The Body
Roger McGough presents a selection of listeners' requests for poems that celebrate the body in all its forms whether stretched, flabby, swollen or svelte.
Roger McGough presents a selection of listeners' requests for poems which celebrate the body in all its forms whether stretched, flabby, swollen or svelte.
Inspired by Walt Whitman's 'I Sing The Body Electric', the programme features poems from Sylvia Plath, Stevie Smith, Sharon Olds and P J Harvey as well as an interview and reading from Andrew McMillan whose first ever poetry collection, 'Physical' won The Guardian First Book Award in 2015.
Readers are Rosie Cavaliero and John Mackay.
Producer: Sarah Addezio.
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This Week's Poems
You’re
By Sylvia Plath
From The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry
Published by Bloodaxe Books
The Face
By Stevie Smith
From Stevie Smith – Collected Poems
Published by New Directions
Feet
By Pedro Serrano
Translated by Anna Crowe
From Being Human
Published by Bloodaxe Books
The Hand
By P J Harvey
From The Hollow of the Hand
Published by Bloomsbury Circus
Yoga
By Andrew McMillan
From Physical
Published by Random House UK
Extract from I Sing the Body Electric / Leaves of Grass
By Walt Whitman
From American Poetry; The Nineteenth Century. Vol. 1
Published by The Library of America
Ode to the Penis
By Sharon Olds
From Odes
Published by Jonathan Cape
The Vine
By Robert Herrick
From https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/50721
Question
By May Swenson
100 Great Poems of the Twentieth Century
Published by W. W. Norton
The Halving
By Robin Robertson
From Hill of Doors
Publisher: Picador
Flesh
By Kerry Hardie
From Being Human
Published by Bloodaxe Books
This Living Hand, Now Warm and Capable
By John Keats
From A Book of Love Poetry
Published by Oxford University Press
A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body
By Andrew Marvell
From English Seventeenth-Century Verse; Vol. 1
Published by W. W. Norton
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Roger McGough |
| Reader | Rosie Cavaliero |
| Reader | John Mackay |
| Producer | Sarah Addezio |
Broadcasts
- Sun 4 Jun 201716:30BBC Radio 4
- Sat 10 Jun 201723:30BBC Radio 4
