Mark Ford
Professor of English and American Literature at University College London
4 episodes
Covers topics in categories such as:
Walt Whitman
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the innovative 19th-century poet, who broke away from European literary traditions to become a key figure in the development of American culture.
27 April 2023
Also featuring: Sarah Churchwell, Peter Riley
CultureHall of Fame for Great Americans inductees19th-century American poets19th-century American male writersAmerican spiritual writersAmerican people of Dutch descentAmerican nationalists, American religious skepticsAmerican people of English descent19th-century American essayistsAmerican male journalistsAmerican male essayists, American male poets19th-century pseudonymous writersAmerican LGBTQ poetsAmerican male novelists19th-century American novelists, Novelists from New York (state)Pantheists19th-century mysticsWar writersAmerican humanists19th centuryAmericaThomas Hardy's Poetry
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Hardy's poems, which he prized far above the novels which made him famous and rich, and his ambition to be ranked alongside Shelley and Byron.
13 January 2022
Also featuring: Jane Thomas, Tim Armstrong
CultureFellows of the Royal Society of LiteratureBritish male poetsEnglish short story writersAlumni of King's College London20th-century English male writers19th-century English poets19th-century English novelistsEnglish male novelistsEnglish male short story writersMembers of the Order of MeritPantheistsVictorian novelists19th-century British short story writersBurials at Westminster AbbeyVictorian poets19th century20th centuryPoetryAuden
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
Also featuring: Janet Montefiore, Jeremy Noel-Tod
CultureEnglish literary criticsAmerican literary critics, American male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish emigrants to the United StatesAmerican male essayists, American male poets20th-century English non-fiction writersAmerican lecturersMembers of the American Academy of Arts and LettersOxford Professors of Poetry20th-century English male writersAmerican male non-fiction writersBritish male essayistsEnglish essayistsAlumni of Christ Church, OxfordFormalist poetsEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish male poetsEnglish LGBTQ poets20th-century American essayistsGay dramatists and playwrights, Gay poets20th-century American male writersAnglican poetsModernist theatreLGBTQ AnglicansAmerican LGBTQ poetsGay academicsNaturalized citizens of the United States20th-century English poetsEnglish male non-fiction writers20th centuryFour Quartets
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss TS Eliot's Four Quartets, written just before and during World War II as meditations on humanity's relationship with time.
22 December 2016
Also featuring: David Moody, Fran Brearton