The Volcanic Verses

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BBC Radio 4 - The Volcanic Verses

Volcanoes fascinate and terrify us, prompting centuries of poems to be written about them.

Volcanoes have always fascinated and terrified us, prompting poetry to be written about them for centuries. Professor Fiona Stafford explores the rich history of volcanic verses.

Presenter Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, dons her safety gear and travels to Iceland’s areas of volcanic activity to explore humanity’s wealth of poetry about volcanoes. 

While there she meets with Icelandic poets and academics who have personal experience of volcanic activity, including one professor whose childhood home was engulfed by lava. 

Volcanoes have had a massive impact on humanity. As well as Icelandic poetry, Fiona also uncovers poems from across the world reacting to the volcanic activity they have faced, ranging from Montserrat in the Caribbean to Japan.  She includes volcanic poetry from Ted Hughes, Lord Byron and Icelandic poets ancient and modern, as well as poets who liken volcanic eruptions and lava to the rise of oppressive regimes. These include poems from Austrian Jews who fled the Holocaust and Iranian poets who liken the recovery from a lava flow to post-revolutionary survival. 

There has been a surprisingly huge amount of volcanic poetry over the last 2,000 years and this programme tries, with a small selection of examples, to chart the changing beliefs, hopes and interpretations of volcanic activity by different cultures, communities and generations. 

Producer- Turan Ali 
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 4

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