Catalog Search Results
2) We Are Poets
Language
English
Description
The poignant tale of six remarkable British teenagers competing in a prestigious poetry competition in Washington D.C. From the streets of inner city Leeds to the stages of the American capital, this documentary charts the personal journeys of poets on the cusp of adulthood, hungry for change and full of fervour. Much more than just a hop across the pond; a resurrection of an ancient art form interwoven with inspiring snapshots of British youth.
Language
English
Description
In this engaging 1989 documentary, Maria Beatty explores the insights and influences of the American Beat poets. The film conveys their consciousness and sensibility through candid interviews with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Diane di Prima, among others. Designed as a tribute to the poets and to their spirit of artistic freedom, Gang of Souls also weaves in additional commentary from contemporary musicians, poets and writers such as Marianne...
Language
Español
Description
The life and work of Pablo Neruda-Nobel Laureate, statesman, renowned poet-both reflect and embody the events that shaped the 20th century. Born in Chile, he fled as a political refugee in 1948, not to return until 1952. Through archival material, Neruda's writings, and interviews with family, friends, and scholars, this program presents Neruda's life and the times that molded it.
Language
English
Description
The lives of three outspoken poets intersect as they harness the power of the word. CJ Suitt confronts the racial injustice of a Southern black male. Kamaya Truitt-Martin competes in poetry slams across the country to heal a broken home. Jeremy Berggren employs art and poetry to cope with PTSD and to bear witness to the suffering of veterans. The 19th-century poet John Keats said, "Truth is beauty," and beauty is harsh.
Language
Español
Description
After the death of Franco and during the transition to a parliamentary monarchy, Spain's cultural life blossomed once again. In this environment, the poetry movement known as "the other sentimentality"-named after the first book of Javier Egea and Luis Garcia Montero-was born, a movement known for its transformation of the personal experience into a collective one so that any reader might identify with the feelings evoked. This program discusses that...
Language
English
Description
A Pulitzer Prize-winner before she was 35, Rita Dove is the youngest poet to have held the post of Poet Laureate of the United States (1993-1995) In this program with Bill Moyers, Dove talks about her life and work, the relationship between poetry and power, and her plans for taking poetry to the people. The program also features Dove reading extensive selections from her works (including her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Thomas and Beulah) and...
Language
English
Description
This program provides a detailed analysis of four great English poems: "Eden Rock" by Charles Causley, "In Westminster Abbey" by Sir John Betjeman, "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, and "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen. Readings, along with critical and historical commentary, are given by poets Kate Clanchy, Wendy Cope, Matthew Sweeney, PJ Kavanagh, Michael Donaghy, Owen Sheers, Jean Binta Breeze, Jamie McKendrick, and English poet laureate...
12) Walt Whitman
Language
English
Description
A self-styled sketch runs, "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos." He could have added journalist, carpenter, nurse, and one of the greatest poets in English. This program presents a unique literary biography, tracing Whitman's childhood, various careers, and the evolution of the masterpiece that proved his lifelong work, Leaves of Grass. A collage of photos, paintings, and manuscripts accompanies excerpts of letters from Whitman...
Language
English
Description
Like musicians, Lucille Clifton and Mark Doty stress the rhythmic and musical qualities of poems, the former shaping them with economical, everyday language and the latter with language more baroque. In this program, Bill Moyers and the two poets discuss topics such as the weight of racial memory and the encounter between self and history. Readings by Ms. Clifton showcase "Fury-for Mama," "Donor," "The Times," and "Alabama 9/15/63"; readings by Mr....
Language
English
Description
In this program, Maya Angelou interviews poet, playwright, and political activist Amiri Baraka, formerly known as Leroi Jones. Stressing the use of concrete images of time, place, and social condition in his work, Baraka discusses the use of literature as a catalyst for political change. Reading from his poem "Funk Lore," Baraka explains how he uses jazz and blues rhythms to create metric "melody" within his poems.
15) Yeats Poems
Language
English
Description
A selection of poems by the Irish poet W B Yeats in a screenbook read by Malcolm Hossick. W B Yeats had a natural talent for handling words and observing the intimate details of human existence and produced a wonderful range of verse over a long lifetime. Malcolm Hossick has chosen 41 poems which he feels reflect the poet's unique view of life and mark him out as one of the greatest writers of poetry in the English language. There are chapter points...
Language
Español
Description
The most important Spanish poet of his generation and the most popular as well, Antonio Machado shared the misgivings voiced by other members of the Generation of '98 regarding the decadence and complacency of Spain. Composed of documentary material and dramatizations, this program profiles the life and achievements of a Spanish literary master, author of such enduring works as Campos de Castilla and Juan de Mairena.
Language
English
Description
Cultural illiteracy among today's teenagers threatens the fabric of society, according to Professor E.D. Hirsch, Jr., author of the best-seller, Cultural Literacy. Hirsch defines cultural literacy as familiarity with the common knowledge literate Americans take for granted and ascribes teenage ignorance-vividly demonstrated in live interviews-to reading instruction that has stressed skills over content. Hirsh and moderator Robert MacNeil are joined...
Language
Español
Description
Despite the dampening effects of the Inquisition and the Counter-Reformation, the Renaissance gave a powerful impetus to learning and experimentation - and in the process ensconced Castilian as the language of choice for both poetry and prose. In this program, renowned experts place the masters of the Renaissance within the context of their times. Dramatic readings include excerpts from Fernando de Rojas's La Celestina, Juan Alfonso de Baena's Cancionero...
Language
English
Description
Julie Harris takes viewers into Emily Dickinson's everyday world in a small New England town to compare and contrast facts about the poet with her extraordinary, original insights. Dickinson's reclusive life in her father's mansion on Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts, meant that she wrote almost all of her surviving work in this house. From cellar to cupola, we invoke her "certain slant of light" (her real and imagined perspectives) Other locations...