Category Archives: Blog

Excuses

Blog

Liz and I performed the following skit in class recently:

Amanda: Did you research that subject we were going to talk about today?

Liz: Oh no; I meant to do that! But anyway I had no wifi the last few days.

Amanda: Why didn’t you call me?

Liz: I meant to. But my phone broke. And Aidan got his wisdom teeth out so I’ve been busy.

Amanda: I didn’t prepare any lecture. I wasn’t feeling well yesterday. and I’ve had a really busy schedule the last week. Tom surprised me with a movie last night. Did you do that other thing?

Liz: I haven’t read email for the last couple days. Can you pull up the lecture you were going to do a few weeks ago on your phone?

Amanda: I wrote it, but I forgot to save it so I don’t have it. Sorry, I keep forgetting to save my documents.

Etc…

What’s so great about Shakespeare?

Blog, Shakespeare

When I read Shakespeare in high school, I felt… completely lost.  I actually skipped school one day; not to get out of doing what I was supposed to do, but to get some work done!  I figured if I could just stay home for a day I would finally have the time to figure it out.  Did I?  Well, yes and no.  Yes, in the sense that I figured out the plot, looked up enough of the words that I could understand some of the meaning, and remembered enough that I could pass a test.  But No, in the sense that I never did figure out why we were reading Shakespeare. I didn’t understand why on earth we were reading something that was so hard to follow.  Why couldn’t it just be translated into modern English?  I now have a modern translation in fact.  Why not just assign that instead?

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Reading Shakespeare’s Grammar

Blog, Shakespeare, ,

I ate the sandwich.

I the sandwich ate.

Ate the sandwich I.

Ate I the sandwich.

The sandwich I ate.

The sandwich ate I.

In modern English, the most common sentence pattern is subject (S), verb (V), object (O), or I (S) ate (V) the sandwich (O). But as this example shows, most common does not mean only possible, and while some of these constructions (“Ate the sandwich I”) are pretty unusual, they are nonetheless grammatically correct.

Unusual word order in a sentence is called inversion. Shakespeare used inversion to create specific dramatic and poetic effects. Inversion can be used to emphasize key words, to create specific poetic rhythms, to give a character a specific speech pattern (think Polonius, for example), or for a variety of other purposes.

Experienced readers “re-order” the words to understand the sentence. They locate the subject and the verb and “re-write” the sentence for clarity (“Ate the sandwich I” is quickly changed to “I ate the sandwich”).

 

Problems with Speed and Meaning

Acting, Blog

Actors who are good at memorizing often speed through the words because it’s so effortless for you to remember.  Many actors are trying to remember the words, so they naturally put in the natural pauses; others aren’t, so it’s easy to get the engine revved up and lose the audience.

Read that last paragraph quickly, and you can follow it.  Read the following speech from King Lear, and you can’t:

Detested kite, thou liest!

My train are men of choice and rarest parts

That all particulars of duty know

And in the most exact regard support

The worships of their name. O most small fault,

How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show,

Which like an engine wrenched my frame of nature

From the fixed place, drew from my heart all love,

And added to the gall! O Lear, Lear, Lear!

(strikes his head)

Beat at this gate that let thy folly in

And thy dear judgment out!

What to do?

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