Poetry: Language and History

Synopsis: Tom Paulin shows how and why Seamus Heaney’s ‘Broagh’, a landscape poem, is also a political poem. He also discusses the relative importance of the sounds of a poem with what it’s about and finds himself caught between admiring the technical ability of a poet like Dryden while profoundly disagreeing with what he is saying. Terry Eagleton shows how part of the an earlier poem ‘Easter 1916’ by Yeats is about both landscape and politics. He stresses the importance of the historical context of poetry while making the point that as readers we can’t rid ourselves of our historical context. He warns against the superfically sympathetic hearings of historical works on the grounds that we are always re-interpreting such works for our own time rather than learning much about the time in which they originated.
Series: Arts Foundation Course, An: Course A102
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video; Videocassette. Standard formats. col. 25 min.
Year of production: 1986
Availability: Off-air recording licence
Sale; 1998 sale: £85.00 (+VAT +p&p)
Subjects: English language and literature
Keywords: Heaney, Seamus; poetry; Yeats, William Butler (1865-1939)

Producer

Tony Coe

Cast

Graham Martin

Name: Open University Worldwide
Web: http://www.ouw.co.uk External site opens in new window
Phone: +44 (0) 1908 274066
Address: Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
Notes: NB. As of May 2016 Open University Worldwide are no longer distributing DVDs. They have posted this message on their website: ‘Unfortunately Open University Worldwide Limited has decided that product sales are no longer viable given the reduced funding to Higher Education institutions and diminishing demand for the products we have traditionally stocked. At present the Open University Students Association (OUSA) will continue to sell the "Good Study Guide", and we are in discussion with other possible distributors to continue to make The Open University’s products available for purchase. As soon as we have any information on other channels of distribution we will update this notice’. Some products are still available via second hand dealers on Amazon.co.uk

This record has been viewed 280 times.