Literary Classics: Odyssey Beowulf Divine Comedy

This DVD is an in-depth study of four literary masterworks by Homer, Milton and Chaucer that includes expert commentary, critical analysis and atmospheric dramatized scenes. 'The Odyssey' tells of the wanderings of Odysseus on his adventurous way back to Ithaca. This program explores the background to the author - a mysterious figure that some say was blind, others that he never existed at all. Whatever the truth, 'The Odyssey' was radically different in style and content to anything else written at that time and it's timeless themes and classic storyline continue to echo down the years. Beowulf is an authoritative but entertaining program exploring the traditions and practices that dominated Anglo Saxon poetry - poetry that was expected to satisfy many basic needs in society at the time. It is a heady tale of the heroism and treason, the violence of men and nature and the fight against evil as embodied by dragons and monsters. 'Paradise Lost' tells the story of the epic seventeenth century poem by the Englishman John Milton. Defying traditional poetic form 'Paradise Lost' features an extraordinary combination of love and war, the supernatural, heaven and mans descent into hell. 'The Canterbury Tales,' Chaucers bawdy, satirical work, provides a fascinating glimpse into the social and moral order of the day within a series of marvelously entertaining stories that have endured throughout the centuries.