Poetry Extra: Poetry Workshop

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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Poetry Extra

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly opportunity for listeners to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

A brand new poetry slot on Radio 4 Extra gives listeners a weekly opportunity to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

Poetry Extra: Poetry Workshop - Night Photograph by Lavinia Greenlaw

Poetry Workshop - Night Photograph by Lavinia Greenlaw

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Poetry Extra, Poetry Workshop - Night Photograph by Lavinia Greenlaw

Daljit Nagra selects the best poetry programmes from the BBC's archive.

Daljit Nagra chooses Poetry Workshop - Night Photograph by Lavinia Greenlaw . With Ruth Padel meeting poets from East Suffolk.

Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's poetry archive and selects Poetry Workshop - Night Photograph by Lavinia Greenlaw. 

Ruth Padel meets poets from East Suffolk to work on some poems in progress. Testing and revising as they go, in a spirit of supportive criticism. Tough love for poems.

Poetry Workshops are gathering all over the country. In the back rooms of pubs, in libraries and in front rooms, poets meet to hone their craft and sharpen their verse. 

Ruth and the group work on three very different poems on the theme of 'darkness' - poems that evoke mystery, longing and sadness.  In the process they consider the pros and cons of abstractions and the effective use of titles in a poem.  The group are ruthless yet supportive as they chuck out words and redraft; listening, pruning and testing their work as they go.

The group discuss the techniques, inspiration, wordplay and imagination that make poetry so enjoyable and rewarding. As well as working on their own poems, the group consider a poem by Lavinia Greenlaw called 'Night Photograph.'

Producer: Sarah Langan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.

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