View More Six Centuries of Verse... Six Centuries of Verse
The best way to experience great poetry is to hear it read aloud, preferably by outstanding actors including Lee Remick, Peggy Ashcroft, and Anthony Hopkins. Seen on public television in the early 1990s, this extraordinary series is a grand tour of English-language poetry from Chaucer through Ted Hughes.
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The best way to experience great poetry is to hear it read aloud, preferably by outstanding actors including Lee Remick, Peggy Ashcroft, and Anthony Hopkins. Seen on public television in the early 1990s, never before on DVD (or VHS), this extraordinary series is a grand tour of English-language poetry from Chaucer through Ted Hughes. Presented by Oscar® winner Sir John Gielgud, the poems are read in settings that range from a 15th-century chapel to Emily Dickinson’s bedroom. SDH subtitles; 16 episodes; approx. 410 min. on 3 DVDs plus viewer’s guide. From Athena.
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Disc 1
Episode 1: Chaucer–Ted Hughes, 1384-1984
A sweeping introduction to English-language poetry.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Cyril Cusack, Nicholas Gecks, Julian Glover, Lee Remick, Ian Richardson, and Gary Watson.
Episode 2: Old English
Humor, adventure, faith, and violence in Anglo-Saxon poetry, including Beowulf.
Featured performers:Nicholas Gecks and Julian Glover.
Episode 3: Chaucer, 1340-1400
The Canterbury Tales showcases Chaucer’s wit and brilliant characterizations.
Featured performers:Gary Watson, Brian Coburn, Nicholas Gecks, Gerrard McArthur, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 4: Medieval–Elizabethan, 1400-1600
Poems by John Skelton, Thomas Wyatt, Chidiock Tichborne, Thomas Nashe, Christopher Marlowe, Walter Raleigh, and William Shakespeare, ranging from simple, heartfelt sentiments to sophisticated social commentary.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Nicholas Gecks, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 5: Shakespeare, 1564-1616
The “rough magic” of William Shakespeare’s onstage verse.
Featured Performers:John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, and Ralph Richardson.
Episode 6: Metaphysical and Devotional, 1590-1670
Poems of carnal and spiritual love by John Donne, George Herbert, and Andrew Marvell.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft and Julian Glover.
Disc 2
Episode 7: Milton, 1608-1674
The power of Milton’s lyrical poetry and great epic, Paradise Lost.
Featured performer:Ian Richardson.
Episode 8: Restoration and Augustan, 1660-1745
Political, social, and literary satire from John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester; John Dryden; Jonathan Swift; and Alexander Pope.
Featured performers:Nicholas Gecks, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 9: Romantic Pioneers, 1750-1805
Imagination loosed in William Blake, Christopher Smart, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 10: Wordsworth, 1770-1850
Nature and human nature in William Wordsworth.
Featured performers:John Gielgud and Julian Glover.
Episode 11: Younger Romantics, 1800-1824
The brief but dazzling genius of Percy Shelley, John Keats, and Lord Byron.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Nicholas Gecks, and Ian Richardson.
Disc 3
Episode 12: Victorians, 1837-1901
Love and death in Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Emily Brontë; Christina Rossetti; Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning; Matthew Arnold; Dante Gabriel Rossetti; and A.C. Swinburne.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 13: American Pioneers, 1855-1910
The distinctly American voices of Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Julia Ward Howe, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson.
Featured performers:Stacy Keach and Lee Remick.
Episode 14: Romantics and Realists, 1870-1920
Subtle emotional shadings in Thomas Hardy, Gerard Manley Hopkins, A.E. Housman, and Rudyard Kipling.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Nicholas Gecks, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 15: Early Twentieth Century, 1914-1939
The refined world-weariness of W.B. Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and W.H. Auden.
Featured performers:Isla Blair, Cyril Cusack, Nicholas Gecks, Stacy Keach, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 16: Towards the Present
Energy and alienation in Dylan Thomas, Robert Lowell, Philip Larkin, and Ted Hughes.
Featured performers:Julian Glover, Anthony Hopkins, and Stacy Keach.
Episode 1: Chaucer–Ted Hughes, 1384-1984
A sweeping introduction to English-language poetry.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Cyril Cusack, Nicholas Gecks, Julian Glover, Lee Remick, Ian Richardson, and Gary Watson.
Episode 2: Old English
Humor, adventure, faith, and violence in Anglo-Saxon poetry, including Beowulf.
Featured performers:Nicholas Gecks and Julian Glover.
Episode 3: Chaucer, 1340-1400
The Canterbury Tales showcases Chaucer’s wit and brilliant characterizations.
Featured performers:Gary Watson, Brian Coburn, Nicholas Gecks, Gerrard McArthur, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 4: Medieval–Elizabethan, 1400-1600
Poems by John Skelton, Thomas Wyatt, Chidiock Tichborne, Thomas Nashe, Christopher Marlowe, Walter Raleigh, and William Shakespeare, ranging from simple, heartfelt sentiments to sophisticated social commentary.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Nicholas Gecks, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 5: Shakespeare, 1564-1616
The “rough magic” of William Shakespeare’s onstage verse.
Featured Performers:John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, and Ralph Richardson.
Episode 6: Metaphysical and Devotional, 1590-1670
Poems of carnal and spiritual love by John Donne, George Herbert, and Andrew Marvell.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft and Julian Glover.
Disc 2
Episode 7: Milton, 1608-1674
The power of Milton’s lyrical poetry and great epic, Paradise Lost.
Featured performer:Ian Richardson.
Episode 8: Restoration and Augustan, 1660-1745
Political, social, and literary satire from John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester; John Dryden; Jonathan Swift; and Alexander Pope.
Featured performers:Nicholas Gecks, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 9: Romantic Pioneers, 1750-1805
Imagination loosed in William Blake, Christopher Smart, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 10: Wordsworth, 1770-1850
Nature and human nature in William Wordsworth.
Featured performers:John Gielgud and Julian Glover.
Episode 11: Younger Romantics, 1800-1824
The brief but dazzling genius of Percy Shelley, John Keats, and Lord Byron.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Nicholas Gecks, and Ian Richardson.
Disc 3
Episode 12: Victorians, 1837-1901
Love and death in Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Emily Brontë; Christina Rossetti; Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning; Matthew Arnold; Dante Gabriel Rossetti; and A.C. Swinburne.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 13: American Pioneers, 1855-1910
The distinctly American voices of Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Julia Ward Howe, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson.
Featured performers:Stacy Keach and Lee Remick.
Episode 14: Romantics and Realists, 1870-1920
Subtle emotional shadings in Thomas Hardy, Gerard Manley Hopkins, A.E. Housman, and Rudyard Kipling.
Featured performers:Peggy Ashcroft, Nicholas Gecks, Julian Glover, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 15: Early Twentieth Century, 1914-1939
The refined world-weariness of W.B. Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and W.H. Auden.
Featured performers:Isla Blair, Cyril Cusack, Nicholas Gecks, Stacy Keach, and Ian Richardson.
Episode 16: Towards the Present
Energy and alienation in Dylan Thomas, Robert Lowell, Philip Larkin, and Ted Hughes.
Featured performers:Julian Glover, Anthony Hopkins, and Stacy Keach.
- 20-page viewer’s guide includes What to Listen For, questions to consider, and avenues for further learning.
- Lives of the Poets
- About the Actors
Packaging:Boxed set
Run Time:410 minutes
Format:Full screen
Number of discs:3
Language:English
Subtitles:N/A
Color or B&W:Color
CC:No
SDH:Yes
Region Code:1
Aspect Ratio:4:3
Rating:NR
Run Time:410 minutes
Format:Full screen
Number of discs:3
Language:English
Subtitles:N/A
Color or B&W:Color
CC:No
SDH:Yes
Region Code:1
Aspect Ratio:4:3
Rating:NR
"Pure delight"—Daily Mail(UK)
One of the finest Shakespearean actors of his generation, John Gielgud won an Oscar®, Emmy®, Tony®, and Grammy during his long career. An accomplished poet, writer, and teacher, Anthony Thwaite received the Order of the British Empire for his services to poetry in 1992.
