OBJECTS OUT LOUD

Poetry and literature inspired by our collections

From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

 

For transcripts, please visit individual episode pages.

EPISODE GUIDE

 

What connects James Bond and Shakespeare? The answer: John Dee, magician, spy, theatre director, and inventor of the British Empire. Take a journey through his bizarre and extraordinary life, and hear him speak in his own words, alongside the poetry from Shakespeare and Marlowe.

 

Click on the image tile, below, to view the painting mentioned in this episode, or click on the link here to find out more about it on our Collections Online website. Click here to find the episode transcript.

 

Painted portrait of John Dee who wears a black cap and a long white beard

 

In 1506, Michelangelo witnessed the excavation of a long-lost Roman sculpture, showing a battle between man and monster. This sculpture has inspired writers and artists for generations, including Vergil and Goethe. Meet the Laocoon group, and hear these writers in their own words.

 

Click on the image tile, below, to view the Laocoon group mentioned in this episode, or click on the link here to find out more about it on our Collections Online website. Click here to find the episode transcript.

 

White cast sculpture of three male figure wrestling snakes, on a black background

 

In this episode, Clare Pollard, the Curator of Japanese Art, and researcher Kiyoko Hanaoka introduce us to surimono prints, which combined poems and picture puzzles in beautiful objects designed to be exchanged as gifts by members of Japanese poetry clubs. Join them as they decode the clues in these complex and beautiful prints.

 

Click on the image tiles, below, to view the two woodblock prints mentioned in this episode, or click on the links here to find out more about them on our Collections Online website. Click here to find the episode transcript.

 

A colourfully dressed tightrope walker, holding a fan and a parasol
Japanese woodblock print of a man holding a parasol

 

Lizzie Siddall was the 19th century’s proto-supermodel. Her beauty inspired the artists and poets of her generation, who presented her as a mysterious, fairytale creature. We tend to know her through the filter of the men who painted her, but in the archives of the Ashmolean Museum, you can encounter the real Lizzie. Behind the silent muse of Pre-Raphaelite art was a vibrant, creative woman, who was herself a talented poet and artist. In this episode, meet one of history’s most famous models, on her own terms.

 

Click on the image tiles, below, to view the artworks mentioned in this episode, or click on the links here to find out more about them on our Collections Online website. Click here to find the episode transcript. 

 

Drawing by Elizabeth Siddal of two men in a boat and a woman punting
Drawing by Rossetti of Elizabeth Siddal
Drawing by Rossetti of Elizabeth Siddal playing pipes

 

Meet Paolo Uccello’s spine-tingling painting The Hunt in Forest, with a mysterious vanishing point right at its very heart. It is an image which has fascinated poets, including Derek Mahon and John Burnside, who both wrote collections inspired by this 600 year old painting. John Burnside joins host Lucie Dawkins in this episode, to talk about why The Hunt in the Forest has gripped his imagination, and we also hear a reading of Derek Mahon’s poem.

What do you see when you stare into the place where everything vanishes?

 

Click on the image tile, below, to view the artwork mentioned in this episode, or click on the link here to find out more about it on our Collections Online website. Click here to find the episode transcript.

Painting of men, dogs and horses hunting beneath trees and a dark starry sky

 

Could Shakespeare have been inspired by Arabic and Persian poetry? Did Romeo and Juliet have their origins in the Bedouin nomads of the Levant? Join Francesca Leoni as she takes us through the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, through the lens of a jewel-like miniature painting in the Ashmolean’s archives. In this episode, you’ll hear the poetry of Shakespeare and Nizami Ganjavi.

 

Click on the image tiles, below, to view the artwork mentioned in this episode, or click on the link here to find out more about it on our Collections Online website. Click here to find the episode transcript.

Painting of two figures and animals, surrounded by a large border of flowers and leaves
Painting of two figures surrounded by a range of seated animals who all face them

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