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Explore every episode of the podcast Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast

Dive into the complete episode list for Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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1–50 of 90

TitlePub. DateDuration
Martin Bell28 Feb 202400:45:53

Frank loves a hard-drinking, hard-smoking Polytechnic lecturer like Martin Bell, especially when he is offering poetic praise to Groucho Marx. The poems referenced are ‘Ode to Groucho’ by Martin Bell and ‘The Second Coming’ by W.B. Yeats.

Jo Shapcott21 Feb 202400:54:18

Jo Shapcott sends Frank, an enthusiastic tree-hugger, into a sap-soaked frenzy. The collection referenced is ‘Of Mutability’. The poems referenced are ‘I Go Inside The Tree’, ‘My Oak’ and ‘Cypress’.

Geoffrey Hill13 Sep 202300:47:19

Frank indulges his obsession with the Anglo Saxons as he reads Geoffrey Hill's Mercian Hymns.

Robert Browning06 Sep 202300:51:12

Did he or didn't he? Frank investigates Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess'. The other poem referenced is 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' by Robert Browning.

Jean Sprackland30 Aug 202300:44:25

Nature gets horny and reflective. Frank is excited about the poetry of Jean Sprackland. The collection referenced is 'Green Noise'. The poem referenced is 'April' and the sequence referenced is 'The Lost Villages'.

Percy Bysshe Shelley23 Aug 202300:52:45

Frank examines statues and statutes with Percy Bysshe Shelley. The poems referenced are 'England in 1918' and 'Ozymandias'. The essay referenced is 'A Defense of Poetry'.

Sylvia Plath16 Aug 202300:38:47

Frank howls at the moon with Sylvia Plath. The poems referenced are 'The Moon and the Yew Tree' and 'Ariel. TW: mentions of suicide.

Don Paterson09 Aug 202300:44:56

Frank celebrates the razor-sharp poetic mind of Don Paterson. The poem referenced is 'Rain'.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning02 Aug 202300:40:38

Elizabeth Barrett Browning shows Frank that it's hard to be a mother and a poet and a revolutionary. The poem referenced is 'Mother and Poet'.

Series 8 Trailer26 Jul 202300:00:27
Series 8 of Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast coming very soon...
Alans at War10 May 202300:41:19
This week, Frank discovers two very different war poets, Alan Ross and Alan Seeger. The poems referenced are ‘Mess Deck’ by Alan Ross and ‘I Have a Rendezvous with Death’ by Alan Seeger.
Charlotte Mew03 May 202300:42:21
This week, Frank explains why the poet, Charlotte Mew, should, in his opinion, be a household name. The poems referenced are ‘The Farmer’s Bride’ and ‘Sea Love’.
Sasha Dugdale14 Feb 202400:33:56

Frank stands in awe as Sasha Dugdale sends a frighteningly honest Valentine’s message. The collection referenced is ‘Joy’ by Sasha Dugdale. The poems referenced are ‘Joy’ and ‘Valentine’s’.

Sinéad Morrisey26 Apr 202300:45:50
This week, Frank screams the praises of Sinéad Morrissey’s Beatlemania poems. The book referenced is ‘On Balance’. The poems referenced are ‘The Millihelen’ and ‘Perfume’.
Thomas Hardy19 Apr 202300:41:24
This week: Thomas Hardy’s poetry, featuring love, death and men that look like holly bushes. The poems referenced are ‘Exeunt Omnes’, ‘A Light Snow-Fall After Frost’ and ‘A Countenance’.
Selima Hill12 Apr 202300:32:07
This week, Frank enters the funny but unsettling world of Selima Hill. The collection referenced is ‘Men Who Feed Pigeons’.
John Keats05 Apr 202300:46:26
This week, John Keats talks to pottery. The poem referenced is ‘Ode on A Grecian Urn’.
John Masefield29 Mar 202300:36:43
This week, we look at a John Masefield poem from 1911, in which a naked drunk runs through a town at midnight, threatening firefighters with their own hose-nozzles. The poems referenced are ‘Sea-Fever’, ‘The Everlasting Mercy’, ‘Dauber’ and ‘Partridges’.
Kay Ryan22 Mar 202300:34:45
This week: why do so many of us stagger through life leaving a trail of chaos and confusion? American poet, Kay Ryan, reveals it’s because we are carrying an invisible ladder. The poems referenced are ‘We’re Building the Ship As We Sail It’, ‘Carrying A Ladder’ and ‘Blandeur’.
Richard Wilbur15 Mar 202300:42:52
This week, American poet, Richard Wilbur, explains why stones aren’t very ambitious. The poems referenced are ‘A Dubious Night’ and ‘Two Voices in A Meadow’.
Ada Limón08 Mar 202300:33:16
This week, American Poet Laureate, Ada Limón heads for the safe haven of the parental raincoat. The poems referenced are ‘The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual’, ‘The Raincoat’ and ‘Before’.
Ted Hughes01 Mar 202300:43:09
This week, Ted Hughes shows us that writing a poem is like a stinking fox walking across a snow-covered field. The poem referenced are ‘The Thought Fox’ and ‘The Jaguar’.
Simon Armitage22 Feb 202300:35:43
This week, our Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, writes a brilliant poem about what some might think is an unlikely subject. The poem referenced is ‘The Patriarchs – An Elegy’.
AE Housman07 Feb 202400:47:55

Frank is alarmed by AE Housman’s A Shropshire Lad.

Carol Ann Duffy15 Feb 202300:33:02
This week, Carol Ann Duffy considers the profound, prayer-like quality of the Shipping Forecast. The poems referenced are ‘Death of a Teacher’ and ‘Prayer’.
John Betjeman08 Feb 202300:43:56
This week, John Betjeman gets a tennis-based humiliation from the girl of his dreams. The poem referenced is ‘A Subaltern’s Love Song’.
Series 6 Trailer02 Feb 202300:00:23
Series 6 of Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast begins on 8th February. See you there!
Sir Thomas Wyatt06 Jul 202200:35:43
At last, our first jousting poet - Frank meets Sir Thomas Wyatt, head-on. The poems referenced are They Flee From Me and Farewell Love and All Thy Laws For Ever by Sir Thomas Wyatt.
Emily Dickinson29 Jun 202200:42:18
Frank went on holiday with Emily Dickinson and came back in love with her poetry. The poems referenced are ‘After great pain, a formal feeling comes’, ‘One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted’ and ‘A Wind That Rose’ by Emily Dickinson.
Clare Pollard22 Jun 202200:43:03
Vampires and mermaids - Frank falls under the spell of Clare Pollard’s fabulous poetry. The collection referenced is Changeling by Clare Pollard and the individual poems referenced are Zennor and Whitby.
Alfred Lord Tennyson15 Jun 202200:37:09
Frank meets Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott and finds out why Camelot is a bit of a lottery. The poems referenced are The Charge Of The Light Brigade and The Lady Of Shalott both by Tennyson.
Leontia Flynn08 Jun 202200:35:15
Drunken nights and floppy discs - Frank gets excited about the poetry of Leontia Flynn. The collection referenced is Profit and Loss by Leontia Flynn and the individual poems referenced are Anecdote and The Floppy Disk.
The Mersey Sound01 Jun 202200:36:43
Frank explains why the first poetry book he ever bought, The Mersey Sound, changed his life forever. The poems referenced are Without You and The New ‘Our Times’ by Adrian Henri, Where Are You Now, Batman, Party Piece and After Breakfast by Brian Patten, and On Picnics, Café Portraits and Let Me Die A Youngman’s Death by Roger McGough.
Series 5 Trailer30 May 202200:00:32
Series 5 of Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast coming very soon...
Jessica Traynor31 Jan 202400:40:48

The Irish poet, Jessica Traynor, explores one of Frank’s favourite subjects – ageing performers who don’t know when to quit. The collection referenced is ‘Pit Lullabies’ by Jessica Traynor. The cycle of poems referenced is ‘An Island Sings’. The poems referenced are ‘The Parent’s Song’, ‘Song of the Insomniac’ and ‘Nureyev in Dublin’.

Robert Hayden02 Mar 202200:30:15
Frank shares a cold, sad Sunday morning with Robert Hayden. The poems referenced are Those Winter Sundays and The Whipping by Robert Hayden.
Michael Symmons Roberts23 Feb 202200:30:38
Frank explores the poetic treasure-trove that is Michael Symmons Roberts’ collection, Drysalter. The poems referenced are Face to Face, Through a Glass Darkly and Discoverers by Michael Symmons Roberts.
Wordsworth Revisited: The Leech-Gatherer16 Feb 202200:30:07
Wordsworth revisited: the leech-gatherer. The poem referenced is Resolution and Independence by William Wordsworth.
Nick Laird09 Feb 202200:44:10
Frank loves Nick Laird’s poetry. And manual typewriters. The collection referenced is On Purpose by Nick Laird and the poem referenced is The Underwood No. 4.
Walt Whitman02 Feb 202200:39:40
Frank loves Walt Whitman, right down to his comfortable shoes… The poems referenced are Poets to Come, To You, Song of the Universal and Song of Myself by Walt Whitman.
Jen Hadfield26 Jan 202200:49:59
Frank heads North with the amazing Jen Hadfield. The collection referenced is The Stone Age by Jen Hadfield. The individual poems referenced are Hardanger Fiddle & Nyckelharpa, (Lighthouse) and (Erratic) by Jen Hadfield.
John Milton19 Jan 202200:46:26
Batman, Captain America and Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Caroline Bird12 Jan 202200:36:06
Frank celebrates Caroline Bird and wonders if he should have saved this one for Valentine’s Day. The collection referenced is The Air Year by Caroline Bird. The individual poems discussed are Temporary Vows and I Am Not a Falconer, both by Caroline Bird.
Series 4 Trailer10 Jan 202200:00:37
Series 4 of Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast coming soon...
WH Auden07 Jul 202100:44:08
Frank meets WH Auden in an art gallery and falls in love all over again. Poems referenced: Musée des Beaux Arts - WH Auden Funeral Blues - WH Auden
Billy Collins24 Jan 202400:44:37

American poet, Billy Collins, makes Frank question the whole Poetry Podcast experience. The poems referenced are ‘Introduction to Poetry’ and ‘American Sonnet’ by Billy Collins.

Ellen Hinsey30 Jun 202100:32:36
Frank finds out when the Illegal Age began, with Ellen Hinsey. Please note this podcast has some disturbing content. Poem referenced: The Illegal Age - Ellen Hinsey
Matthew Arnold23 Jun 202100:37:07
Frank spends a dark night on Dover Beach with Matthew Arnold and, hold on, isn’t that Sophocles over there? Poems referenced: Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse - Matthew Arnold
Tracy K Smith16 Jun 202100:39:17
Frank reads Tracy K Smith and finally gets his priorities right. Collections referenced: Wade in the Water - Tracy K Smith Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman Poems referenced: Political Poem – Tracy K Smith
Peter Riley09 Jun 202100:29:18
Frank hits the high notes with Peter Riley and accidentally arrives at his favourite-ever definition of poetry. Collection referenced: Passing Measures – Peter Riley Poems referenced: The Little Watercolour at Sligo – Peter Riley Do It Again – Peter Riley
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