Man's Best Friend
Poet Michael Symmons Roberts celebrates our relationship with dogs - creatures that we have much to learn from.
When looking back over his career as a poet, Michael Symmons Roberts realised that dogs were a recurring theme in his work. While he's unsure why man's best friend seems to crop up in his poetry so frequently, Michael knows he's not alone in finding dogs fascinating.
Dogs have featured in Egyptian sacred iconography, Old Testament and New Testament texts, and had lead or walk-on parts in countless poems, novels, films, paintings and songs ever since. Michael looks at why the figure of a dog, or dogs, goes back so far in our cultural history, and why we still can't let it go.
The programme features the poetry of A E Stallings, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Alicia Ostriker, as well as Robert's own Self-Portrait with Dog. Musical selections include Gershwin's Walking the Dog and James MacMillan's Sun Dogs, as well as Kate Bush and Seasick Steve.
Presenter: Michael Symmons Roberts
Producer: Michael Wakelin
A TBI Media production for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4.
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Music Played
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George Gershwin
Walking the Dog
Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. -
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Carl Dittersdorf
Die Verwandlung Actaeons in einen Hirsch
Performer: The Failoni Orchestra. -
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James MacMillan
Sun-Dogs
Performer: James MacMillan and the Netherlands Radio Choir. -
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Dan Crow
Greyfriar’s Bobby
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Seasick Steve
Man’s Best Friend
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Kate Bush
Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)
Readings
Author: George Seferis
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Title: Actaeon
Author: A. E. Stallings
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Title: Self-Portrait With Dog
Author: Michael Symmons Roberts
Publisher: Cape
Title: Greyfriar’s Bobby
Author: Eleanor Atkinson
Publisher: Puffin Classics
Title: To Flush, My Dog
Author: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
Title: Hound of Heaven
Author: Francis Thompson
Publisher: Morehouse Editions
Title: The Dogs at Live Oak Beach, Santa Cruz
Author: Alicia Ostriker
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Broadcasts
- Sun 17 Sep 2017 06:05Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
- Sun 17 Sep 2017 23:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4