The Long and Short: Alice Oswald's ‘Dart’ and ‘Memorial’

The eleventh episode of the Long and Short brings us to the present day and the distant past, as we turn to two multivocal, monumental poems by Alice Oswald. The dazzlingly polyphonic Dart (2002) celebrates the voices of the river Dart, and the people, animals and supernatural forces entwined with it. Memorial (2011) translates and transfigures the Iliad, stripping back the narrative to reveal the epic’s ‘bright unbearable reality’. Mark and Seamus explore the thematic throughlines in Oswald’s work, unpicking allusions and influences at play in these poems. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full series, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://apple.co/3pJoFPq⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ In other podcast apps: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lrb.me/closereadings⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get in touch: [email protected] Mark Ford is Professor of English at University College, London, and Seamus Perry is Professor of English Literature at Balliol College, Oxford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices