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Avalon
Frank Skinner loves poetry. And he thinks you might like it too. Join Frank each week as he takes you through some of his choice picks of poems. There may be laughter. There may be tears. There will certainly be poetry. Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast is produced by Sarah Bishop. It is an Avalon production.
Total 66 episodes
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Rebecca Hawkes

Rebecca Hawkes

Frank gets very excited about the Rebecca Hawkes collection, ‘Meat Lovers’. The poems referenced are ‘After The Blizzard I Followed My Mother’ and ‘Pony Club Summer Camp’ by Rebecca Hawkes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
49:0320/11/2024
Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas

Frank spends the night in Dylan Thomas' bedroom. The poems referenced are ‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion’, ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ and ‘A Refusal To Morn The Death, By Fire, Of A Child In London’ by Dylan Thomas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
56:3313/11/2024
Martin Bell

Martin Bell

Frank loves a hard-drinking, hard-smoking Polytechnic lecturer like Martin Bell, especially when he is offering poetic praise to Groucho Marx. The poems referenced are ‘Ode to Groucho’ by Martin Bell and ‘The Second Coming’ by W.B. Yeats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
45:5328/02/2024
Jo Shapcott

Jo Shapcott

Jo Shapcott sends Frank, an enthusiastic tree-hugger, into a sap-soaked frenzy. The collection referenced is ‘Of Mutability’. The poems referenced are ‘I Go Inside The Tree’, ‘My Oak’ and ‘Cypress’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
54:1821/02/2024
Sasha Dugdale

Sasha Dugdale

Frank stands in awe as Sasha Dugdale sends a frighteningly honest Valentine’s message. The collection referenced is ‘Joy’ by Sasha Dugdale. The poems referenced are ‘Joy’ and ‘Valentine’s’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
33:5614/02/2024
AE Housman

AE Housman

Frank is alarmed by AE Housman’s A Shropshire Lad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
47:5507/02/2024
Jessica Traynor

Jessica Traynor

The Irish poet, Jessica Traynor, explores one of Frank’s favourite subjects – ageing performers who don’t know when to quit. The collection referenced is ‘Pit Lullabies’ by Jessica Traynor. The cycle of poems referenced is ‘An Island Sings’. The poems referenced are ‘The Parent’s Song’, ‘Song of the Insomniac’ and ‘Nureyev in Dublin’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
40:4831/01/2024
Billy Collins

Billy Collins

American poet, Billy Collins, makes Frank question the whole Poetry Podcast experience. The poems referenced are ‘Introduction to Poetry’ and ‘American Sonnet’ by Billy Collins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
44:3824/01/2024
Sappho

Sappho

Frank trembles at the fragmented beauty of Sappho, the superstar poet of Ancient Greece. The fragment translations are by Aaron Poochigian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
35:5417/01/2024
T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot

Frank explores The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. Nuff said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
57:4710/01/2024
Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop

Is it a man? Is it a moth? Frank has a strange night out with Elizabeth Bishop. The poem referenced is 'The Man-Moth'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
54:0420/09/2023
Geoffrey Hill

Geoffrey Hill

Frank indulges his obsession with the Anglo Saxons as he reads Geoffrey Hill's Mercian Hymns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
47:1913/09/2023
Robert Browning

Robert Browning

Did he or didn't he? Frank investigates Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess'. The other poem referenced is 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' by Robert Browning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
51:1206/09/2023
Jean Sprackland

Jean Sprackland

Nature gets horny and reflective. Frank is excited about the poetry of Jean Sprackland. The collection referenced is 'Green Noise'. The poem referenced is 'April' and the sequence referenced is 'The Lost Villages'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
44:2530/08/2023
Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Frank examines statues and statutes with Percy Bysshe Shelley. The poems referenced are 'England in 1918' and 'Ozymandias'. The essay referenced is 'A Defense of Poetry'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
52:4523/08/2023
Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath

Frank howls at the moon with Sylvia Plath. The poems referenced are 'The Moon and the Yew Tree' and 'Ariel. TW: mentions of suicide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
38:4716/08/2023
Don Paterson

Don Paterson

Frank celebrates the razor-sharp poetic mind of Don Paterson. The poem referenced is 'Rain'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
44:5609/08/2023
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning shows Frank that it's hard to be a mother and a poet and a revolutionary. The poem referenced is 'Mother and Poet'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
40:3802/08/2023
Alans at War

Alans at War

This week, Frank discovers two very different war poets, Alan Ross and Alan Seeger. The poems referenced are ‘Mess Deck’ by Alan Ross and ‘I Have a Rendezvous with Death’ by Alan Seeger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
41:1910/05/2023
Charlotte Mew

Charlotte Mew

This week, Frank explains why the poet, Charlotte Mew, should, in his opinion, be a household name. The poems referenced are ‘The Farmer’s Bride’ and ‘Sea Love’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
42:2103/05/2023
Sinéad Morrisey

Sinéad Morrisey

This week, Frank screams the praises of Sinéad Morrissey’s Beatlemania poems. The book referenced is ‘On Balance’. The poems referenced are ‘The Millihelen’ and ‘Perfume’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
45:5026/04/2023
Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy

This week: Thomas Hardy’s poetry, featuring love, death and men that look like holly bushes. The poems referenced are ‘Exeunt Omnes’, ‘A Light Snow-Fall After Frost’ and ‘A Countenance’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
41:2419/04/2023
Selima Hill

Selima Hill

This week, Frank enters the funny but unsettling world of Selima Hill. The collection referenced is ‘Men Who Feed Pigeons’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
32:0712/04/2023
John Keats

John Keats

This week, John Keats talks to pottery. The poem referenced is ‘Ode on A Grecian Urn’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
46:2605/04/2023
John Masefield

John Masefield

This week, we look at a John Masefield poem from 1911, in which a naked drunk runs through a town at midnight, threatening firefighters with their own hose-nozzles. The poems referenced are ‘Sea-Fever’, ‘The Everlasting Mercy’, ‘Dauber’ and ‘Partridges’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
36:4329/03/2023
Kay Ryan

Kay Ryan

This week: why do so many of us stagger through life leaving a trail of chaos and confusion? American poet, Kay Ryan, reveals it’s because we are carrying an invisible ladder. The poems referenced are ‘We’re Building the Ship As We Sail It’, ‘Carrying A Ladder’ and ‘Blandeur’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
34:4522/03/2023
Richard Wilbur

Richard Wilbur

This week, American poet, Richard Wilbur, explains why stones aren’t very ambitious. The poems referenced are ‘A Dubious Night’ and ‘Two Voices in A Meadow’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
42:5215/03/2023
Ada Limón

Ada Limón

This week, American Poet Laureate, Ada Limón heads for the safe haven of the parental raincoat. The poems referenced are ‘The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual’, ‘The Raincoat’ and ‘Before’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
33:1608/03/2023
Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes

This week, Ted Hughes shows us that writing a poem is like a stinking fox walking across a snow-covered field. The poem referenced are ‘The Thought Fox’ and ‘The Jaguar’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
43:0901/03/2023
Simon Armitage

Simon Armitage

This week, our Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, writes a brilliant poem about what some might think is an unlikely subject. The poem referenced is ‘The Patriarchs – An Elegy’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
35:4322/02/2023
Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy

This week, Carol Ann Duffy considers the profound, prayer-like quality of the Shipping Forecast. The poems referenced are ‘Death of a Teacher’ and ‘Prayer’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
33:0215/02/2023
John Betjeman

John Betjeman

This week, John Betjeman gets a tennis-based humiliation from the girl of his dreams. The poem referenced is ‘A Subaltern’s Love Song’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
43:5608/02/2023
Sir Thomas Wyatt

Sir Thomas Wyatt

At last, our first jousting poet - Frank meets Sir Thomas Wyatt, head-on. The poems referenced are They Flee From Me and Farewell Love and All Thy Laws For Ever by Sir Thomas Wyatt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
35:4306/07/2022
Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson

Frank went on holiday with Emily Dickinson and came back in love with her poetry. The poems referenced are ‘After great pain, a formal feeling comes’, ‘One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted’ and ‘A Wind That Rose’ by Emily Dickinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
42:1829/06/2022
Clare Pollard

Clare Pollard

Vampires and mermaids - Frank falls under the spell of Clare Pollard’s fabulous poetry. The collection referenced is Changeling by Clare Pollard and the individual poems referenced are Zennor and Whitby. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
43:0322/06/2022
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Frank meets Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott and finds out why Camelot is a bit of a lottery. The poems referenced are The Charge Of The Light Brigade and The Lady Of Shalott both by Tennyson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
37:0915/06/2022
Leontia Flynn

Leontia Flynn

Drunken nights and floppy discs - Frank gets excited about the poetry of Leontia Flynn. The collection referenced is Profit and Loss by Leontia Flynn and the individual poems referenced are Anecdote and The Floppy Disk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
35:1508/06/2022
The Mersey Sound

The Mersey Sound

Frank explains why the first poetry book he ever bought, The Mersey Sound, changed his life forever. The poems referenced are Without You and The New ‘Our Times’ by Adrian Henri, Where Are You Now, Batman, Party Piece and After Breakfast by Brian Patten, and On Picnics, Café Portraits and Let Me Die A Youngman’s Death by Roger McGough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
36:4301/06/2022
Robert Hayden

Robert Hayden

Frank shares a cold, sad Sunday morning with Robert Hayden. The poems referenced are Those Winter Sundays and The Whipping by Robert Hayden. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
30:1502/03/2022
Michael Symmons Roberts

Michael Symmons Roberts

Frank explores the poetic treasure-trove that is Michael Symmons Roberts’ collection, Drysalter. The poems referenced are Face to Face, Through a Glass Darkly and Discoverers by Michael Symmons Roberts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
30:3823/02/2022
Wordsworth Revisited: The Leech-Gatherer

Wordsworth Revisited: The Leech-Gatherer

Wordsworth revisited: the leech-gatherer. The poem referenced is Resolution and Independence by William Wordsworth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
30:0716/02/2022
Nick Laird

Nick Laird

Frank loves Nick Laird’s poetry. And manual typewriters. The collection referenced is On Purpose by Nick Laird and the poem referenced is The Underwood No. 4. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
44:1009/02/2022
Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

Frank loves Walt Whitman, right down to his comfortable shoes… The poems referenced are Poets to Come, To You, Song of the Universal and Song of Myself by Walt Whitman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
39:4002/02/2022
Jen Hadfield

Jen Hadfield

Frank heads North with the amazing Jen Hadfield. The collection referenced is The Stone Age by Jen Hadfield. The individual poems referenced are Hardanger Fiddle & Nyckelharpa, (Lighthouse) and (Erratic) by Jen Hadfield. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
49:5926/01/2022
John Milton

John Milton

Batman, Captain America and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
46:2619/01/2022
Caroline Bird

Caroline Bird

Frank celebrates Caroline Bird and wonders if he should have saved this one for Valentine’s Day. The collection referenced is The Air Year by Caroline Bird. The individual poems discussed are Temporary Vows and I Am Not a Falconer, both by Caroline Bird. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
36:0612/01/2022
WH Auden

WH Auden

Frank meets WH Auden in an art gallery and falls in love all over again. Poems referenced: Musée des Beaux Arts - WH Auden Funeral Blues - WH Auden Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
44:0807/07/2021
Ellen Hinsey

Ellen Hinsey

Frank finds out when the Illegal Age began, with Ellen Hinsey. Please note this podcast has some disturbing content. Poem referenced: The Illegal Age - Ellen Hinsey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
32:3630/06/2021
Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold

Frank spends a dark night on Dover Beach with Matthew Arnold and, hold on, isn’t that Sophocles over there? Poems referenced: Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse - Matthew Arnold Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
37:0723/06/2021
Tracy K Smith

Tracy K Smith

Frank reads Tracy K Smith and finally gets his priorities right. Collections referenced: Wade in the Water - Tracy K Smith Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman Poems referenced: Political Poem – Tracy K Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
39:1716/06/2021