Week 12 English Lit. Shakespeare.
Ok, in my last post I said I felt like my Live Journal had suffered, well now it's time to make up for it.
The performances this week were great. I really enjoyed seeing A Midsummer Nights Dream and the Tempest. Henry IV was pretty good, though I'll admit I was a tad distracted at the time. I brought my wife along (you may or may not have noticed) and she helped me become Falstaff.
It was interesting having her there in the audience watching everyone. There were a few times when she had to ask exactly what was going on. Which is fair enough. I mean, Shakespeare has some heavy dialogue and it's easy to get lost. So, I'd tell her who that character was and the basic gist (or is that jist?) of the speech. That sort fo thing. It really helped me see how far I've (and I don't doubt all of us) have come in my (our) ability to understand Shakespeare and his language.
It really is a joy to read and see Shakespeare once you can grasp it.
Like 'jewels in your mouth' someone said earlier in the term.
It took twenty-five years on this earth but I feel I have finally come to appreciate Shakespeare. I may not understand everything he wrote (and who does?) but I like everything of his I've read.
Anyway, once again the performances were awesome.
I suppose, as a way of making use of this final post for the semester I'll try a little something here...
Thoughts come unbidden.
Every now and then, the thought occurs that all of life, everything in existence, is somehow absurd or ridiculous. There seems little reason for much of life and what happens. The answers I have seem too fantastical. Too odd to be true.
Yet if they're not true, if life is just oddities, then life is less meaningless. If there is no rhyme, no reason, no beginning or end. Then life is not only meaningless but cruel and horrible. There is no justice or peace. There is nothing but what we can claw and scratch from others. Our good comes only at the expense of others and in the end there is no rest.
Every now and then, the thought occurs, life is absurd.
The thought that always follows is that death is far more absurd.
Life ends, death lasts forever.
End.
That's just some random stuff I wrote in my Commonplace book (a little edited) that I was thinking someday.
Anyway, our revels now are ended. Till next semester, have a good holiday and don't waste your life :)
Final comment for the semester here: http://nancy-m.livejournal.com/22221.html
The performances this week were great. I really enjoyed seeing A Midsummer Nights Dream and the Tempest. Henry IV was pretty good, though I'll admit I was a tad distracted at the time. I brought my wife along (you may or may not have noticed) and she helped me become Falstaff.
It was interesting having her there in the audience watching everyone. There were a few times when she had to ask exactly what was going on. Which is fair enough. I mean, Shakespeare has some heavy dialogue and it's easy to get lost. So, I'd tell her who that character was and the basic gist (or is that jist?) of the speech. That sort fo thing. It really helped me see how far I've (and I don't doubt all of us) have come in my (our) ability to understand Shakespeare and his language.
It really is a joy to read and see Shakespeare once you can grasp it.
Like 'jewels in your mouth' someone said earlier in the term.
It took twenty-five years on this earth but I feel I have finally come to appreciate Shakespeare. I may not understand everything he wrote (and who does?) but I like everything of his I've read.
Anyway, once again the performances were awesome.
I suppose, as a way of making use of this final post for the semester I'll try a little something here...
Thoughts come unbidden.
Every now and then, the thought occurs that all of life, everything in existence, is somehow absurd or ridiculous. There seems little reason for much of life and what happens. The answers I have seem too fantastical. Too odd to be true.
Yet if they're not true, if life is just oddities, then life is less meaningless. If there is no rhyme, no reason, no beginning or end. Then life is not only meaningless but cruel and horrible. There is no justice or peace. There is nothing but what we can claw and scratch from others. Our good comes only at the expense of others and in the end there is no rest.
Every now and then, the thought occurs, life is absurd.
The thought that always follows is that death is far more absurd.
Life ends, death lasts forever.
End.
That's just some random stuff I wrote in my Commonplace book (a little edited) that I was thinking someday.
Anyway, our revels now are ended. Till next semester, have a good holiday and don't waste your life :)
Final comment for the semester here: http://nancy-m.livejournal.com/22221.html