Dr Liam McIlvanney at a QUB Burns Event

Available for over a year

A Burns Night is taking place at Queen’s University, organised by Dr John Kirk in the Seamus Heaney Centre. One of the speakers, Dr Liam McIlvanney of the University of Aberdeen discusses "Burns the Radical" - and considers Burns’ relationship with the weaver poets of Ulster. Liam McIlvanney talks to James Fenton about the quality of the 18th century poetry being written in the vernacular… and James suggests that nowadays people are less interested in the radical poetry than the lighter verses such as The Jolly Beggars. (Broadcast: 17 Feb 2007)