The Poetaster

Despite outward appearances, Tim and Andy are not perfect. You read that right. They make mistakes, they miss nuance. But isn't that part of the point of poetry - that it contains multitudes? Good poems aren't crosswords; they're compositions that repay rereading.

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Tim and Andrew take a look at a poem by one of the great Victorian poets Christina Rossetti, who is paying tribute not only to LEL but also to Elizabeth Barrett Browning in a sad but possibly hopeful (??) description of a heartbroken woman.

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There's nothing Andrew likes more than a good nature poem, so Tim indulges him with "Hamlen Brook" by former American Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur. A lovely little celebration of the natural world with debts to Wordsworth, Clare, the metaphysical poets and possibly a touch of Henry Thoreau as well.

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Tim and Andrew discuss what it takes to build a cathedral; who does the building; where our humanity comes from; and why a cathedral is not like AI.

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Tim and Andrew consider the way love changes over the years, from youthful passion to aged tolerance and kindness, and how the special moments of one's life are like drops of water backlit by sunlight.

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An episode for all miserable seventeen-year-olds and aspiring poets. You don't have to be a genius to have a go at poetry - or jazz - but beware if you are a professional and don't live up to Charles Mingus's standards.

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In Homer, the gods took the place of consciousness. For contemporary New Zealand poet Kate Camp, it's gulls. What's the connection? And why does the speaker of this poem like derelict piers gently mouldering away in the sea? Tim and Andrew offer their take on "Gulls".

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Tim and Andrew bid farewell to Andrew's kitchen, at least for a few weeks, and indulge in a semi-professional recording studio. Full of the milk of human kindness as a result, Tim shrugs off his grumpy demeanour, and leads a discussion of the lifegiving qualities of the sun, as described by fellow curmudgeon Philip Larkin in his poem "Solar".

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More poetry about art - this time from current Commonwealth Poet Laureate, Selina Tusitala Marsh, who is "pissed off" at Paul Gauguin's depictions of nude women on a Tahitian beach.

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For Good Friday, Tim and Andy talk about another Easter poem, this time from twentieth-century surrealist David Gascoyne.

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