Six Centuries of Verse
(1984)Streaming Episode Guide
Season 1
Towards the Present 1934-1984
Episode 16 - 12-09-1984
27m
Anthony 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.
Haven't Seen
Early Twentieth Century 1914-1939
Episode 15 - 12-02-1984
27m
Wilfred 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'.
Haven't Seen
Romantics and Realists
Episode 14 - 11-25-1984
26m
This 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.
Haven't Seen
American Pioneers 1855-1910
Episode 13 - 11-18-1984
26m
Lee 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'.
Haven't Seen
Victorians 1837-1901
Episode 12 - 11-11-1984
26m
The 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.
Haven't Seen
Younger Romantics
Episode 11 - 11-04-1984
25m
Among 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'.
Haven't Seen
Wordsworth 1770-1850
Episode 10 - 10-28-1984
26m
'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.
Haven't Seen
Romantic Pioneers 1750-1805
Episode 9 - 10-21-1984
27m
This 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".
Haven't Seen
Restoration and Augustan 1660-1745
Episode 8 - 6-20-1984
26m
An 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'.
Haven't Seen
Milton 1608-1674
Episode 7 - 6-13-1984
26m
Milton'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.
Haven't Seen
Metaphysical and Devotional 1590-1670
Episode 6 - 6-06-1984
26m
The 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.
Haven't Seen
Shakespeare 1564-1616
Episode 5 - 5-30-1984
27m
A 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.
Haven't Seen
Medieval - Elizabethan 1400-1600
Episode 4 - 5-23-1984
25m
This 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.
Haven't Seen
Chaucer 1340-1400
Episode 3 - 5-16-1984
24m
Chaucer 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.
Haven't Seen
Old English
Episode 2 - 5-09-1984
26m
A 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.
Haven't Seen
Chaucer - Ted Hughes
Episode 1 - 5-02-1984
26m
This 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.
Haven't Seen
