Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Poetry on the BBC

Just watched the Sylvia Plath episode of A Poet's Guide to Britain on BBC iplayer, it's excellent. Although Plath is not normally thought of as a landscape poet it's always been her nature poetry and how she manages to reflect her mental state in the landscape around her that that has interested me.
The main focus is on the Yorkshire moors and her Wuthering Heights poem though there is also mention of her other Yorkshire poems such as The Great Carbuncle and Hardcastle Crags. There are snippets of radio interviews with Plath and also footage of a tv interview with her mother, Aurelia Plath. Plenty great shots of the Yorkshire moors while Plath's poems are read, it's a really good programme, go watch it!

14 comments:

Peter K Steinberg said...

Oh I wish I could watch it but those of us outside the UK can't!! I've got a copy coming to me on DVD for contributing...but the post isn't being delivered fast enough...

Well, at least you've whetted my appetite, thanks!

Cheers
Peter

ambersun said...

Would you be able to put some of the poems up on your blog?

I studied Sylvia Plath at University but can't remember the poems you're talking about.

Amber

Marion McCready said...

hi peter, it must be frustrating but I think it's definitely worth the wait!

hi amber, check out this site and you'll be able to read many of her poems on-line - http://www.stanford.edu/class/engl187/docs/plathpoem.html

Roxana said...

thank you for this, what a coincidence, i was just talking to swiss about his dislike of WH - even if he loves Jane Eyre :-)
I assume you like both?

Marion McCready said...

yes, I like both but prefer Jane Eyre by far!

Dave King said...

Thanks Sorlil. Missed that one, but will try to catch up with it.

panther said...

Wonderful programme. It is good to see Plath the Nature Poet being acknowledged. I love her "Campers, Cloud Country" -is that the title ?-also "Sleep in the Mojave Desert."

Sorlil, I think the letter you mentioned earlier from Happenstance sounds VERY encouraging.

Marion McCready said...

no problem, dave!

hi panther, yes I very much enjoyed the programme and your excellent review of it. thankyou for saying so about the Happenstance letter, it would be nice if it did lead to something!

panther said...

Where do you live in Scotland, sorlil ? I used to live in Edinburgh, also spent some time on Iona and also in the wilds of Galloway.

Marion McCready said...

I'm in Dunoon, Argyll, on the west coast!

Titus said...

Just watched it, and I enjoyed it too. I do like the hook of the series - that they focus on one landscape poem each episode - and with that hook it was challenging of the writer/presenter (I do not wish to mention his name in case he finds you too!) to pick Plath. He made that choice work very well. And the archive stuff was fascinating.
BBC Four is fast becoming the best channel on my computer.
Incidentally, I prefer Wuthering Heights.

Marion McCready said...

yes, it is a good hook isn't it. George Mackay Brown next week which I'm really looking forward to.
I think it may be time soon for a re-read of Wuthering Heights, it's been a long time!

Rachel Fox said...

I definitely enjoyed the Plath programme more than the Wordsworth (and have written about the Plath one somewhere in the comments of the WW post). Maybe they should have opened the series with her.

p.s. if someone had not already written a book called 'how to lose friends and alienate people' I could do the poetry version of that any time now...

x

Marion McCready said...

lol, I think you could!