THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 370, 26 July 1946, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

-A Run Through The Programmes

Blake-a Literary Problem N his talk on William Blake, which 3YA will broadcast at 10.17 p.m. on Monday, July 29, James Stephens discusses one of the most puzzling geniuses who ever lived. For Blake was a poetic genius, even though some critics maintain that he was mad. He has left behind him verses of lasting beauty and some that are just nonsense, and this queer inconsistency is found even within a single poem. The famous "Tiger, tiger, burning bright," for example, contains verses that are, according to James Stephens, sheer bad writing. Possibly the answer lies in the fact that Blake could never be bothered to polish his poems. He believed quite sincerely that they had Divine inspiration, and he was always too busy with the next to give much time or thought to the one actually on the table. Whatever listeners may think of Blake’s work-and their views are probably as varied as those of the critics-they should find this study of the poet’s mind and methods of considerable interest. And it will be a chance to hear the pleasant Irish voice of the author of The Crock of Gold. Tranquillity Recoliected ON Monday, July 29, Station 2YA will begin a new series of morning talks

by Elsie Locke about some of the reminiscences told or overheard on a hospital verandah. In her first, she explains how "for many of us it is a powerful tonic to enjoy the imaginings called to mind by the lovely view of lawns and trees framed by the hospital window. Curiously enough, they are not our moments of great excitement or triumph which we like to review, but the thought of simple things, and days spent outdoors, nights under canvas, the tricks and adventures of children, the rollicking fun of a growing family." She has called her series "I Remember the Time," and the talks will be heard on Mondays at 10.25 a.m.

; Seasons in Australia FEMA BUCKNELL, who is going to give a seasonal talk on Australia from 2YA at 10.25 a.m. on Tuesday, July 30, under the title "There Goes the Winter, Sulkily Slinking," is an Australian who has been living in New Zealand for about 12 years. She was a teacher in her own country and has lived in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. In her talk, which is to be heard two days before Wattle Day (August 1) she will draw on the works of Australian poets for quotations about the season she will describe. "Mr. Williams of Hamburg" LIFFORD BAX, the English playwright, has made a radio play about the tragic romance of Lord Dalmeny and the beautiful Kitty Canham, who, as the daughter of an 18th Century Essex farmer, wes married to a clergyman | much older than herself. She ran away from him ta London, where she met and fell in love with Lord Dalmeny, and went abroad with him. She refused to

become his wife, but did not divulge, until her death, that she was already a married woman. Dalmeny, heartbroken, brought her body back to England, where he narrowly escaped being charged with murder. He died unmarried three years later. Clifford Bax’s play, which is called Mr. Williams of Hamburg, has been produced by the BBC and will be heard from 3YA at 10.01 p.m. on Wednesday, July 31. Unsubtle ERE are the first few lines of the script of a new play by John Gundry (adapted from a short story by Jeanne de \Casalis and produced by the NBS), which will be heard from 2YA at 8.0 p.m, on Wednesday, July 31, and from 1YA at 9.33 p.m. on Sunday, August 4: Helen (on phone) .... "No! Please

darling, don’t hang.up! But you did lie to me! Didn’t you? You lied! I know you spent the evening with her... . how can I help being jealous? Hm? 1 love you-of course I love you... . . Do you still want me to come to-night? Of course I do. ..." etc., etc. Without spoiling the fun we can explain that she was speaking to a policeman, a Chief Inspector. And she went to a café with him, and there thought him a Most Unsubtle Man-that is the name of the play. He wasn’t, as it turned out.

William Wordsworth CONTEMPORARY portrait of William Wordsworth appears on page 42 in this issue. It illustrates, a new BBC Book of Verse programme which 2YA will broadcast at 8.28 p.m. on Friday, August 2, and it shows something of his character-idéalistic, humourless. This Book of Verse has been written by Robert Gittings; it is a critical appraisal of some of Wordsworth’s best poems, with many quotations spoken by a variety of voices. What is Man? NESTA PAIN, who has specialised in writing and producing radio feature programmes that make scientific facts understandable and entertaining for the ordinary listener, has written a _ programme called "So This Is Man," which 4YA will broadcast at 2.0 p.m, on Sunday, August 4. Here is an extract from her own preamble: "Man'can be defined in many ways. You can say with the chemist that he’s two-thirds water, or argue ‘with the astronomers that he’s the by-product of an accident. You can call him a saint, or a brute, or a hero. But you never seem to find the whole answer to the question ‘What is Man?’ This

S programme makes no attempt to find that answer, but it shows man from a number of different angles and in different moods and situations."

Enoch Soames HAT sort of a man was Enoch Soames? To himself he was the greatest English poet since Milton. To the man who wrote his story, he was a dim colorless creature, so pathetically anxious for recognition that he was .

willing to sell his soul to the devil if he could: win it. To later generations, he just didn’t exist. Or did he? The story of Enoch Soames is typical of Max Beerbohm’s genius for fantasy.’. Wit, essayist, caricaturist, Beerbohm has been a unique figure in the artistic world of late Victorian, Edwardian, and our own times. His fantastic touch as a writer comes out

strongly in the BBC adaptation of his story, Enoch Soames, which 4YA_ will broadcast at 4.10 p.m. on Sunday, August 4. And there is something of the same spirit in his caricature of himself as a young man, which we print here. The story. has been adapted for radio by Douglas Cleverdon. Enoch Soames is played by Denis Arundell, and James McKechnie takes the part of Beerbohm as the teller. 4