Series
Six Centuries of Verse
Drama
Sir John Gielgud is joined by an outstanding repertory of actors in this pioneering, imaginative series demonstrating the immense variety and emotional impact of English-language poetry, from the fourteenth century to the contemporary era.
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Seasons & episodes
- 1Chaucer - Ted Hughes2 May 1984 · 400mThis introductory programme establishes the continuity and variety of poetry over six centuries, touching on different genres by using extracts from some of the many poems featured in the series - from Chaucer to Ted Hughes.
- 2Old English9 May 1984 · 400mA look at the poetry composed between the mid-seventh century and the Norman Conquest, including Julian Glover's reading of part of his own adaptation of the heroic epic Beowulf.
- 3Chaucer 1340-140016 May 1984 · 400mChaucer was the first great named poet in English. This programme focuses on The Canterbury Tales, with a reading of the introduction by Gary Watson and a detailed exploration of The Pardoner's Tale.
- 4Medieval - Elizabethan 1400-160023 May 1984 · 400mThis programme explores the late Medieval period leading into the Renaissance, discussing poems dealing with love, death and ambition by Skelton, Wyatt, Raleigh, Marlowe and Shakespeare.
- 5Shakespeare 1564-161630 May 1984 · 400mA chronological look at Shakespeare's dramatic genius, using extracts from eight plays: Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline and The Tempest.
- 6Metaphysical and Devotional 1590-16706 Jun 1984 · 400mThe vigour and audacity of John Donne's love poetry is contrasted with his equally powerful devotional works. The programme then explores the work of Donne's disciple George Herbert, and Andrew Marvell.
- 7Milton 1608-167413 Jun 1984 · 400mMilton's dedication, his humanity and his blindness are all given illustration in Ian Richardson's reading of the sonnet to his dead wife, Katharine, while his eloquence is highlighted in Richardson's spectacular readings from Paradise Lost.
- 8Restoration and Augustan 1660-174520 Jun 1984 · 400mAn overview of the great age of satire: among the works featured are Rochester's 'A Satire Against Reason and Mankind', Dryden's 'Absalom and Achitophel' and the mock-heroic 'MacFlecknoe', and Pope's masterpiece of mordant wit, 'The Dunciad'.
- 9Romantic Pioneers 1750-180521 Oct 1984 · 400mThis programme features excerpts from Jonathan Smart's 'Jubilate Agno', written in Bedlam, five poems by Blake, Coleridge's 'Kubla Khan', and Wordsworth's 'The Solitary Reaper' - a fine example of "emotion recollected in tranquillity".
- 10Wordsworth 1770-185028 Oct 1984 · 400m'Upon Westminster Bridge', 'Daffodils', 'A Slumber Did My Spirit Steal', and an extract from Book I of 'The Prelude' are among the poems read by Julian Glover; all were filmed in Wordsworth's native Lake District.
- 11Younger Romantics4 Nov 1984 · 400mAmong the poems featured are Shelly's 'Ozymandias', 'The Mask of Anarchy' and 'Adonais'; Keats' 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'To Autumn'; and part of Byron's 'Don Juan'.
- 12Victorians 1837-190111 Nov 1984 · 400mThe Victorian period of richly represented with extracts of poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Emily Bronte, Christina Rossetti, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold and Agernon Charles Swinburne.
- 13American Pioneers 1855-191018 Nov 1984 · 400mLee Remick reads Julia Ward Howe's 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' along with poems by Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson; Stacy Keach reads poems by Walt Whitman and Herman Melville; John Gielgud recites Robinson's 'Miniver Cheevy'.
- 14Romantics and Realists25 Nov 1984 · 400mThis programme covers verse of the late Victorian period and the early twentieth century, with poems by Thomas Hardy, Gerard Manley, A.E. Houseman and Rudyard Kipling.
- 15Early Twentieth Century 1914-19392 Dec 1984 · 400mWilfred Owen's 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and Edward Thomas' 'Old Man' are among the featured poems, while Cyril Cusack reads a selection of poems by W.B. Yeats, and Ian Richardson and Isla Blair give voices to an excerpt from Eliot's 'The Waste Land'.
- 16Towards the Present 1934-19849 Dec 1984 · 400mAnthony Hopkins reads two of Dylan Thomas' most widely known poems, and Stacy Keach reads Robert Lowell's 'For the Union Dead'; poetry by Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes close the series.
Details
- First aired
- 2 May 1984
- Last aired
- 9 Dec 1984
- Status
- Ended
- Language
- English
- Network
- Channel 4
- Episodes
- 16
- Votes
- 2 on TMDB
Cast
John GielgudSelf - Presenter
