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Five writers and artists not normally associated with classical music, discuss a specific example of Vaughan Williams\\u2019s work to which they have a personal connection, and why it speaks to them.

Following on from the successful Five Kinds of Beethoven Radio 3 essay series in 2020, where a wide range of Beethoven fans shared their personal relationship to the composer and his work, this new series gives similar treatment to Vaughan Williams.

Our essayists share their unexpected perspective on Vaughan Williams\\u2019s work, taking it outside the standard \\u2018English pastoral\\u2019 box, in a series of accessible essays, part of the Vaughan Williams season on Radio 3.

The Lark Ascending is Dr Rommi Smith\\u2019s favourite piece by Vaughan Williams. It has accompanied her all over the world in her travels as a poet and teacher, reminding her of her Englishness and her home, even when as a Black woman, she is often not \\u2018seen\\u2019 as being English. The piece is a key part of her English DNA. This was brought home to her vividly when the violinist Tai Murray, a Black American woman, played the piece during the Proms in 2018. There was subsequent racist twitter comment, saying she had only been \\u2018let in\\u2019 because she is Black. Dr Rommi Smith considers her own connection to The Lark Ascending and how who performs it is significant.

Dr Rommi Smith is an award-winning poet, playwright, theatre-maker, performer and librettist. A three-time BBC Writer-in-residence, she is the inaugural British Parliamentary Writer-in-Residence and inaugural 21st century Poet-in-Residence for Keats\\u2019 House, Hampstead. A Visiting Scholar at City University New York (CUNY), she has presented her research and writing at institutions including: THE SEGAL THEATRE, THE SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE and CITY COLLEGE NEW YORK. Rommi\\u2019s performance at THE SCHWERNER WRITERS\\u2019 SERIES in New York was at the invitation of Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry. \\nRommi is a Doctor of Philosophy in English and Theatre. Her academic writing was first published by NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS as part of the groundbreaking book IMAGINING QUEER METHODS (2019). Her poetry is included in publications ranging from OUT OF BOUNDS (Bloodaxe) to MORE FIYA (Canongate).\\nShe is recipient of a HEDGEBROOK Fellowship (Cottage: Waterfall, 2014) and is a winner of THE NORTHERN WRITERS\\u2019 PRIZE for Poetry 2019 (chosen by the poet Don Paterson). She was recently awarded a prestigious CAVE CANEM fellowship in the US. Rommi was selected a SPHINX30 playwright; a prestigious programme of professional mentoring for \\u2013 and by - contemporary women playwrights, led by legendary company, SPHINX THEATRE.\\nRommi is a contributor to BBC radio programmes including: FRONT ROW, THE VERB and the radio documentary INVISIBLE MAN: PARABLE FOR OUR TIMES?, marking 70 years since the publication of Ralph Ellison\\u2019s iconic novel.\\nRommi is poet-in-residence for the WORDSWORTH TRUST, Grasmere. \\nwww.rommi-smith.co.uk \\nTwitter: @rommismith\\nSoundcloud: RommiSmith\\nInstagram: Rommi Smith

Writer and reader Rommi Smith\\nSound designer Paul Cargill\\nProducers Polly Thomas and Yusra Warsama\\nExec producer Eloise Whitmore

Photographic Image by Lizzie Coombes

A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3