Now embarking on its second series, the podcast is a terrific listen: bursting with enthusiasm for its chosen poems and constantly amusing about Skinner’s relationship with them.
‘He returned to what he really was’: Clive James’s daughter on his poetic farewell 🔗 — Excerpt: Ten months before his death last year at the age of 80, Clive James underwent an eight-hour operation to remove a tumour on his face. Already very frail – he had been suffering from leukaemia for a decade – afterwards it took him almost a week to emerge fully into consciousness.
The Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley died #OnThisDay, 8th July 1822, at the age of 29, when his boat went down in a sudden storm off the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia.
Poet’s corners: a car-free tour of inspiring Wordsworth sites 🔗 — Excerpt: William Wordsworth was born in Cumbria 250 years ago, on 7 April 1770. Inspired by nature and a sense of place, he was an environmentalist as well as a poet, so it’s fitting to visit the places he celebrated in as eco-friendly a way as possible.
Shelley in London: Poland Street 🔗 — Excerpt: Soho is my favourite part of London. I love walking from Oxford Circus to Leicester Square, dipping into Covent Garden.
