Seasons & Episodes
Chaucer - Ted Hughes
This introductory programme establishes the continuity and variety of poetry over six centuries, touching on different g
Old English
A look at the poetry composed between the mid-seventh century and the Norman Conquest, including Julian Glover's reading
Chaucer 1340-1400
Chaucer was the first great named poet in English. This programme focuses on The Canterbury Tales, with a reading of the
Medieval - Elizabethan 1400-1600
This programme explores the late Medieval period leading into the Renaissance, discussing poems dealing with love, death
Shakespeare 1564-1616
A chronological look at Shakespeare's dramatic genius, using extracts from eight plays: Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Twelf
Metaphysical and Devotional 1590-1670
The vigour and audacity of John Donne's love poetry is contrasted with his equally powerful devotional works. The progra
Milton 1608-1674
Milton's dedication, his humanity and his blindness are all given illustration in Ian Richardson's reading of the sonnet
Restoration and Augustan 1660-1745
An overview of the great age of satire: among the works featured are Rochester's 'A Satire Against Reason and Mankind',
Romantic Pioneers 1750-1805
This programme features excerpts from Jonathan Smart's 'Jubilate Agno', written in Bedlam, five poems by Blake, Coleridg
Wordsworth 1770-1850
'Upon Westminster Bridge', 'Daffodils', 'A Slumber Did My Spirit Steal', and an extract from Book I of 'The Prelude' are
Younger Romantics
Among the poems featured are Shelly's 'Ozymandias', 'The Mask of Anarchy' and 'Adonais'; Keats' 'La Belle Dame sans Merc
Victorians 1837-1901
The Victorian period of richly represented with extracts of poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Emily Bronte, Christina Ross
American Pioneers 1855-1910
Lee Remick reads Julia Ward Howe's 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' along with poems by Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dicki
Romantics and Realists
This programme covers verse of the late Victorian period and the early twentieth century, with poems by Thomas Hardy, Ge
Early Twentieth Century 1914-1939
Wilfred Owen's 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and Edward Thomas' 'Old Man' are among the featured poems, while Cyril Cusack r
Towards the Present 1934-1984
Anthony Hopkins reads two of Dylan Thomas' most widely known poems, and Stacy Keach reads Robert Lowell's 'For the Union
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