Unicorns and Dragons

Available for over a year

Simon Armitage wants to know why we are captivated by unicorns and other fantasy animals. Do they help us think about real animals, and can they help him write his new animal poem? In this episode Simon looks for traces of unicorns at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and discovers that JRR Tolkien (author of The Lord of the Rings) once gave a lecture there, within which he ruminated on the connection between dragons and real animals, and gave advice about how to despatch a dragon if necessary. Simon also wants to understand why a poem by the Bohemian poet Rainer Maria Rilke which features a unicorn, is so evocative, when he hardly describes the mythical creature. Can he glean something that might be useful for his own writing from this remarkable early 20th-century poem? Contributors Paul Smith - former Director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History Karen Leeder, Professor of German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford Katherine Rundell - author of 'Impossible Creatures' John Holmes, Professor of Victorian Literature and Culture at the University of Birmingham Kestrel - observed by Gerard Manley Hopkins Owls of Yorkshire Megalosaurus - from Stonesfield Exhibition marking 200 years of dinosaur discovery - featuring the Megalosaurus itself - can be visited at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History: https://oumnh.ox.ac.uk/learn-oxfordshire-dinosaurs Produced by Faith Lawrence Mixed by Simon Highfield