I listened to Tchaikovsky's Manfred symphony on the radio
before watching the TV programme (I have half-an-hour before
Top of the POps so I will send this message). I thought the
emphasis on the poetry was about right. Camille Paglia
and Michael Peverett go on about poems of Byron which no
sensible person will ever want to read nowadays, as they
hunt for incest clues etc. I think the essential of
BYron's poetry is roughly the 'no more roving' lyric
and 'Don Juan'. Everybody should read Don Juan at least
once in their life because it is marvellous. (I am now
contemplating dragging it out for the third time).
The rest has almost all passed its sell-by date.
But the programme did go out of its way to presentByron
in a good light. What a good thing they burnt his Memoirs.
Douglas Clark, Bath, England mailto: [log in to unmask]
Lynx: Poetry from Bath .......... http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/lynx.html
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