a. poetry (Please see the British period page for more British poetry videos of different historical periods.)
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English Poetry Anthology - The Romantic Poets (1999)
821/K96-1/W052307V |
A superb study of the poets of the Romantic period, featuring the works of Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Coleridge and others. This informative program is a perfect introduction to the Romantic movement of the nineteenth century which was responsible for a revival of interest in medieval romance, the supernatural, and the mystery of life. Chapters include • The poems • The poets’ lives and times • The themes and language • Expert comment, interpretation and analysis by Dr. Robert Woof of Rydell Mount Cumbria, Dr. Julia North of De Montford University, Leicester, and Derrick Woolf, the custodian of Coleridge Cottage in Somerset • Historical context and background • Modern criticism. (50min) |
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English Poetry Anthology - The Victorian Poets (1999)
821/K96-2/W052308V |
Features the works of favorite Victorian poets, including Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins and others. This fascinating program provides a revealing look into the great works of this period, plus filmed reconstructions which depict life during the Victorian Era. It also gives the modern viewer a unique look at a school of poetry which was, foremost, a reflection of its time. Chapters include • The poems • The poets’ lives and times • The themes and language • Expert comment, interpretation and analysis by by Dr. Nick Shrimpton of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Professor Joanna Shattock of Leicester University, Dr. Peter McDonald of Christ Church, Oxford, and Dr. Julia North of De Montford University, Leicester • Historical context and background • Modern criticism. (50min) |
| Beowulf
EV829/001M11 |
This program is a popular and effective way to introduce students to the origins of English language and literature. This journey into Celtic-British culture and the oral epic tradition leads through Caedmon and Bede and culminates in a detailed examination of the greatest masterpiece of the age, Beowulf, and of its protagonist, who is our first tragic hero. |
| Introduction to English Poetry EV/821/002B01 |
This introductory program shows the sweep, range, and variety of English verse by presenting extracts from Chaucer, Shakespeare, Herbert, Milton, Swift, Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley, Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Hardy, Yeats, and Ted Hughes. |
| The Poetry of Ireland 821 P879 Ve |
The great poems of Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney, William Butler Yeats, Brendan Kennelly, Padraic Pearse and others are read by Kathleen Watkins as she travels throughout Ireland, visiting the locations that inspired these wonderful words. (45 mins.) |
| The Poetry Anthology | Three authoritative and accessible studies of English poetry. These programs feature in-depth looks at the lives and works of the leading British poets of the past three centuries, with expert interpretation and critical analyses by leading authorities in English literature. (Includes all three volumes of the series: 150 mins) |
| The Augustan Poets 821 P745a VRe 821 P745a Ve |
An enlightening guide to the
works of Alexander Pope, John Dryden and other Augustan poets. 50 mins.
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The Romantic Poets 821 P745r VRe 821 P745r Ve |
Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Coleridge and others are covered. (50 mins.) |
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The Victorian Poets 821 P745v VRe 821 P745v Ve |
Features the works of Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins and others. (50 mins) |
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Old English Poetry
EV829/002M11 |
The foundation for the understnading of English literature-its Anglo-Saxon origins are offerred here with modern translations of three riddle poems(which show that the English sense of humor hasn't changed mush), "The Seafarer," and "The Dream of the Road." In sections of Beowulf, the original Old English is cunningly interwoven with contemporary English to offer both an understanding and a sense of the power of the poetic language of the original. |
| Poetry in Motion
EV/821/017B01 |
More than 20 contemporary North American poets recite, sing, and perform their work. Several also comment. Early in the film, Charles Bukowski talks about the energy of poets and of a poem. These poets are energetic performers, and their poems are meant to be heard. These poets are the children of Walt Whitman and of Charles Olson, incantatory and oratorical, radical, sometimes incorporating contemporary political imagery. Black Mountain poets, the Beats, minimalists like John Cage, the wordless Four Horsemen, Tom Waits, and others capture aspects of poets as troubadours. --IMDb |
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The Poetry Hall of Fame--Volume One (PBS video,1993) (Color, 57:58mins) |
Simply an incredible collection of great writers, and a wonderful journey
through great poems. Within these words use may find all the love, joy,
hope, fear, enchantment and humor that is the human spirit.
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| The Poetry Hall of Fame--Volume Two (PBS video,1993) (Color, 58:28mins) |
Simply an incredible collection of great writers, and a wonderful journey
through great poems. Within these words use may find all the love, joy,
hope, fear, enchantment and humor that is the human spirit.
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| The Poetry Hall of Fame--Volume Three
(PBS video,1993) (Color, 58:51mins) |
Simply an incredible collection of great writers, and a wonderful
journey through great poems. Within these words use may find all the love,
joy, hope, fear, enchantment and humor that is the human spirit.
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| The Poetry Hall of Fame--Four Volumes
(PBS video,1993) (Color, 58:28mins) |
Simply an incredible collection of great writers, and
a wonderful journey through great poems. Within these words use may find
all the love, joy, hope, fear, enchantment and humor that is the human
spirit.
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| How to Read and Understand Poetry 820 C623 VRe 820 C623 Ve |
(Part I) Poetry--Summary, Pre-and Post-Viewing Suggestion, Narration
Script. (Part II) Poetry--Summary, Pre-and Post- Viewing Suggestion, Narration Script. Glossary of Terms Describing Poetic Form. (Part III) Interpretation: Reading and Meaning--Summary, Pre-and Post-Viewing Suggestions, Narration Script (Part IV) The Interpretation of a Poem'Summary, Pre-and Post-Viewing Suggestion, Narration Script. |
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the greatest works of
English literature, acclaimed by scholars as the equal of Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales. It has inspired children's stories, translations
in prose and poetry, plays, animations, films and an opera. Yet,
despite its fame, the poem, which disappeared for centuries, was
written by a poet whose name remains unknown, in an obscure dialect
of Middle English. This program sets out to investigate this unusual phenomenon, retracing the path of Sir Gawain in his fateful meeting with the Green Knight, and noting the haunted scenery through which he passes. Grounding itself on the latest research into the poem, it attempts to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding it, which it links to the career of an impetuous English monarch, whose fall was ultimately to plunge England into a century of civil war. -- From Amazon |
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c. drama
| Staging Classical Comedy EV/822/009BO1 |
Tragedy upholds traditional values and comedy attacks them-which explain much of the cahnge from Aristophanes to Plautus, from Old Comedy to New, reeflecting as it does the change from Athenian democracy to Roman totalitarianism. Wary of creating permanent spaces that might be used for mass meetings, the Romans constructed temporary wooden structures to house their theatrical productions. Since they were made of wood, they did not survive. To determine how Roman comedy was staged, evidence must be sought elsewhere-in surviving artifacts, contemporary Latin descriptions, and, above all, in the texts themselves. The program uses Plautus Miles Gloriosus to test the stageability of a classical comedy as authentically as possible, combining a full-scale reconstruction of the lost stage, the ancient text, and a still-vital comic style. |
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Jane Austen Collection (Sense & Sensibility / Emma / Persuasion / Mansfield Park / Pride & Prejudice / Northanger Abbey) 823 B471s VRe 823 A933-2 DVDe 823 A933-4 DVDe 823 A933-3 DVDe 823 A933-5 DVDe |
The socially restricted lives of 18th-century
women hardly seems like a subject that would inspire dozens of 20th
(and 21st) century adaptations--but the brilliant novels of Jane
Austen are flush with sparkling dialogue, razor-sharp wit,
marvelously realized characters that range from adorably sympathetic
to grotesquely comic, and--above all--ingeniously intricate plots,
which arrive at a seemingly inevitable happy conclusion yet keep you
seized with suspense every inch of the way. The Jane Austen
Collection pulls together six BBC miniseries from 1971 through
1987, one for each of Austen's much-beloved books.
Unsurprisingly, the gems of the lot are also the best of the novels: Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Pride and Prejudice, expertly translated to the screen by novelist Fay Weldon, skillfully chronicles the ups and downs of the sensible but quick to judge Elizabeth Bennet (the adorable Elizabeth Garvie) and the snooty Mr. Darcy (played with an imperious scowl by David Rintoul). Any adaptation of Emma rests firmly on its central character, and Doran Godwin wonderfully captures Emma Woodhouse's resilience, determination, and exasperating self-satisfaction. Definitely the funniest of Austen's novels, Emma's satirical humor is perfectly balanced with romantic yearning, and this 1972 version succeeds delightfully. Persuasion, though more melancholy in tone, has a wonderfully sympathetic heroine in Anne Elliot (played by the graceful Ann Fairbanks), who once turned away the man she loved but is given the chance, seven years later, to set things right. Sense and Sensibility suffers from comparison to the star firepower and cinematic sweep of the 1995 movie with Emma Thompson (a must-see for any Austen fan), but the dueling characters of gracious Elinore and headstrong Marianne, two sisters struggling with fallen fortunes, make for enjoyable viewing in this 1981 adaptation. Mansfield Park has perhaps the dullest hero and heroine of any Austen novel, yet the story zips along, powered by some of Austen's most outrageous supporting characters, here brought to deliciously comic life by Anna Massey and Angela Pleasence. Northanger Abbey satirizes gothic romances and the overheated imaginations that loved them; but though the tone is more broad and melodramatic than most of Austen, this 1987 adaptation suits the novel and rounds out this very satisfying boxed set. --Amazon |
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Product: [Streetcar Named Desire 2 Disc SE Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Deluxe Edition Sweet Bird of Youth Night of the Iguana Baby Doll Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone] A much-needed DVD tribute to one of the essential American playwrights, The Tennessee Williams Collection gathers six Williams titles and one vintage documentary. Taken together, it's a potent introduction to the specific terrain (geographical and emotional) of this brilliant writer. The set is anchored by Warner's deluxe two-disc treatment of A Streetcar Named Desire, which has copious extras (among them a fine 90-minute documentary about director Elia Kazan). The multi-Oscar-winning Streetcar is one of the better stage adaptations in film history, and it captures the electrifying Marlon Brando, re-creating his stage role, in the part that changed American acting: the brutish New Orleans sensualist Stanley Kowalski. Vivien Leigh won an Oscar opposite him, as the faded (except in her own mind) Southern belle Blanche DuBois, whose arrival in the Kowalski home leads to disaster. -- From Amazon |
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d. theme
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Living in the Past Box (1)
Life in Anglo-Saxon Times
941/K96-1/W052288V |
(英文字幕，英文發音50 min) |
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Living in the Past Box (2) Life in Medieval Times
941/K96-2/ W052305V |
(英文字幕，英文發音50 min) |
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Living in the Past Box (3) Life in Victorian Times
941/K96-3/W052306V |
These fascinating programs provide an atmospheric and realistic taste of life in past times, and show how everyday people endured and enjoyed their often difficult lives. Features authentic reconstructions of everyday life, expert commentary and analyses, many period engravings, paintings and drawings and more. Includes Life In Anglo-Saxon Times, Life In Medieval Times, Life In Victorian Times. (英文字幕，英文發音，50 min) |
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Pygmalion (Leslie Howard) 賣花女 792.6/L635/ W052323V |
This superlative, award winning film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play is as delightful today as when it was first filmed, nearly sixty-five years ago. This ageless story is based upon Greek mythology in which an ivory statue of a maiden, Galatea, is brought to life by the prayers of its sculptor, Pygmalion. In the film, a professor of linguistics, Henry Higgins (Leslie Howard), takes a cockney flower seller, Eliza Doolittle (Wendy Hiller), and bets that, within a matter of six months, he can turn her into a lady who can pass in high society without betraying her lowly origins. (96 min.) |
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Gunpowder, Treason & Plot-
Gillies MacKinnon
(無文字幕，英文發音，202分) 791.45/M158/W052348V |
Gunpowder, Treason & Plot was a 2004
BBC miniseries loosely based upon the
lives of
Mary, Queen of Scots and her son
James I of England. The writer
Jimmy McGovern tells the story behind the
Gunpowder Plot in two parts, each centred
on one of the monarchs. Directed by Gillies MacKinnon and filmed in Romania with a key Scottish crew, the first film dramatizes the relationship between Mary, Queen of Scots, played by French actress Clémence Poésy, and her third husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell played by Kevin McKidd. Scottish actor Robert Carlyle stars as James I in the second part of the series, which concentrates on the Gunpowder Plot, planned by Guy Fawkes, to blow up the Houses of Parliament in order to rid the nation of a Protestant monarch to be replaced by a Catholic one. McGovern had previously covered the Plot in the one-hour play Traitors for BBC2's Screenplay strand, transmitted on November 5, 1990. |
| Frankenstein: The Making of The Monster
(from the Great Books series) VE/808/002M11 |
A dark tower. A stormy night. An experiment challenging the limits of science. A monster is created - and forces are unleashed which the creator cannot control. Why are we still fascinated with Mary Shelley's nightmare? Vivid dramatizations and interviews illuminate the terrifying question that readers have been troubled by for centuries: Is there a little bit of Frankenstein's monster in all of us? Feel the power of this horrific creature alive in your home. And understand why this masterpiece continues to shock readers to this very day. |
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Le Morte D'Arthur: The Legend of The King (from the Great Books
series)
VE/808/005M11 |
How did the legend of Camelot inspire George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy?
Was Arthur real? Did the Round Table exist? View the evidence of the history
underlying the legend. Take a trip to the possible site of Camelot. Understand
the human yearning for heroes that has inspired medieval kings and modern
democracies. Enter a world of chivalry, loyalty, myth and legend as we
explore the fantasy of Camelot in Le Morte D'Arthur.
This is an excellent video from the A&E/Discovery Great Books series. It covers the myth and reality of Arthur and was totally absorbing. I highly recommend this one, especially from British Lit 1/medieval lit courses with a heavy Arthurian content. (two versions: with or without Chinese subtitles) --Dr. Marguerite Connor |
| Knights of the Round Table EV820/018B01 | The newly crowned king of all England, Arthur Pendragon, dedicates his reign and the fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table to the ideals of peace, justice and chivalry. Supporting Arthur in his vision are his beloved Queen Guinevere, the noble Sir Lancelot and the mysterious Merlin. Lancelot and Guinevere are torn between their secret love for one another and their loyalty to Arthur. |
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The Legend of Arthur
EV829/003M11 |
This program presents an examination of the blend
of history, mythology, religion, and prophetic dreams that
constitute the development of the Arthurian legend. It shows us
Glastonbury and other sites where the legend is set, illuminations
and other illustrations of the Arhtur
stories, and covers both the principle tales and their meanings- particularly
the search for the Holy Grail, for purity, a search that must end within
the searcher himself.
This is an older video than the Great Books version, and not nearly as good. Skip it for the former. My students were totally lost. No subtitles. --Dr. Marguerite Connor |
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Terry Jones' Medieval Lives
DVD/ 900 / M647 |
Terry Jones brings his inimitable style, a mix of goofy humor and scholarly inquisitiveness, to the subject of the Middle Ages in Terry Jones' Medieval Lives. While best known as an alum of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Jones is also somewhat of a historian, and it's obvious that he loves delving into the past, bringing to life the characters of antiquity with as much enthusiasm and skill as he brought to comedy sketches with Python. In this adventure he is focusing on the medieval world to find out what it was really like, and dispels some tired old misconceptions and brings to light new discoveries. The series is broken up into individual episodes focusing on one social class of the time: kings, priests, peasants, knights, and so on. Interspersing documentarian moments of research with goofy skits and Terry Gilliam-esque animations to illustrate his point, Jones assumes the roles himself (a bumbling priest, a weary peasant) and presents the mini skits in his particular comedic style as a supplement to his narrative. -- From Amazon |
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