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A Sea Shanty for Charles Causley

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14/08/2016

BBC Radio 4 - A Sea Shanty for Charles Causley

Film-maker and writer Jane Darke puts out to sea with the Cornish poet Charles Causley.

The poet Charles Causley lived in the centre of Cornwall and went to sea only during wartime, yet the maritime defines his work. Film-maker Jane Darke ships out with him.

When we look at the sea, W.H. Auden wrote: 'all that we are not stares back at what we are.' Jane Darke goes in search of the sea's truths as told by the Cornish poet Charles Causley. He was born and lived in the centre of the county and went to sea only during the Second World War as a sailor and yet the marine world shaped and defined his work. The filmmaker and writer Jane Darke lives in and works from a house just above a beach on the north Cornish coast. Her rooms are filled with salvaged objects from the shore. She has made a film about Charles Causley whose 100th anniversary falls next year. For this poetry feature the filmmaker and the poet put out to sea and we find their sea lives and their land lives running together like a tide up a beach. With performances of poems by Jim Causley and Julie Murphy, by Natalie Merchant and by the poet himself. Producer: Tim Dee.

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