Episode 4
Today - a relationship that fuelled some of the most desire-filled poetry in English in Katherine Rundellβs lively new biography of John Donne. Read by Blake Ritson.
Katherine Rundellβs biography of the poet and "alchemist" of words John Donne. Today β a runaway wedding and an inauspicious start to a relationship that fuelled some of the most desire-filled poetry in English.
This prize-winning new biography of John Donne reveals him as an βinfinity merchantβ, a man whose preaching could make his congregation weep, a poet whose βbeauty deserved walk-on musicβ.
Rundell's engaging, witty and often thrilling book champions an impossible to categorise man: pirate, soldier, scholar, priest, inventor of new words and author of some of most intensely and intimately passionate poetry in English. Donne was a Catholic who lost - or left - his faith, from a family of martyrs, whose career led him to become Dean of Saint Paulβs Cathedral.
Read by Blake Ritson
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Allegra McIlroy
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- Thu 23 Feb 2023 09:45ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 FM
- Fri 24 Feb 2023 00:30ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4