First broadcast last year to mark the centenary of Edward Lear's birth in 1812, this series of essays considers the exuberant play of Edward Lear as a nonsense poet and artist and the influence of 'nonsense' on modern life.

In the first essay in the series, writer and academic Sara Lodge considers Lear as a tragicomic writer, whose poems reflect the key romantic themes of the time, but seek out the ridiculous amid the sublime. Show less