Matthew Arnold was suitably awed:
Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask—thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,
Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,Planting his stedfast footsteps in the sea,
Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foiled searching of mortality;And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,
Self-schooled, self-scanned, self-honored, self-secure,
Didst tread on earth unguessed at—better so!
All pains the immortal spirit must endure,All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow,
Find their sole speech in that victorious brow.
Happy Birthday to the Bard!
William Shakespeare, I attempt to write
In the iambic form you loved so much
I’m bad at it, as you can tell by sight
I’m even going to rhyme much with much
Anyway, happy birthday!
To write in English verse to some may be
A challenge or a fight against the words
That should, to native speakers, be a breeze.
These past few days I’ve struggled with the beat
Of Latin, writing epic poetry,
A style much stricter, riddled rife with rules
That for another language were designed
And frankly are a pain to wrestle with.
Comparatively, this is simple stuff–
And yet it grates my nerves, so that’s enough.
Anyway, happy birthday, Bill.
Happy Birthday, Shakespeare! Coincidentally, I recently saw a performance of Macbeth. Brilliant.
Will, Bard Triumphant, oftentimes you wrote
Of life eternal for those in your heart.
You summoned it with pen and ink and note
Which, when together, were more than apart.
If you were here today, would I deceive
Your noble ears to thinking that they live?
Or would I tell you, so’s to let you grieve,
That life’s no gift that humankind can give?
That Antony and Caesar, Puck, Macbeth,
Endure eternal, unlike summer’s days?
That future men gave dreams, not people, breath
And others are your darling buds of May?
Will– long as men do breathe, and eyes do see,
We cannot choose our immortalities.
Bravo!
There once was a playwright named William
His was quite handy with a quill-iam
He wrote lots of stuff
Some funny, some tough
Now Dogberry gon’ be played by Nate Fillion.
I don’t think this is really the right place for it, but it’s kind of been on my mind and is sort of related to this… Anyway. My acting teacher is adamant that English teachers have no right to teach plays. She gets irritated that we’ll do Shakespeare in English class, saying that they’re “doing it all wrong.” A script is meant to be interpreted differently than a book; I’ll concede that. But I’m kind of torn on this idea – any thoughts?
English teachers bring a perspective that acting teachers don’t have, and acting teachers bring a perspective that English teachers don’t have. I think it would be closeminded and detrimental to deny either side the “right” to explore drama with their students. I think a history teacher could also teach Shakespeare wonderfully–with their own unique perspective. Or a textile design teacher. Or a psychology teacher. Or a culinary arts teacher. Whoever teaches it brings a singular and new way of looking at it, connecting different aspects of the play to their own knowledge and experience. I don’t know who has the right to decide which perspective is “best”. Maybe no one has that right. Maybe it’s up to each student to decide for themselves. Then again, some perspectives may have a more thorough or more applicable way of looking at things, and there’s not enough time to examine every perspective, so the choice has to be made by someone at some time. Who and when, I don’t know.
I agree and would like to add that it isn’t always the teacher’s choice. My state requires 8th grade English teachers in public schools to teach at least one play.
Also, in 6th grade, my theatre arts class and my English class both taught Romeo and Juliet at the same time by accident. It was… alright, as it meant more reading aloud altogether.
My grad school mentor told me the best Shakespeare course he ever took was about the punctuation of Romeo and Juliet. There are many ways to enter the plays of Shakespeare or other playwrights, but it is true that sometimes literary approaches lose sight of the plays as theatrical works.
If I’d ever had a good English teacher for Shakespeare I’d agree with you.
to post… or not to post. that is the question!