Three Faces Of Wh Auden

Episode

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

20230912

20230925 (R4)

It starts with that face - a wedding cake left out in the rain, as he himself described it. WH Auden was undoubtedly one of the greatest and most recognisable poets of the Twentieth Century, and one of the things that made him stand out was the strength of his work across different subjects. Most poets would be thrilled to be remembered for their love poetry, their metaphysical poetry, or their political poetry - Auden was an exceptional exponent of all three.

In this new three-part series marking 50 years since Auden's death, Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider those three different aspects of Auden's massive body of work, beginning with a look at the political poet who in his early years was perhaps the leading voice of the British cultural left.

As a young man in the 1930s Auden wrote powerful works such as Spain' that served as an ideological call to arms. Going on to witness the reality of battle in both Spain and China, he distanced himself from such poems and from the very idea that verse could make any practical political difference at all - `for poetry makes nothing happen` as he wrote in his elegy to W.B. Yeats.

Michael travels to Austria, where Auden spent his summers for the last fifteen years of his life and hears how the older poet remained politically active through helping writers in the Communist bloc in spite of this aversion to directly engaged verse. He also looks at those great poems of Auden's later career, including The Fall of Rome', that offer a more mythological reading of political events than the works of the 1930s that made him such a dominant figure in the cultural landscape.

Contributors include Alan Bennett, Katherine Bucknell, Carl Phillips, Zaffar Kunial, Timo Frühwirth, Sandra Mayer.

Producer: Geoff Bird

Poems referenced in this episode include:

As I Walked Out One Evening

September 1st 1939

The Shield Of Achilles

Night Mail

Funeral Blues

All published by Faber & Faber

A major three part series on the poet WH Auden begins with a look at his political work.

Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.

Contributors include Alan Bennett, Katherine Bucknell, Carl Phillips, Zaffar Kunial, Timo Frühwirth, Sandra Mayer.

Producer: Geoff Bird

Poems referenced in this episode include:

As I Walked Out One Evening

September 1st 1939

The Shield Of Achilles

Night Mail

Funeral Blues

All published by Faber & Faber

A major three part series on the poet WH Auden begins with a look at his political work.

Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.

20230919

20231002 (R4)

WH Auden was one of the most important religious poets of the Twentieth Century, but his relationship with faith was never straightforward. His life as an active and proud gay man put him at odds with the church, and he turned his back on his childhood faith in his teens, returning to it following a moment of quiet epiphany recorded in his poem 'A Summer Evening'. Religion remained important to him for the rest of his life but he remained wary of poetry that dealt with the subject too directly - but poet Michael Symmons Roberts hears from the likes of former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and poet and Archdeacon Rachel Mann, this doesn't stop those poems that do consider faith, such as Horae Canonicae, A Christmas Oratorio and Friday's Child containing sometimes difficult but often beautiful and deeply profound metaphysical meditations.

Produced by Geoff Bird

Poems referred to in this episode include:

The Age of Anxiety (1947)

Horae Canonicae (1948 - 1955)

Friday's Child (1958)

For The Time Being - A Christmas Oratorio (1966)

AS I Walked Out One Evening (1940)

all published by Faber and Faber.

Michael Symmons Roberts considers the place of religion in Auden's life and his poetry.

Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.

20230926

If nothing remained of WH Auden's work other than his love poems, they alone would be enough to secure his place as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Works like 'Lullaby', 'O Tell Me Truth About Love' and in particular 'Funeral Blues' (featured as it was in the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'), are often the first point of contact for readers with Auden. What they find are poems filled with a deep humanity as well as a strong anxiety at the passage of time and the limits of love, something he was a all too aware of from his own experience. In this, the final episode of the series, Michael Symmons Roberts speaks with guests including Alexander McColl Smith, Hannah Sullivan, Carl Phillips, Helmut Neundelinger about the evolution of Auden's love poems, while Zaffar Kunial offers a close reading of 'Funeral Blues'. Poet and priest Rachel Mann describes how the fact that Auden was gay helps explain the anonymity and formal distancing that appears particularly in his early love poems - and Alan Bennett charts Auden's relationship with his long term partner and collaborator Chester Kallman.

Producer: Geoff Bird

Poems referred to:

O tell Me The Truth About Love

Since

Taller Today

The More Loving One

Glad

All published by Faber & Faber

All poetry is fair dealt under criticism and review.

The final part of the series looks at WH Auden the love poet.

Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.

20230926

20231009 (R4)

Producer: Geoff Bird

Poems referred to:

O tell Me The Truth About Love

Since

Taller Today

The More Loving One

Glad

All published by Faber & Faber

All poetry is fair dealt under criticism and review.

The final part of the series looks at WH Auden the love poet.

Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.

Episodes

Episode	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
01	20230912	20230925 (R4)	It starts with that face - a wedding cake left out in the rain, as he himself described it. WH Auden was undoubtedly one of the greatest and most recognisable poets of the Twentieth Century, and one of the things that made him stand out was the strength of his work across different subjects. Most poets would be thrilled to be remembered for their love poetry, their metaphysical poetry, or their political poetry - Auden was an exceptional exponent of all three. In this new three-part series marking 50 years since Auden's death, Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider those three different aspects of Auden's massive body of work, beginning with a look at the political poet who in his early years was perhaps the leading voice of the British cultural left. As a young man in the 1930s Auden wrote powerful works such as Spain' that served as an ideological call to arms. Going on to witness the reality of battle in both Spain and China, he distanced himself from such poems and from the very idea that verse could make any practical political difference at all - `for poetry makes nothing happen` as he wrote in his elegy to W.B. Yeats. Michael travels to Austria, where Auden spent his summers for the last fifteen years of his life and hears how the older poet remained politically active through helping writers in the Communist bloc in spite of this aversion to directly engaged verse. He also looks at those great poems of Auden's later career, including The Fall of Rome', that offer a more mythological reading of political events than the works of the 1930s that made him such a dominant figure in the cultural landscape. Contributors include Alan Bennett, Katherine Bucknell, Carl Phillips, Zaffar Kunial, Timo Frühwirth, Sandra Mayer. Producer: Geoff Bird Poems referenced in this episode include: As I Walked Out One Evening September 1st 1939 The Shield Of Achilles Night Mail Funeral Blues All published by Faber & Faber A major three part series on the poet WH Auden begins with a look at his political work. Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry. It starts with that face - a wedding cake left out in the rain, as he himself described it. WH Auden was undoubtedly one of the greatest and most recognisable poets of the Twentieth Century, and one of the things that made him stand out was the strength of his work across different subjects. Most poets would be thrilled to be remembered for their love poetry, their metaphysical poetry, or their political poetry - Auden was an exceptional exponent of all three. In this new three-part series marking 50 years since Auden's death, Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider those three different aspects of Auden's massive body of work, beginning with a look at the political poet who in his early years was perhaps the leading voice of the British cultural left. As a young man in the 1930s Auden wrote powerful works such as Spain' that served as an ideological call to arms. Going on to witness the reality of battle in both Spain and China, he distanced himself from such poems and from the very idea that verse could make any practical political difference at all - `for poetry makes nothing happen` as he wrote in his elegy to W.B. Yeats. Michael travels to Austria, where Auden spent his summers for the last fifteen years of his life and hears how the older poet remained politically active through helping writers in the Communist bloc in spite of this aversion to directly engaged verse. He also looks at those great poems of Auden's later career, including The Fall of Rome', that offer a more mythological reading of political events than the works of the 1930s that made him such a dominant figure in the cultural landscape. Contributors include Alan Bennett, Katherine Bucknell, Carl Phillips, Zaffar Kunial, Timo Frühwirth, Sandra Mayer. Producer: Geoff Bird Poems referenced in this episode include: As I Walked Out One Evening September 1st 1939 The Shield Of Achilles Night Mail Funeral Blues All published by Faber & Faber A major three part series on the poet WH Auden begins with a look at his political work. Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.
02	20230919	20231002 (R4)	WH Auden was one of the most important religious poets of the Twentieth Century, but his relationship with faith was never straightforward. His life as an active and proud gay man put him at odds with the church, and he turned his back on his childhood faith in his teens, returning to it following a moment of quiet epiphany recorded in his poem 'A Summer Evening'. Religion remained important to him for the rest of his life but he remained wary of poetry that dealt with the subject too directly - but poet Michael Symmons Roberts hears from the likes of former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and poet and Archdeacon Rachel Mann, this doesn't stop those poems that do consider faith, such as Horae Canonicae, A Christmas Oratorio and Friday's Child containing sometimes difficult but often beautiful and deeply profound metaphysical meditations. Produced by Geoff Bird Poems referred to in this episode include: The Age of Anxiety (1947) Horae Canonicae (1948 - 1955) Friday's Child (1958) For The Time Being - A Christmas Oratorio (1966) AS I Walked Out One Evening (1940) all published by Faber and Faber. Michael Symmons Roberts considers the place of religion in Auden's life and his poetry. Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.
03	20230926		If nothing remained of WH Auden's work other than his love poems, they alone would be enough to secure his place as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Works like 'Lullaby', 'O Tell Me Truth About Love' and in particular 'Funeral Blues' (featured as it was in the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'), are often the first point of contact for readers with Auden. What they find are poems filled with a deep humanity as well as a strong anxiety at the passage of time and the limits of love, something he was a all too aware of from his own experience. In this, the final episode of the series, Michael Symmons Roberts speaks with guests including Alexander McColl Smith, Hannah Sullivan, Carl Phillips, Helmut Neundelinger about the evolution of Auden's love poems, while Zaffar Kunial offers a close reading of 'Funeral Blues'. Poet and priest Rachel Mann describes how the fact that Auden was gay helps explain the anonymity and formal distancing that appears particularly in his early love poems - and Alan Bennett charts Auden's relationship with his long term partner and collaborator Chester Kallman. Producer: Geoff Bird Poems referred to: O tell Me The Truth About Love Since Taller Today The More Loving One Glad All published by Faber & Faber All poetry is fair dealt under criticism and review. The final part of the series looks at WH Auden the love poet. Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.
03	20230926	20231009 (R4)	If nothing remained of WH Auden's work other than his love poems, they alone would be enough to secure his place as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Works like 'Lullaby', 'O Tell Me Truth About Love' and in particular 'Funeral Blues' (featured as it was in the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'), are often the first point of contact for readers with Auden. What they find are poems filled with a deep humanity as well as a strong anxiety at the passage of time and the limits of love, something he was a all too aware of from his own experience. In this, the final episode of the series, Michael Symmons Roberts speaks with guests including Alexander McColl Smith, Hannah Sullivan, Carl Phillips, Helmut Neundelinger about the evolution of Auden's love poems, while Zaffar Kunial offers a close reading of 'Funeral Blues'. Poet and priest Rachel Mann describes how the fact that Auden was gay helps explain the anonymity and formal distancing that appears particularly in his early love poems - and Alan Bennett charts Auden's relationship with his long term partner and collaborator Chester Kallman. Producer: Geoff Bird Poems referred to: O tell Me The Truth About Love Since Taller Today The More Loving One Glad All published by Faber & Faber All poetry is fair dealt under criticism and review. The final part of the series looks at WH Auden the love poet. Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider three different aspects of Auden's poetry.