Reading Between the Lines: Language and Power
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Tracey Camilleri Talks to Ben Morgan
This episode was recorded just after the US election but has clear resonance for now as the inauguration of Joe Biden takes place. Tracey talks to poet, academic, essayist and writer Ben Morgan who looks under the bonnet at how language really works and why, when used well, it is so effective. How was the outburst of joy around the vaccine and the US election expressed? What is powerful about the way Joe Biden use language? What can we learn from the first lines of Hamlet? Why do certain metaphors work? What's the secret of getting the tone right? Why is Greta Thunberg such a skilful user of rhetoric? Join us for this enjoyable pick through the bones and muscles of the way we speak now.
Dr Ben Morgan is a writer, critic and tutor based in Oxford. He has published poetry widely, including a long sequence, 'Medea in Corinth' (Poetry Salzburg, 2018), which retells the Greek myth in modern forms. He is completing a book on Shakespeare and the idea of political justice for Princeton University Press. He also writes essays and reviews for a range of publications, as well as teaching Shakespeare studies and English to undergraduates at Oxford and beyond, with a particular focus on visiting students.
This episode was recorded just after the US election but has clear resonance for now as the inauguration of Joe Biden takes place. Tracey talks to poet, academic, essayist and writer Ben Morgan who looks under the bonnet at how language really works and why, when used well, it is so effective. How was the outburst of joy around the vaccine and the US election expressed? What is powerful about the way Joe Biden use language? What can we learn from the first lines of Hamlet? Why do certain metaphors work? What's the secret of getting the tone right? Why is Greta Thunberg such a skilful user of rhetoric? Join us for this enjoyable pick through the bones and muscles of the way we speak now.
Dr Ben Morgan is a writer, critic and tutor based in Oxford. He has published poetry widely, including a long sequence, 'Medea in Corinth' (Poetry Salzburg, 2018), which retells the Greek myth in modern forms. He is completing a book on Shakespeare and the idea of political justice for Princeton University Press. He also writes essays and reviews for a range of publications, as well as teaching Shakespeare studies and English to undergraduates at Oxford and beyond, with a particular focus on visiting students.
