Lesson Three: Getting Better Acquainted with Words

The Invisible College by BBC

May 21, 20179:50Arts

How do we recognise a dancing, hell-raising word from one that just wants a quiet life flat on the page? Poet Ted Hughes helps us recognise words that act and use their muscles, plus rare archive recording of Virginia Wo...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from The Invisible College.

Lesson Eighteen: Writer’s Block

Jun 4, 2017 - 9:13

“You’re in the middle of writing something and your mind goes blank… ok, you’re being warned, aren’t you?...

Lesson Seventeen: What I Learned from James Baldwin

Jun 4, 2017 - 9:19

Contemporary novelist Caryl Phillips close reads a dramatic passage from ‘Another Country’ by James Baldw...

Lesson Sixteen: Dealing with Critics

Jun 4, 2017 - 10:09

If you’re going to put your work out in the world, then sooner or later, someone’s going to take a pop at...

Lesson Fifteen: Write and Repeat

May 28, 2017 - 10:19

“Easy reading is damned hard writing,” says Maya Angelou. Hear the many pains she takes to ‘sharpen her l...

Lesson Fourteen: In Search of a Character with Graham Greene

May 28, 2017 - 8:23

Hear how Graham Greene gradually evolves a character – and a novel - on a research trip to a leper colony...

Lesson Thirteen: Place

May 28, 2017 - 10:20

Sometimes the world gives writers a location so atmospheric it’s just waiting for a back story. But how d...

Lesson Twelve: A Workshop with Allen Ginsberg

May 22, 2017 - 9:44

How often do you get the chance to attend a lecture by one of the Beats? An extraordinary opportunity to...

Lesson Eleven: Listen Up!

May 22, 2017 - 8:30

If you want to write good dialogue, you need good ears. Listen to all the little idiosyncrasies of an ind...