For those interested, Owen Sheers' A Poet's Guide to Britain is now available on DVD . From the description on Amazon's page, Plath's poem "Hardcastle Crags" is discussed; however, I recall when the program aired on the BBC, it was "Wuthering Heights". But regardless, the Plath program is about Yorkshire. You can read reviews and previous posts on this program here . The DVD came out about a month ago; sorry to be so late in posting about it. It is wonderful that it has been released as American audiences, and those of other countries outside of the UK, were unable to watch until now.

By and large, the biggest - and saddest - news this year was the death of Nicholas Hughes by suicide in March. Plath said it best, "A smile fell in the grass." In January , London was treated to Robert Shaw's production of Plath's "Three Women". The play was on at Edinburgh in August and I'm still hopeful the company can come west to Boston or New York. While the play received mostly positive reviews, from the standpoint of bring Plath's words to a greater audience it was a huge success. Also in January, the website ladylazarus.tv was launched by Florian and Sonja Flur. The website has been updated so please check back to it! The Flur's visited Boston in March and we met up so that I could show them the Plath sites. It was a very memorable day - certainly one of the best of the year - and they were very gracious guests. In April we voted "Three Women" to be our favorite poem in the 2009 Sylvia Plath Poetry tournament. ...

This seems to be a week for Ted Hughes. In today's Times , Ben Macintyre writes " Ted Hughes was a prophet of climate change ". Also, someone put two readings of Sylvia Plath poems by Ted Hughes on YouTube. The clip features Hughes reading "Wuthering Heights" and "Crossing the Water". "Wuthering Heights" is likely from the British Library CD Ted Hughes: Poetry in the Making - The Spoken Word . Haven't yet sorted out the origin of "Crossing the Water". Thanks to Gail Crowther for pointing out the availability of this. There is no stopping people from doing this kind of thing, but I'd encourage people to buy the CD or borrow it from the library.

This post is a follow-up on the recent BBC Poet's Guide to Britain, which featured Sylvia Plath's poem "Wuthering Heights" (as well as "The Great Carbuncle" and "Hardcastle Crags" a.k.a. "Nocturne" and "Night Walk")... Amazon.co.uk lists a book version of A Poet's Guide to Britain , Owen Sheer's recent BBC Four series highlight six poets and six poems about inspired by the beautiful British landscape. The cover, left, features nice notches, don't you think? Reminds me of Hilda's hats ("Bile green. They were promoting it for fall, only Hilda, as usual, was half a year ahead of time. Bile green with black, bile green with white, bile green with nile green, its kissing cousin.")! The product description, pasted below, is rambling. Just read the last sentence to know what the book, a tie-in anthology, will include. "Six films about six very different poems from six different places in the British Isles...

This 30 minute program on "Wuthering Heights" (and other poems) by Sylvia Plath is well done. The commentary by Owen Sheers - with one notable exception - was thoughtful, informative, accurate, etc. The footage of Sheers in Yorkshire, as well as the high resolution images of Plath, her book covers, etc. added to the beauty of Karen McCallion's production. I have always found that being in the place Plath wrote about adds authenticity and understanding to the work at hand. Sylvia Plath is the only American writer to be included in this BBC Four series, A Poet's View of Britain . This is an accomplishment. Sheers discusses Plath's Yorkshire poems "The Great Carbuncle" and "Hardcastle Crags" before setting on the title poem, "Wuthering Heights". He discusses how both Plath experiences in Yorkshire and her earlier poems paved the way towards the composition of "Wuthering Heights". These poems well place Plath within the traditio...

For those in the UK, you can watch the BBC Four's recent A Poet's Guide to Britain: Sylvia Plath, which featured her poem "Wuthering Heights" by clicking here . It is available only to those in the UK until 7:59pm Monday 15th June 2009. Enjoy, over and over again. Thanks to Plinius for the link and Mapper.ACME for the image .

This spring, on BBC Four, poet and author Owen Sheers explores six great works of poetry set in the British landscape. The poems by William Wordsworth, Matthew Arnold, Lynette Roberts, Sylvia Plath, Louis MacNeice and George Mackay Brown explore a sense of place and identity across Britain and open doors to captivating stories about the poems, the places and the lives of the poets themselves. Wordworth's "Upon Westminster Bridge" will air on 4 May at 20:30. Plath's "Wuthering Heights" is representing the lovely Yorkshire region and will air on 11 May at 8.30 PM (30 mins). It will re-air on 12 May at 2.15 am so that the surgeons can watch, too. An early inspiration to Plath, Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" is another poem included in the series. Here is a blurb on Plath's program: "Poet and author Owen Sheers explores six great works of poetry set in the British landscape. He looks at Sylvia Plath's Wuthering Heights, part of a rich ...