Educational Media Reviews Online

This series of videos profiles four major American Poets: Louise Gluck, Anthony Hecht, W. S. Merwin and John Ashbery. Each video is shot on location in the poet’s home. Each video features a poet reading from his or her own works. From witty, urbane Anthony Hecht in Washington, to avant-garde John Ashbery in New York to the environmentally conscious W. S. Merwin in Maui to elegant, spare Louise Gluck in Cambridge, we are treated to candid and intimate discussions by the poets of the sources of their inspiration and their writing methods. The videos also catalog the honors and awards received by each poet, give us glimpses of original working manuscripts and provide succinct biographies.

Each tape is around 20 minutes long, an ideal length for the classroom setting. The tapes for Hecht, Merwin and Ashbery come with a Leader’s Guide to facilitate study and discussion. This is an ideal series for a high school or college classroom. Director Mel Stuart moves each scene quickly and seamlessly from readings to conversation to biographical background. Although quite a lot of information in conveyed in 20 minutes, the viewer never feels as if it has been crammed down his throat. When poetry is read by the poet himself, when that poet gives us a glimpse into the inner workings of his mind, we understand why this particular art form is a fundamental expression of the human spirit.