Close Readings
From London Review of Books
Arts
Narrative Poems
by London Review of Books
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‘The Rape of the Lock’ by Alexander Pope
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‘Venus and Adonis’ and ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ by William Shakespeare
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‘Hero and Leander’ by Christopher Marlowe
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Introducing ‘Narrative Poems’
January 1, 2026 · 4 minSeamus Perry and Mark Ford explore one of the oldest forms in Western literature: poems that set out to tell us a story, beginning with Marlowe’s ‘Hero and Leander’ and ending with Carson’s 'Autobiography of Red'. Narrative poems can be…
About the show
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford explore one of the oldest forms in Western literature: poems that set out to tell us a story, beginning with Marlowe’s ‘Hero and Leander’ and ending with Carson’s 'Autobiography of Red'. Narrative poems can be dizzyingly erotic, like Shakespeare’s ‘Venus and Adonis', wittily satirical, like Pope’s ‘The Rape of the Lock’, respond to contemporary political history, like Clough's 'Amours de Voyage', or present heartbreaking tales of loss and remorse, like Wordsworth’s ‘Michael’ and Coleridge’s ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. Join Seamus and Mark as they explore the astonishing richness, adaptability and endurance of one of the oldest forms in Western literature.
Seamus Perry is a professor or English at the University of Oxford.
Mark Ford is a poet and professor of English at University College London.
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Poems featured in the series:
Marlowe, ‘Hero and Leander’
Shakespeare, ‘Venus and Adonis’ and ‘The Rape of Lucrece’
Milton, Book 9 of ‘Paradise Lost’
Pope, ‘The Rape of the Lock’
Coleridge ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’
Wordsworth, ‘The Ruined Cottage’ and ‘Michael’
Keats, ‘The Eve of St Agnes’
Browning, ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’
Clough, ‘Amours de Voyage’
Tennyson, ‘Enoch Arden’
H.D., ‘Helen in Egypt’
Seth, ‘The Golden Gate’
Carson, ‘Autobiography of Red and ‘Red Doc>’