To explore this evolution, several poets and writers whose work challenges traditional ideas of romance, touch upon the facets of love poems. Their words paint a picture of love that is political ...

In the final episode of Political Poems, Mark and Seamus discuss ‘Little Gidding’, the fourth poem of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Emerging out of Eliot’s experiences of the Blitz, ‘Little Gidding’ ...

In the first episode of their new Close Readings series on political poetry, Seamus Perry and Mark Ford look at ‘An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland’ by Andrew Marvell, described by ...

This is a topical poem about a mother who is forced to flee ... It does have particular resonance in our current political climate. Kay uses the first-person narrative throughout to make it ...

“Shakespeare has always been political,” Professor Shapiro said ... which included banned Christmas carols and satirical poems from the 1640s. And it had been set to music by the composer ...