蜜芽传媒

Daljit Nagra selects two editions of The Essay - Letters to a Young Poet with Michael Longley and Tell Me the Truth About Love with Carol Ann Duffy.

Letters to a Young Poet - Michael Longley
The original Letters to a Young Poet is a compilation of letters by Rainer Maria Rilke, written between 1902 and 1908 to a 19-year-old officer cadet called Franz Kappus. Kappus was trying to choose between a literary career and entering the Austro-Hungarian army. Rilke's letters touch on poetry and criticism, but they range widely in subject matter from atheism and loneliness, to friendship and sexuality:

In new letters, Michael Longley imagines a young poet prot茅g茅 to whom he wants to pass on life experience and thoughts about the poetic art.

Michael Longley was born in Belfast in 1939 and 4 Extra marks his passing in January 2025 with this programme. His Collected Poems was published in 2006 and in 2007, he was appointed Professor of Poetry for Ireland. A Hundred Doors, was shortlisted for the 2011 Forward Poetry Prize.

Producer - Emma Harding

First broadcast on 蜜芽传媒 Radio 3 in 2014

Tell Me the Truth About Love ep 3
Former Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, explores the heady world of love poetry. In conversation with other love poets, Carol Ann celebrates the great poems of love and explores poets' responses to love's mysteries. In today's episode she explores poems that commemorate the making of vows, and includes the world's oldest love poem.

Producer - Emma Harding

First broadcast on 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4 in 2013.