Monday, November 22, 2010

Post 2: Shakespeare

Hundreds of years later and we're still reading Shakespeare. Why? Do you think he should be retired? What is the experience of reading Shakespeare like for you?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alexis

Shakespeare is highly looked upon back then and even today for his excellence in creating iambic pentamator and sonets. I don't believe that he should be retired because he teaches us the proper structure of sonnets and poetry. For me Shakespeare can get a little confusing at sometimes. but once you break it down, his words are brilliant and clever.

mmatysak said...

What else does he teach besides iambic pentameter and sonnets? I means, how useful are those things in the real world?

mmatysak said...

mean

Anonymous said...

Connor

Shakespeare is thought of as the foundation to our english literature. About each and every english teacher across the U.S. uses Shakespeare at least once or twice. Shakespeare uses sonnets and poetry in a way that people, to this day are still agape by his work.

Anonymous said...

Chelsea Norem

I believe we are still reading Shakespeare not only because of the writing style it teaches us, it also incorporates a sense for the history of his writing. I have learned about the way people have lived, talked, and witnessed in their time period, which is not even remotely the same of how things are done today. I do not believe we should retire Shakespeare because even though it is hard for me to read and comprehend, it makes you analyzing writing for deeper meanings and using context clues for what he actually meant. Shakespeare it not my favorite subject but I learn something new everytime we read it.

Anonymous said...

Brittany

I believe what makes Shakespeare still so popular today is his style of writing. The way he made things interesting instead of just stating the meaning bluntly to the audience gives the stories and sonnets depth that not many literature pieces have today. In my opinion, I am not a great fan of Shakespeare, although I do admire his sonnets. Even though many students complain, I don't think it should be retired because it gives us a reason to read into things and challenge our writing skills.

Anonymous said...

Jade

Aside from just the iambic pentameter and sonnets that we learned from Shakespeare, I think we also learn some life lessons to an extent. The moral of the story is always there to teach us something. For instance, in Romeo and Juliet we learn not to jump to conclusions like Romeo did when he assumed it was true that Juliet was indeed dead.

mmatysak said...

Okay, but are any of the themes present in Shakespeare relevant today?

Why do you think students find Shakespeare so difficult?

Anonymous said...

Alexis

I believe that students find Shakespeare difficult because of the way he talks, and also his ideas of things. He has a way of taking a simple sentence and flipping it so that it has more depth and is more complex, and that is why our generation has a difficult time unmasking Shakespeares themes and ideas

Anonymous said...

Jade

I think Shakespeare is difficult mostly because of how it's written. Things aren't always very clear and the language is a bit hard to grasp at first.

Also yes, the themes in Shakespeare's plays are still relevant to today's world. They still come back to the basic theme of good an evil, which is pretty much timeless. I mean, from the time that we're born until we die we're always choosing between good and evil. To borrow someone's money and then pay them back or not pay them back. It's everywhere in the world we live in.

Anonymous said...

Chelsea W.

Reading Shakespeare helps me to think deeper into the story. With the different language, figuring out what it really means in our language today helps to understand what is going on and realize things that I hadn't realized just reading it straight from the book. By doing this, when I read other stories, I know how to think deeper into it and I think that is partly why it is still read today.

mmatysak said...

Do you think teenagers and society today in general resists "deep thinking"?

Anonymous said...

Lexi

I believe that people resist "deep thinking" because of everyones fast pace, and the attitude to get things done and move on, even if it's not to the best of someones ability

Anonymous said...

Aaron

Frankly speaking, many of Shakespeare's plays that aren't as common amongst today's youth as Romeo and Juliet or Julius Ceasar are like chewing on tin foil to read and completely comprehend, but Shakespeare's works are fundamental to many stories and even TV shows today. I'm sure hundreds of years in the future his plays will still be read.

Anonymous said...

Jade

I think a lot of people do avoid deep thinking. Most people just don't feel like being challenged.