Running Time:
3 Hours & 52 Minutes
Grade Level:
7 - Adult
Captions:
Closed Captions
AVP Release Date:
March 2013
Producer:
Centre Communications/Ambrose Video Publishing
As English spreads across the globe, becoming the language of the Internet, understanding the extraordinary body of British literature has become ever more vital in the 21st century. This eight part series, hosted by Jonathan Cake, addresses this need by bringing the audience from the dawn of England's literary tradition through Chaucer to Shakespeare to William Wordsworth to Jane Austen to Charles Dickens to T. S. Eliot to J. K. Rowling. The series focuses on over 60 major authors, their insights, themes and impact on history.
Shot in HD. This series is Closed Captioned. Extras include Instructor's Guide, Reading List and Timeline.
UPC: 739815 00526 8
- Program 1: Beowulf to Shakespeare
- 8th Century AD - Beowulf
- 14th century - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- 1387-1400 - Geoffrey Chaucer Writes The Canterbury Tales
- 1594 - Shakespeare Pens Romeo and Juliet
Running Time: 29 minutes
In the first program, you'll learn how the English language itself transitions from Old English to Middle English and to the rich and brilliant words of William Shakespeare.
- Program 2: The Renaissance Writers
- 1581 - Sir Francis Bacon, Renaissance Man
- 1587 - Christopher Marlowe Writes Tamburlaine the Great
- 1590 - Edmund Spenser Publishes The Faerie Queene
- 1592 - Sir Walter Ralegh's The Ocean to Cynthia
- 1598 - Ben Jonson Establishes a New Kind of Comedy
- 1631 - John Donne Delivers His Own Death Sermon
- 1658 - John Milton Begins Paradise Lost
Running Time: 29 minutes
After the arrival of the printing press, a Golden Age in English literature arrived as well. There was a Renaissance in English prose, drama, comedy and poetry.
- Program 3: Augustan and Romantic Poets
- 1681 - The Age of Dryden Begins
- 1712 - Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock
- 1755 - Dr. Johnson Completes A Dictionary of the English Language
- 1791 - Robert Burns' Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
- 1819 - Lord Byron Pens Don Juan
- 1790 - 1830 - The Four Romantic Poets
- 1850 - Wordsworth's Spiritual Autobiography Ends
- 1850 - Alfred Lord Tennyson is Made Poet Laureate of England
- 1864 - The Brownings
Running Time: 29 minutes
Following the English Renaissance a new kind of poet emerges, the poet hero who delves deeply into the power of nature and love for their literary inspirations.
- Program 4: Early Novelists
- 1679 - John Bunyan, Father of the English Novel
- 1749 - Henry Fielding Writes Tom Jones
- 1813 - Pride and Prejudice, a Novel by Jane Austen
- 1819 - Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe
- 1837 - Charles Dickens Begins Oliver Twist
- 1847 - The Brontë Sisters
- 1886 - Robert Louis Stevenson Introduces Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Running Time: 29 minutes
In the early 18th century, British literary observers noticed the gradual rise to prominence of a new kind of lengthy prose narrative. After much debate it was called 'a novel.'
- Program 5: Children's Literature
- 1719 - Daniel Defoe Pens Robinson Crusoe
- 1865 - Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- 1901 - Beatrix Potter Publishes The Tale of Peter Rabbit
- 1926 - A.A. Milne Creates Winnie the Pooh
- 1937 - J. R. R. Tolkien Writes The Hobbit
- 1961 - James and the Giant Peach, a Title by Roald Dahl
- 1997 - J. K. Rowling Introduces Harry Potter
Running Time: 29 minutes
In the 18th century a new genre is born - Children's literature, one dominated by an eclectic group of British writers familiar to us from our childhoods.
- Program 6: The Genre Innovators
- 1818 - Mary Shelley Gives Rise to Frankenstein
- 1887 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Introduces Sherlock Holmes
- 1895 - H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
- 1932 -1948 - Huxley and Orwell Pen Dystopian Novels
- 1934 - Agatha Christie, First Woman of Detective Fiction
- 1953 - Ian Fleming Writes the First Bond Spy Thriller
Running Time: 29 minutes
Horror, science fiction, cautionary tales, detective novels and spy thrillers are all literary genres British authors pioneered.
- Program 7: 20th Century Poets and Playwrights
- 1907 - Rudyard Kipling Wins Nobel Prize
- 1920 - John Galsworthy's The Skin Game is Performed
- 1922 - T.S. Eliot, Intellectual Giant
- 1937 -The '30s Poets
- 1953 - Dylan Thomas, Larger-than-life Poet, Dies
- 2005 - Harold Pinter Wins the Nobel Prize
Running Time: 29 minutes
The dawn of the 20th century in Britain saw Victorian certainty replaced by dizzying change. In response a new artistic movement arose: Modernism. It challenged all the old values.
- Program 8: 20th Century Novelists
- 1902 - Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
- 1922 -Virginia Woolf's Bloomsbury Group
- 1924 - E.M. Forster Writes A Passage to India
- 1928 - D.H. Lawrence Shocks the World
- 1944 - Somerset Maugham's Prophetic The Razor's Edge
- 1954 - William Golding Writes Lord of the Flies
- 1969 - John Fowles, The Existentialist
- 2007 - Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize Winner
Running Time: 29 minutes
The abandonment of Victorian complacency in Britain resulted in an outpouring of artistic genius throughout the 20th century. Nowhere was this truer than for Britain's novelists.
Clip Length: 1 minute 46 seconds
Reviews:
"Hosted by actor jonathan Cake, each of the half-hour segments incorporates a number of short profiles of writers, backed with illustrative artwork and photos (as well as some clips from film adaptations or excerpts from
recordings of the authors reading from their work). With a few longer exceptions-Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen-most of the individual entries run four to five minutes and are arranged chronologically within literary categories. Some programs are also oriented to specific genres, such as one devoted to children's literature, which naturally ends with an encomium to the Harry Potter books, or another on innovators in various types of popular fiction (horror, science fiction, detective stories, and spy thrillers). Great Authors of the British Isles offers a taste of the variety and richness of English literature, serving up a primer for students, while also encouraging general readers to sample the writing of some of its illustrious subjects.DVD extras include an educator's guide, tirneline, and reading list. Recommended."
Read More Reviews
Reviews:
"Hosted by actor jonathan Cake, each of the half-hour segments incorporates a number of short profiles of writers, backed with illustrative artwork and photos (as well as some clips from film adaptations or excerpts from
recordings of the authors reading from their work). With a few longer exceptions-Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen-most of the individual entries run four to five minutes and are arranged chronologically within literary categories. Some programs are also oriented to specific genres, such as one devoted to children's literature, which naturally ends with an encomium to the Harry Potter books, or another on innovators in various types of popular fiction (horror, science fiction, detective stories, and spy thrillers). Great Authors of the British Isles offers a taste of the variety and richness of English literature, serving up a primer for students, while also encouraging general readers to sample the writing of some of its illustrious subjects.DVD extras include an educator's guide, tirneline, and reading list. Recommended."
"Moving chronologically from Beowulf to Harry Potter, this eight-part instructional relies on location footage, reenactments, and dramatic monologues to survey the history of English literature. Key authors and eras are captioned onscreen, and host Jonathan Cake bridges the short segments with historical notes and other commentary. Beowulf to Shakespeare, sampled from the series, demonstrates how English language progressed from Old to Middle English. Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Canterbury Tales are discussed, with the authors and works set in historical context. The segment concludes with a look at William Shakespeare's life and brief coverage of his plays. Brief scenes from Shakespeare's works are intercut with narrative to give viewers a flavor of the language. Short, well-captioned segments and quick pacing make this ideal for high-school literature classes. Other program titles are The Renaissance Writers, Augustan and Romantic Poets, Early Novelists, Children's Literature, The Genre Innovators, 20th Century Poets and Playwrights, and 20th Century Novelists."
- Booklist
BBC Shakespeare Plays - DVD |
Beckett on Film |
Great American Authors: Since 1650 |
Shakespeare's Poetry |