hmph.

[tempestsarekind]

There is a wrong answer in this Guardian quiz, and it's really annoying me:
Quiz - which Shakespeare characters speak these lines about love?http://www.theguardian.com/stage/quiz/2014/sep/30/quiz-shakespeare-characters-lines-loveRead more... )

Comments

I'm about to teach Twelfth Night

[negothick]

And I'll think of you when we get to that speech. . .

First time teaching it in many years to a class who have informed me that they don't like to read Olde English like Shakespeare. . . Big sigh. One student is concurrently enrolled in a Shakespeare class. For the rest, it's the first--and in some cases the only--Shakespeare play they will study in college. The Norton Anthology has Twelfth Night and King Lear, and I couldn't bear to drag them through Lear.

Re: I'm about to teach Twelfth Night

[tempestsarekind]

Yeah - a lot of students don't know the difference between Old and Early Modern English (although sometimes I think they might just be saying "old English" - you know, English that is weird and old), and it's hard to take the time to teach them in a survey class if you haven't already looked at Beowulf or something.

Lear has always struck me as such a weird choice for the Norton! I understand wanting a comedy and a tragedy, and I suppose if you were actually going to teach both plays, there are some parallels between it and Twelfth Night…but I taught for a class where we did do both plays, and Lear went down like a lead balloon.

[negothick]

Also: I'd be thrilled if these students use "No Fear Shakespeare," which at least has the original text on the same screen. I've written them a single-spaced 8-page synopsis to help them choose their scene studies (for my sins), and I fear that's all they'll read.

[tempestsarekind]

Fair enough. :) My problem with No Fear Shakespeare has always been that it cultivates an attitude that Shakespeare is harder and scarier than it actually is; it takes time to get into, sure, but the No Fear "translations" are frequently just simple word substitutions that students can figure out on their own or don't need in the first place.