Mark Forsyth on Rhyme & Reason: A Short History of Poetry & People

Self-described journalist, proofreader, ghostwriter and pedant, Forsyth started a blog called the Inky Fool in 2009 as a forum to share his love of words. He is the bestselling author of The Etymologicon, The Horologicon, and The Elements of Eloquence, a children's book called A Riddle for a King; plus A Christmas Cornucopia & A Short History of Drunkness. This time he turns his attention to poetry in the spirited, surprising and intriguing, Rhyme & Reason.

Some people worry that they don't appreciate poetry; but English poetry wasn't written to be appreciated it was written to be enjoyed. For six centuries people have been reading poetry for enjoyment - for fun, for romance, for religion and for entertainment - and this is a book about those people. What was it like to be sent a Tudor love sonnet? And how did you reply? What did people think of Wordsworth or Chaucer before they were put on pedestals? What was it like to read poetry back in the days when you didn't have to write an essay on it afterwards?

Rhyme and Reason takes you from a medieval accountant (called Chaucer) trying to entertain his lord, past a doomed love affair in the Tower of London, through adoring sonnets and notebooks filled with dirty poems, through Byromania and the Victorian hearth, understanding why people simply enjoyed poetry.

From the poems of housemaids to the rhymes of kings it's the history of Britain through the poems that people read, recited and loved.

Mark will be talking to broadcaster Susannah Simons, answering questions afterwards and signing copies of his books. Your ticket includes a glass of wine/soft drink.