Daily: Can POETRY help us handle the Plague?

The Bunker

Podmasters

News, Politics, Society & Culture, Government

4.6 • 984 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Who knew that poetry would join videoconferencing and sourdough-making as one of the key ways we got through the COVID lockdown? SARAH CROWN, Director of Literature at the Arts Council and senior reviewer for the Guardian and the TLS, talks to Ros Taylor about why poetry’s stillness and conciseness is perfect for pressured times. Plus, how to find the right poetry for your lockdown experience. And do poets cope better with solitude – or does solitude turn you into a poet? “Poetry isn’t about escape. It’s about recognition, and achieving meaning in your life.” “In a pandemic we don’t look for happiness. We look for meaning. And poetry really delivers on that.” The poem that Sarah reads on this episode is Spring by Edna St. Vincent Millay Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved
0:05.5	photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.
0:11.8	Well college. I loved going to college. It's good you can retry. I'm enrolled on the day course. But college?
0:13.0	I loved going to college.
0:14.0	It's good you can retrain and do something.
0:16.0	Yeah, yeah.
0:17.0	Let's talk about working, learning, saving and making the most of living longer.
0:22.0	Phoenix Group is the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business.
0:28.0	Search Phoenix Group living longer.
0:30.0	Pets brings so much joy.
0:32.0	From those happy greetings at the door to the warm cuddles on the sofa
0:36.7	so give a little love back with dental life from Purina a range of delicious chues made for dogs and tasty snacks for cats that help clean and support your pets, teeth and gums, essential for their overall well-being and a happy, healthy life. They give you plenty of smiles so
0:55.3	look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome back to the bunker daily your government mandated once a day ration of enlightening conversation.
1:14.4	I'm Ros Taylor.
1:15.6	Much of the arts, culture and entertainment sectors have suffered
1:18.6	grievously while everyday life is suspended.
1:21.0	Movie openings are postponed. live music and theatre are of
1:24.4	distant memory, filming on new TV and cinema is off, and we've all had about as
1:29.0	much stand-up comedy on Zoom as we can bear. But some cultural activities have unexpectedly benefited from the isolation of the nation, and one of them is poetry.
1:39.0	Hold up at home with nothing but an internet connection, many of us are rediscovering the pleasures of verse. Poems written by members of the public, both adults and children, have gone viral. And newspapers are running lists of the best poems to get you through lockdown.
1:54.0	Are we experiencing a renaissance in poetry right now?
1:57.0	Why does poetry suit the contemplative lockdown life?
	...

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