Narrative Poems: ‘Tam o’ Shanter’ by Robert Burns and ‘Peter Grimes’ by George Crabbe
About this episode
The episode discusses Robert Burns' 'Tam o’ Shanter' and George Crabbe’s 'Peter Grimes', exploring themes of masculinity, narrative voice, and poetic influence.
‘Tam o’ Shanter’ first appeared as a lengthy footnote in Francis Grose's Antiquities of Scotland (1791) after Robert Burns convinced Grose to include the ruined Alloway Kirk in his volume, and its supernatural associations (invented by Burns). Its story of the drunken Tam's encounter with witches in the stormy Ayrshire landscape has served as both a celebration and chastisement of Scottish masculinity ever since its publication, but the attitude of its narrator remains elusive throughout. In this episode, Seamus and Mark discuss the poem’s moral and stylistic turns, its influence on Wordsworth and Coleridge, and what it owes to the Augustan perfectionism of Pope. They then turn to a much darker example of Romantic narrative poetry, George Crabbe’s ‘Peter Grimes’ (published in his collection The Borough in 1810), and explore the bracing realism and psychological insight in the story of a Suffolk fisherman who destroys the apprentices placed in his care. This episode also features a bonus conversation with Andrew O’Hagan, who reads extracts from 'Tam o’ Shanter' and explains why the poem’s reliably contradictory narrative voice is so useful for anyone learning to write stories…
People in this episode
Hosts: Seamus, Mark
Guest: Andrew O’Hagan
Topics covered
- narrative poetry
- Scottish masculinity
- Romantic literature
- psychological insight
- poetic influence
Keywords
- Tam o’ Shanter
- Peter Grimes
- Robert Burns
- George Crabbe
- narrative voice
- Scottish literature
- Romantic poetry
- psychological realism
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: London Review of Books
Books & works: Tam o’ Shanter, Peter Grimes, Antiquities of Scotland
Places: Ayrshire, Suffolk
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