麻豆约拍

麻豆约拍 Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the 麻豆约拍's radio poetry archive with Poetry and the Russian Soul.

Continuing a short but epic adventure through the heart and soul of Russia's poetry. Martin Sixsmith explores the 'strange kind of love' , often fatal, that Russia's poets have had for their homeland. And asks can you understand Russia better through its verse?

Poetry is uniquely linked to Russian identity and nationhood. Effectively a creation of the18th century, it was vital in creating a natural language and form of expression as modern Russia forged a separate identity from the old world of the Slavonic church.

But more importantly, it carried far greater weight than the poetry of the West. From the days of the Czar to the fall of Communism, Russian poetry was charged with a powerful and often fatal responsibility to convey the essential truth of the nation. Russia, after all, is one of the few countries where writing poetry can amount to a death sentence.

Producer: Mark Burman
First broadcast on 麻豆约拍 Radio 4 in 2008.