Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was a British poet, educator and literary critic. He was professor of poetry at Oxford from 1857 to 1867. His poetry was famed for its sparing lucidity and approachable, direct style, as in this bleak but evocative poem “Growing Old,” a meditation on mortality and the cold comfort of legacy. 

Celebrate the arrival of long, bright evenings and British Summer Time with this short poem by Agnes Mary Frances Robinson, also known as Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux. Mary was also a respected literary critic, active in French and British intellectual circles through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though “The Pavilion” has no dedication, much of Mary’s poetry is dedicated to Vernon Lee (the pen name of Violet Paget), her lover and travelling companion for a number of years. 

Today’s poem is more sombre: “Shake Hands, We Shall Never Be Friends” by AE Housman. Like much of AE Housman’s poetry, this poem was inspired by Moses Jackson, Housman’s friend and muse; he could be described as the love of Housman’s life. “Shake Hands” was written on the occasion of Jackson’s emigration to Canada. Upon Jackson’s death in 1923, Housman wrote to a friend: “Now I can die myself: I could not have borne to leave him behind me in a world where anything might happen to him.” “Shake Hands” is read by John Goold.

In a world that rarely pauses, what does it mean to truly rest? In this episode, we turn to “Rest” by Margaret Louisa Woods (1855–1945), a poet and novelist whose work bridges Victorian intensity and a quietly modern introspection. Woods invites us to consider rest not as idleness, but as a sacred recalibration of body and spirit—a yielding that restores strength rather than surrendering it. Attentive to the hush beneath life’s noise, she captures the deep human longing to lay burdens down, if only for a moment. Gentle yet searching, “Rest” offers a timely meditation on stillness, renewal, and the courage it takes to stop.

January isn’t the only time for new beginnings. February–which this year is packed with Lunar New Year, Imbolc, Valentine’s Day, Shrove Tuesday, and the beginning of Ramadan–can also be a time of optimism, fresh starts and a new lease on life. “In February,” a light-hearted work by the Victorian poet and literary critic John Addington Symonds (1840-1893), captures the bravery and beauty of early spring. John Addington Symonds was a bisexual man and a scholar of gay history, making his work especially timely for UK Pride month.