writers from Warwickshire, 16th-century English male actors, Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare, King's Men (playing company)Sir 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
Yeats and Irish Politics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poet W.B. Yeats and Irish politics from the suspension of home rule to the division of Ireland.
17 April 2008
Featuring: Roy Foster, Fran Brearton, Warwick Gould
CultureSonneteersNobel laureates in LiteratureModernist theatreAnglican poetsIrish male poetsFellows of the Royal Society of LiteratureIrish AnglicansVictorian writersFormalist poetsAnthologistsIrish male dramatists and playwrights, Irish expatriates in France20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights, 20th-century Irish male writers, 20th-century Irish poetsAnglo-Irish artists, Irish fantasy writersIrish Nobel laureates, Irish modernist poets19th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights, Symbolist dramatists and playwrights, 19th-century Irish poetsMembers of the 1925 Seanad, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Irish occultists, Protestant Irish nationalists, Irish occult writers, Irish folklorists, Irish Dominion League, W. B. Yeats, Burials in the Republic of Ireland, People from West Kensington, William Blake scholars, People educated at The High School, Dublin, Symbolist poets, Independent members of Seanad Éireann, Members of the 1922 Seanad, Butler Yeats family, Alumni of the National College of Art and Design, Abbey Theatre, People from Sandymount, Members of the Irish Republican BrotherhoodYeats and Mysticism
Melvyn Bragg discusses the life and beliefs of the Irish Poet W B Yeats and explores how a passion for magic and mysticism served and stood alongside his poetry.
31 January 2002
Featuring: Roy Foster, Warwick Gould, Brenda Maddox
CultureSonneteersNobel laureates in LiteratureModernist theatreAnglican poetsIrish male poetsFellows of the Royal Society of LiteratureIrish AnglicansVictorian writersFormalist poetsAnthologistsIrish male dramatists and playwrights, Irish expatriates in France20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights, 20th-century Irish male writers, 20th-century Irish poetsAnglo-Irish artists, Irish fantasy writersIrish Nobel laureates, Irish modernist poets19th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights, Symbolist dramatists and playwrights, 19th-century Irish poetsMembers of the 1925 Seanad, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Irish occultists, Protestant Irish nationalists, Irish occult writers, Irish folklorists, Irish Dominion League, W. B. Yeats, Burials in the Republic of Ireland, People from West Kensington, William Blake scholars, People educated at The High School, Dublin, Symbolist poets, Independent members of Seanad Éireann, Members of the 1922 Seanad, Butler Yeats family, Alumni of the National College of Art and Design, Abbey Theatre, People from Sandymount, Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood