Professor David Peimer
The Great Poetry of the 19th Century, Part 1
How to watch
Summary
It was a century of inspiring poetry—Romanticism, a reaction to the Enlightenment rationalist dream, poetry of Empire, and America forging its identity. In the first of two talks, we examine the poems of the greats (Blake, Coleridge, Keats, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Whitman, Dickinson, Tennyson, and Browning) through our 21st-century eyes—our times of fake news, manipulated facts, dangerous geopolitics, and the eternal outsider of the Jewish person—to appreciate their radiant creativity and to be amazed at how urgently they continue to speak to us today.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published numerous books, including Armed Response: Plays from South Africa and the digital book Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.