Radio 4 looks at the life and work of Edwin Muir

A programme about the Orcadian poet Edwin Muir is due to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow, Sunday.

Entitled The Horses, the programme is presented by poet Kenneth Steven, who explores Muir’s childhood on Wyre and how, after the trauma of moving to Glasgow at the turn of the 20th century, Wyre came to represent a lost Eden in Muir’s life and poetry.

The programme also looks at two poems which evoke the working horses of Muir’s Orcadian childhood.

The production team visited Wyre last summer, recording interviews with several people who grew up on the island, including Itha Flaws, Fiona Mitchell, Bruce Craigie and Myra Moar. They also interviewed Tom Muir at the Orkney Museum.

At the end of the programme, the interviewees perform Muir’s most famous poem, The Horses.

The programme is due to be broadcast at 4.30pm tomorrow, repeated again on Saturday, April 2, at 11.30pm.