Product Description:
#35095 Poetry Surveys - Poetry and Its Relevance: An Experiment (Run time 13 min.) DVD $69.95
What is poetry, and what place does it have in today's society? In an attempt to answer these questions, two filmmakers stood an old refrigerator on a busy San Francisco street corner, invited passersby to compose poems using magnetic poetry kits, and filmed the intriguing results. Both funny and poignant, this jewel of a program will make a provocative addition to courses on creative writing, poetics, language studies, and the sociology of contemporary culture. Serendipitously inspired and surprisingly profound. (13 minutes)
#8661 Literature Surveys - On Writing (Run time 25 min.) DVD $89.95
When asked where he gets his ideas, an anonymous writer once jokingly replied, "From a post office box in Schenectady." In this program, composed of exclusive interviews, Gore Vidal, Art Buchwald, Erica Jong, and other major authors reveal a variety of insights into both the art and the craft of writing-including where they get some of their inspiration. These interviews offer a rare opportunity to explore the writing process from the author's perspective. (25 minutes)
#8662 Literature Surveys - Writing about Family (Run time 25 min.) DVD $89.95
One of the first pieces of advice given to novice writers is to "write about what you know." Since every person's first-and often most lasting-experiences are shaped by the presence, or notable absence, of family, it is often a powerful theme in fiction. In this program, 15 mainstream authors-including Maeve Binchy, Tobias Wolff, Ruth Rendell, Gordon Lish, Amitav Ghosh, Peter Carey, and Andre Brink-express themselves on the subject of family. They explain that tension, so necessary to fiction, can be found in abundance in families; that stories about unhappy families are extremely marketable; and that writing about family can be therapeutic for both author and reader. (25 minutes)
#8663 Literature Surveys - Writing about Coming of Age (Run time 25 min.) DVD $89.95
Coming of age is the watershed moment when a life-or how one views life-changes forever. In this program, Joyce Carol Oates, Andre Brink, Maeve Binchy, Erica Jong, Paul Quarrington, David Sedaris, and other renowned contemporary writers discuss childhood and its attendant rites of passage, the emotional mystery and drama surrounding this passage, and the different times at which it can occur: at the threshold of adolescence, as an adult, or, as author Eric McCormack believes, perhaps never. (25 minutes)
#8664 Literature Surveys - Writing about Deception (Run time 25 min.) DVD $89.95
Writing, in its most benign sense, is itself a form of deception because it invites the reader to see and accept the world as the author portrays it. To write about deception as a literary theme, then, requires a grasp of its many subtleties, including self-deception. This program, featuring interviews with Fran Lebowitz, Tobias Wolff, Erica Jong, William Gass, Eric McCormack, Bruce Jay Friedman, and Peter Carey, examines issues such as the nature of certainty, manipulation of the reader, gullibility, hypocrisy, misogyny, and puritanism. (25 minutes)
#8665 Literature Surveys - Writing about Death and Redemption (Run time 25 min.) DVD $89.95
Among themes in literature, none is more frequently explored than coming to terms with mortality, which is often intertwined with the hope for redemption. This program, featuring Joyce Carol Oates, Art Buchwald, William Gibson, Janette Turner Hospital, Matt Cohen, William Gass, and other top contemporary authors, investigates the seldom humorous, often macabre, and totally human fascination with death. Topics discussed include the essential inability to own time, the poetic stance that the dead fertilize the future, and redemption as the search for wholeness. (25 minutes)
#5750 Poetry Surveys - The Field of Time (Run time 56 min.) DVD $89.95
Two courageous women artists who have turned potential tragedy into triumph are testimony to the healing powers of poetry. In this program, authors Sandra McPherson and Linda McCarriston revel in the beauty of love, family, and nature, exploring and elevating their lives through wondrous and passionate words. Filmed at the Biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. (58 minutes)
#5753 Poetry Surveys - Swirl Like a Leaf (Run time 56 min.) DVD $89.95
Poetry offers a way for individuals to make sense of themselves, understand their motivations and fears, gain insight into their past and their future. As this program shows, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Robert Bly, and Marilyn Chin have all found routes to self-discovery and personal reconciliation through writing. Filmed at the Biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. (58 minutes)
#5755 Poetry Surveys - Come Celebrate with Me (Run time 56 min.) DVD $89.95
In this program, two poets reflect on the cultural legacies they have inherited. Lucille Clifton and David Mura bring their talent and humor to bear as they look at the past and the lives they live in America today. Filmed at the Biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. (58 minutes)
#37650 Poetry Surveys - Bill Moyers Journal: July 20, 2007 (Run time 58 min.) DVD $89.95
Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum-The Yes Men-have discovered that high-visibility pranks can get major press attention for important issues that would otherwise be ignored. In this program, Bill Moyers gets in on the joke with these two impersonators, who use satirical "identity correction" to make serious points about media consolidation, journalism, business ethics, and separating fact from fiction in a world of spin. Also on the program: poet Martin Espada speaks about his love of language and the human need for poetry as he reflects on how heritage, immigration, violence, and war have influenced his work and reads from his latest book, The Republic of Poetry. In addition, Bill Moyers highlights some viewer mail. Broadcast date: July 20, 2007. (58 minutes)
#10040 Literature Surveys - Ten Great Writers: The Seminar (Run time 52 min.) DVD $99.95
In this lively round-table discussion, moderator Melvyn Bragg; the late writer and critic Anthony Burgess; Professor George Steiner, author of Language and Silence; literary critic Hermione Lee; and writer and series consultant Professor Malcolm Bradbury debate what constitutes modernist writing. New literary themes generated by the era's political and social upheavals are also discussed, including time, the unconscious mind, alienation, the changing role of women, and the consequences of two world wars. In addition, the panel suggests that the atrocities of the post-modern world led writers to reject modernist narrative techniques and seek a new syntax and vocabulary. (53 minutes)
#31283 Poetry Surveys - Blake, Carroll, Cummings, and Tennyson (Run time 26 min.) DVD $129.95
This program explores four classic poems: "The Tyger" by William Blake, "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, "in Just - /Spring" by E. E. Cummings, and "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Poets Kate Clanchy, Michael Donaghy, Roger McGough, Tom Paulin, Clare Pollard, Jean Binta Breeze, and Andrew Motion read the selections, considering their rhythm, rhyme, imagery, and themes. (25 minutes)
#31284 Poetry Surveys - MacNiece, Frost, Lear, and Williams (Run time 26 min.) DVD $129.95
In this program, "Prayer Before Birth" by Louis MacNiece, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, "How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear" by Edward Lear, and "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "To a Poor Old Woman" by William Carlos Williams are read by a group of contemporary poets. Kate Clanchy, Jamie McKendrick, Tom Paulin, Jean Binta Breeze, Jerome Rothenberg, Sophie Hannah, Matthew Sweeney, and Kenneth Koch offer commentary on the themes and images of the selected poems. (25 minutes)
#31285 Poetry Surveys - Causley, Betjeman, Shelley, and Owen (Run time 26 min.) DVD $129.95
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 Andrew Motion. (25 minutes)
#31286 Poetry Surveys - Thomas, Larkin, Auden, and Dickinson (Run time 26 min.) DVD $129.95
This program combines evocative readings and cinematic interpretations of "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas, "At Grass" by Philip Larkin, "Musee des Beaux Arts" by W. H. Auden, and Emily Dickinson's "I heard a fly buzz when I died." Critical analysis of the poems and commentary on the creative process are offered by Wendy Cope, Andrew Motion, Kate Clanchy, Roger McGough, Michael Donaghy, PJ Kavanagh, Matthew Sweeney, and Tom Paulin. (25 minutes)
#32792 Poetry Surveys - John Donne (Run time 20 min.) DVD $129.95
Synonymous with metaphysical poetry, John Donne combined wit with passion, startling diction with curious contrasts. This program chronicles his extraordinary life as lawyer, lover, sailor, father, preacher, and poet. Manuscripts and paintings are combined with readings from many of Donne's most famous writings, including "The Flea," "Elegy XX," "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," "The Calm," "Progress of the Soul," "Holy Sonnet XVII," "Meditation XVII," and "Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness." (20 minutes)
#32793 Poetry Surveys - Walt Whitman (Run time 22 min.) DVD $129.95
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 and Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as readings from sections of Leaves of Grass, such as "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," and "Native Moments." (22 minutes)
#32795 Poetry Surveys - Ezra Pound (Run time 20 min.) DVD $129.95
Ezra Pound wielded tremendous influence on the 20th century's literature while he cut a controversial path through its politics. His challenge, "make it new," became Modernism's touchstone. This program follows his life's extraordinary course, from his collaborations with Yeats and Eliot through his years of detention at St. Elizabeths Hospital. A wealth of photographs and manuscripts is blended with readings from his letters, essays, and poems, including "Meditatio," "In a Station of the Metro," and selections from his epic work, The Cantos. (20 minutes)
#32796 Poetry Surveys - T. S. Eliot (Run time 19 min.) DVD $129.95
As a poet, T. S. Eliot did not just modernize, he revolutionized. As critic and publisher, he informed literary theory and promoted a generation of major young writers. This richly resourced program provides a concise biography of Eliot, tracing the key events of his life and highlighting his many contributions to English literature. The program features readings and excerpts from his major poems and critical work, including "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Sweeney among the Nightingales," "Gerontion," "The Hollow Men," "Ash Wednesday," The Wasteland, Four Quartets, and The Sacred Wood. (19 minutes)
#32797 Poetry Surveys - W. H. Auden (Run time 21 min.) DVD $129.95
A prolific virtuoso of poetic forms and techniques, W. H. Auden achieved literary fame on both sides of the Atlantic. This program traces his life's story and provides a sampling of his very best works, including "Musee des Beaux Arts," "In Memory of W. B. Yeats," "Epitaph on a Tyrant," "Leap Before You Look," and "The Shield of Achilles." (21 minutes)
#33128 Poetry Surveys - Hardy, Heaney, Duffy, and Clare (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
Today's leading poets, including Paul Muldoon and Kate Clanchy, read and discuss four classic poems: "The Ruined Maid" by Thomas Hardy, "Follower" by Seamus Heaney, "In Mrs Tilscher's Class" by Carol Ann Duffy, and "Gypsies" by John Clare. (25 minutes)
#33129 Poetry Surveys - Behn, Yeats, Wordsworth, and Thomas (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
In this program, several prominent poets read and discuss "The Willing Mistress" by Aphra Behn, "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" by W. B. Yeats, "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge September 3, 1802" by William Wordsworth, and "Adlestrop" by Edward Thomas. (25 minutes)
#33130 Poetry Surveys - Donne, Greenlaw, Reed, and Whitman (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
A selection of well-known poets read and discuss two classic poems-"The Flea" by John Donne and "A sight in camp in the daybreak gray and dim" by Walt Whitman-as well as two modern ones: "A Letter from Marie Curie" by Lavinia Greenlaw and "Naming of Parts" by Henry Reed. (25 minutes)
#33131 Poetry Surveys - Smith, Levertov, Lawrence, and Wilde (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
Manuscripts, photos, moving readings, and insightful commentary enhance four great poems: "Not Waving but Drowning" by Stevie Smith, "What Were They Like?" by Denise Levertov, "Piano" by D. H. Lawrence, and stanzas from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Oscar Wilde. (25 minutes)
#33657 Poetry Surveys - Fanthorpe, Keats, Snyder, and Harrison (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
In this program, contemporary poets, including W. N. Herbert and Clare Pollard, read and discuss three modern poems-"You will be hearing from us shortly" by U. A. Fanthorpe, "Front Lines" by Gary Snyder, and "Illuminations" by Tony Harrison-as well as the classic "This living hand, now warm and capable" by John Keats. (25 minutes)
#33658 Poetry Surveys - Shakespeare, Thomas, Goodison, and Swift (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
This program provides a detailed analysis of "My Mistres eyes are nothing like the Sunne" by William Shakespeare, "On the Farm" by R. S. Thomas, "This is a Hymn" by Lorna Goodison, and "Lines on the Death of Dr Swift" by Jonathan Swift. Readings, along with critical and historical commentary, are given by contemporary poets Patience Agbabi, Michael Donaghy, W. N. Herbert, John Kinsella, Clare Pollard, and Owen Sheers. (25 minutes)
#33659 Poetry Surveys - Hughes, Hopkins, Cavendish, and Plath (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
This program explores four classic poems: "Advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria" by Langston Hughes, "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Of Many Words in This World" by Margaret Cavendish, and "The Arrival of the Bee Box" by Sylvia Plath. Poets Patience Agbabi, Michael Donaghy, W. N. Herbert, John Kinsella, Clare Pollard, and Owen Sheers read the selections with consideration to their rhythm, rhyme, imagery, and themes. (25 minutes)
#33660 Poetry Surveys - Wyatt, Smart, Pound, and Ferlinghetti (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
In this program, several prominent poets combine evocative readings and cinematic interpretations of two classic poems-"They fle from me that sometyme did me seke" by Sir Thomas Wyatt and "Jubilate Agno" by Christopher Smart-as well as three modern ones: "In a Station of the Metro" and "Alba" by Ezra Pound and "History of the Airplane" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. (25 minutes)
#8660 Literature Surveys - Great Themes in Literature (Run time min.) DVD $449.75
In this 5-part series, some noted 20th-century writers discuss core literary themes and describe what it is like to write about them. This valuable classroom and workshop resource can help students of literature and aspiring writers reach a deeper understanding of the basic motifs found in today's best writing. 5-part series, 25 minutes each.
#31282 Poetry Surveys - Arrows of Desire: Poets on Poems (Run time min.) DVD $519.8
This ambitious series explores English poetry from the age of Chaucer to the present day, providing insight into the poetic craft by looking at classic examples in a number of forms, such as love poems, elegies, nature poems, and comic verse. Leading contemporary poets, including Tom Paulin, Wendy Cope, and England's poet laureate Andrew Motion, read the selections and discuss core issues. A variety of photos, paintings, archival film footage, and, where possible, original manuscripts complement the presentations. 4-part series, 25 minutes each.
#33127 Poetry Surveys - Arrows of Desire II (Run time min.) DVD $519.8
From original manuscripts and archival materials to stirring readings by leading contemporary poets, this four-part series assembles a dynamic array of resources to capture poetry's timeless appeal. Discussing and reading these classic selections are Patience Agbabi, Kate Clanchy, Michael Donaghy, W. N. Herbert, John Kinsella, Rod Mengham, Andrew Motion, Paul Muldoon, Ruth Padel, Clare Pollard, Owen Sheers, John Stammers, Greta Stoddart, and Al Young. 4-part series, 25 minutes each.
#33656 Poetry Surveys - Arrows of Desire III (Run time 100 min.) DVD $519.8
This four-part series explores the poetic landscape from the time of Shakespeare's sonnets to the 9/11 attacks using original manuscripts, archival materials, and stirring readings by leading contemporary poets. Discussing and reading selections are Patience Agbabi, Michael Donaghy, W. N. Herbert, John Kinsella, Clare Pollard, and Owen Sheers. 4-part series, 25 minutes each.
#32791 Poetry Surveys - Six Poets: Searching for Rhyme and Reason (Run time min.) DVD $779.7
Providing extensive biographical profiles and readings from each writer's most famous works, this series explores the lives and literary legacies of six major poets: John Donne, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, and W. H. Auden. 6-part series, 20 minutes each.
#10029 Literature Surveys - Ten Great Writers of the Modern World (Run time min.) DVD $1099.45
Blending superbly enacted drama with expert commentary and biography, this series spotlights the principal works of T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Luigi Pirandello, and seven other icons of literary modernism. A separate discussion of their ideas by a panel of eminent contemporary writers and critics rounds out the series, both complementing and unifying it. 11-part series, 53-61 minutes each.
#7773 Literature Surveys - Great Writers of the 20th Century (Run time min.) DVD $1169.35
This comprehensive series-compiled in part from the extensive archives of the BBC-profiles 13 giants of 20th-century fiction and the influences that shaped their work. Excerpts from personal diaries, footage never before viewed by American audiences, remembrances of contemporaries, and comments by literary experts offer insight into the creative psyche of each writer. 13-part series, 50 minutes each.
#35844 Literature Surveys - Language Arts & Literature Core Curriculum Video Library (Run time min.) DVD $1385
Covering drama, poetry, and prose fiction, this 20-program educational video collection brings language and literature to life! Recommended for grades 8-12. Correlates to state and national standards. Twenty full-length videos. (c) 2006.
#35856 Literature Surveys - The English Collection (Run time min.) DVD $1479.5
Where will you find Shakespeare rubbing elbows with Zora Neale Hurston? Only in this collection of 10 programs-essential viewing for English majors. Programs include: ? The Path to Publication: Advice from Authors, Editors, and Agents (Publishing Short Stories; Writing the Novel; What to Write; Elements of Writing; Writing for Different Genres; Agents, Editors, and Publishers; Readings and Conversations) ? Shakespeare's Globe ? The Drama of Creation: Writers on Writing ? Zora Neale Hurston: A Heart with Room for Every Joy 10-part series.
