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)

Credits

Producer

Tony Coe

Cast

Graham Martin

Production Company

Name

BBC Open University Productions

Distributor

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

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