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Description
In this programme Professor Richard Hoggart, Principal of Goldsmith's College, London and author of W.H. Auden: An Introductory Essay, examines Auden's attitude to poetry and some of the themes wh...ich recurred throughout his long writing career. Illustrating his points with three of Auden's poems - two of them read by Auden himself - he shows us first of all Auden's delight in playing with words and with the devices of poetry. One of poetry's main purposes is to give pleasure - as Auden himself explains in one of the several extracts from television interviews which he gave in the last few years of his life and which are included in the programme. Through analysis of the poems quoted, Professor Hoggart also points out the important ways in which, for Auden, poetry relates to truth, both directly and more obliquely. Poems include:If I could tell you; Musee des Beaux Arts; Icarus; In Praise of Landscape.
Metadata describing this Open University video programme
Module code and title: A306, Twentieth century poetry
Item code: A306; 12
First transmission date: 31-07-1976
Published: 1976
Rights Statement:
Restrictions on use:
Duration: 00:23:54
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Producer: Miriam Rapp
Contributor: Richard Hoggart
Publisher: BBC Open University
Keyword(s): Language
Subject terms: Poetry; Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973
Footage description: The programme opens with Auden explaining in interview how he became a poet. Richard Hoggart, Warden of Goldsmith's College, London, introduces the subject of the programme. He talks about Auden's approach to poetry and to language generally. Various photographs of Auden are shown. Reading of the poem If I could Tell You, which is simultaneously displayed on the screen. With the help of animated graphics, Hoggart analyses the poem's form, its language and its meaning. In interview, Auden explains his interest in, and use of, language. Hoggart simplifies Auden's theme that the poet is a maker of linguistic objects. He relates the question of language to the more general one of truth, and explains what Auden regarded as the object of poetry. In interview Auden explains why all Art causes joy, regardless of its specific subject. In particular he talks about Wagner and Hardy. Hoggart explains how the poet goes about his task, for instance in the selection of images. In interview Auden explains what he considers the poet's job to be. Hoggart explains the inspiration for the poem Musee des Beaux Arts, over shots of Bruegel's painting Icarus, which is the subject of the poem. Auden himself reads the poem. Hoggart analyses the poem and explains itsimportance. Further shots of Icarus, and the poem itself is displayed. Hoggart discusses Auden's method of reading poetry. He gives Auden's ideas on this subject as well as his views on the poet as a public figure. Over various photographs of Auden, Hoggart assesses the gift of the poet and what it is capable of achieving. He considers the relationship of poetry to truth. Briefly, he gives some background to the poem In Praise of Limestone. Auden himself reads two extracts from In Praise of Limestone. Appropriate images are shown. Hoggart makes a general assessment of Auden. He gives Auden's own view of what poetry can achieve and what its limitations are. The programme concludes with Auden giving his view of Art over photographs of himself.
Master spool number: 6HT/71770
Production number: 00525_3189
Videofinder number: 725
Available to public: no