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Daljit Nagra searches the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's poetry archive and chooses How to Write a Poem ep 1/2 featuring poet Glyn Maxwell.

Glynn finds himself in a strange village. He has been invited there to teach a poetry masterclass at a literature festival with some impressive names on the line-up. Could that really be John Keats reading in the back room of the pub? Is that John Clare wandering the lanes? Is Emily Dickinson really doing a Q&A in the village hall? And isn't that Lord Byron propping up the bar?

With Glyn are three new poets - Holly Corfield Carr, Victoria Adukwei Bulley and Dominic Fisher - who share their own poems-in-progress. The students put their questions on writing directly to the greats and Glyn shares his own advice on writing better poetry – from facing the blank page and developing ideas, to the intricacies of rhyme, metre, form and line break.

All words spoken by Keats, Clare, Dickinson and Byron are taken verbatim from their poems, letters and diaries.

Written and presented by Glyn Maxwell

Barmaid - Sally Phillips
John Keats - Tom Stuart
John Clare - Tom Meeten
Student Poets - Holly Corfield Carr, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Dominic Fisher

Producers: Mair Bosworth & Chris Ledgard

First broadcast on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4 in 2016.