Educational Media Reviews Online

Arrows of Desire is a twelve-part poetry series, first broadcast on England’s educational channel 4 in support of Great Britain’s high school reading curriculum. A total of 48 six-minute modules are packaged in 25-minute programs. Series III, Programs 9-12, include four DVDs with16 dramatic poetry readings by: Fanthorpe; Keats; Snyder; Harrison; Shakespeare, RS Thomas; Goodison; Swift; Langston Hughes; Hopkins; Cavendish; Plath; Wyatt; Smart; Pound; and Ferlinghetti. Following each reading, between three and four scholars provide interpretive remarks which shed light on the poem and poet.

Overall this series is an entertaining shortcut for learning and appreciating poetry. Represented poets range from the 16th century to the present; African American Langston Hughes and Jamaican Lorna Goodison, and one black scholar are the only people of color included. Most of the poets and scholars are British, which might be a consideration for librarians and educators who prefer an American approach.

Arrows of Desire has excellent production values. The engaging dramatic readings include first-rate period sets, costumes, and props. Even a well trained cat stretches on cue in Christopher Smart’s poem, “From Jubilate Agno.” The editing is smooth and the pacing appropriate. Particularly effective are the cuts from the scholars’ chat back to the referenced image or phrase. Though college faculty and students might wince at this series’ Cliff-notes simplicity and visual translations, the producers selected poems and subjects that address a wide range of technical styles and expressions of human experience. Very moving is the reading of, “History of the Airplane,” by American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who traces the majesty and weaponry of airplanes from the Lindbergh era to the World Trade Center tragedy. Silent film clips are movingly threaded together, evoking a somber eerie trajectory.

A major difficulty with this series is the medium itself, DVD-R. Though each case includes a long warning about the problems with DVD player compatibility, and website help, I went through the song and dance with my players and found inconsistency among the disks. Agreeably, Films Media Group sent me new copies which I finally played successfully on a better DVD player. Therefore, if you don’t wish to risk playback frustrations, you may purchase this series in VHS, as DVD-R is a mediocre searching format anyway. I was also disappointed that this series did not come packaged with contents information about the poets, poems, or series itself. I found British television Channel 4’s website helpful in the end. In conclusion, the content of Arrows of Desire III is good, but technical and packaging issues reduce its practicality. For a high school to undergraduate poetry classes this series might be a good supplement, but it is recommended that you research other audio and video poetry series which probably contain readings and footage by the poets as well as biographical information that will better stand the test of time.

If you would like a copy of Northeastern University Libraries’ poetry mediagraphy, contact me at d.mandel@neu.edu.

Awards

• The series won three Gold Camera awards at the US International Film & Video Festival