Aspects of the Divine

Have you ever felt lost for words at the beauty of a sunset? Or watched the sunrise and been struck with a sense of awe and wonder? That’s what happens to Ratty and Mole in a magical passage in the children’s classic, Wind in the Willows. As with all literature and music that touches the heart, it’s the sense of something beyond the words or the notes that captures our imagination – something that points to the very mystery of our being – something numinous – what some people think of as God. In this programme, Aspects of the Divine, the actors Natalie Simpson and Ray Fearon explore texts which point to this feeling of something transcendent from different angles: for Wordsworth it was found in nature; for the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, it was the potential for the parched desert to suddenly blossom abundantly; for mystics like Hildegard of Bingen and Julian of Norwich it was glimpsed in a life of contemplation; in the contemporary novels by Marilynne Robinson and Caleb Azumah Nelson it is found in the rituals of organised religion. The ancient Greeks developed the idea of balance, order and harmony as a semi-mystical property that could shape our lives. And the first words we hear are a speech from Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida about that. Many great composers, from Beethoven to Bruckner, caught this far-off melody in their music. And we start with Vaughan Williams’ glorious evocation of music as the divine resolution of discord in harmony.

Producer: Clive Portbury
READINGS:
Shakespeare/Troilus and Cressida
Donne/Batter my heart, three-person'd God
Julian of Norwich/Revelations of Divine Love Chapter 5
Dickinson/Some keep the Sabbath going to Church
Old Testament/Isaiah chapter 35
Benjamin Myers/Extract from the novel Cuddy
Beethoven/Letter to Dr Franz Wegeler
Michael Symmons Roberts/Jairus
Kenneth Grahame/Wind in the Willows: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Carol Ann Duffy/Prayer
Marilynne Robinson/Extract from the novel Lila
Milton/Extract from Paradise from Paradise Lost
Caleb Azumah Nelson/Extract from the novel Small Worlds
Wordsworth/Extract from Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey
Herbert/Church Monuments
Larkin/Church going