Part III: Programmes 9–12

Arrows of Desire explores the great diversity of English verse from the sixteenth century to the present day. Forms covered include love poems, satires, nature poems, elegies, devotional poems and comic verse. The poems range in level of difficulty from lower secondary to advanced study.

The third series in this anthology of work features the readings and work of established figures such as John Keats, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Margaret Cavendish, Sir Thomas Wyatt and Christopher Smart together with contemporary poets such as UA Fanthorpe, Gary Snyder, Tony Harrison, RS Thomas, Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Ezra Pound and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Visual interpretations of the poems are interspersed with interviews and readings. Interviewees include: WN Herbert, Clare Pollard, Owen Sheers, Greta Stoddard, Charles Bainbridge, Patience Agbabi, Andrew Motion, Michael Donaghy and Anne-Marie Fyfe.

This third unit of programmes (first broadcast 2004) includes the following poems:

Programme 9
You will be hearing from us shortly by UA Fanthorpe
This Living Hand, Now Warm And Capable by John Keats
Front Lines / As The Crickets' Soft Autumn Hum by Gary Snyder
Illuminations by Tony Harrison

Programme 10
Sonnet 130: My Mistres eyes are nothing like the Sunne by William Shakespeare
On the Farm by RS Thomas
This is a Hymn by Lorna Goodison
From Verses on the Death of Dr Swift by Jonathan Swift

Programme 11
From Advertisement For The Waldorf-Astoria by Langston Hughes
Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Of Many Worlds in This World by Margaret Cavendish
The Arrival of the Bee Box by Sylvia Plath

Programme 12
They fle from me that sometyme did me seke by Sir Thomas Wyatt
From Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart
In a Station of the Metro/Alba by Ezra Pound
History of the Airplane by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

An exploration of some of the world's greatest English language verse through the ages traces the nature of poetry and the craft of the poet. This series provides the opportunity to look at a poem in terms of the conventions and expectations of its period, theme and form, and to ask whether the poet brings to it something that is original and whether that is of interest or value.

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Teachers familiar with the list of major poets published in the En2 reading requirements for English KS3 and 4 in England will value Arrows of Desire's treatment of both pre- and post-1914 Poetry.

The series features works by poets included in a range of GCSE, A and AS level and Scottish Standard Grade, Higher and Higher Still syllabuses and offers opportunities for:

• reading, speaking and listening, writing
• experiencing poetry and the work of individual poets
• exploring a range of forms and styles
• analysing methods of presenting ideas.