Rough Beginnings

I wonder if Shakespeare ever had trouble writing.  When he was asked to conjure up a language masterpiece did he ever stay up all night sweating under the candlelight?  Did Bill panic and feel the anxiety of the judgement that was imminent?  Perhaps, he never worried at all, but I am not Bill.    

I am not Shakespeare's biggest fan, nor do I despise his linguistic masterpieces.  Similarly, I am intimidated by the Shakespeare-like-ease of writing that my classmates exude in their blogs because I simply can't compete.  I'm not comfortable with being thrown into a pseudo School of Night for the very same reason that I'm not completely comfortable blogging.  However, I did find a bit of solace in Frederick Turner's Blog on The School of Night (I also found a large dose of frustration in following what he was saying, but that's for another time.)  Turner writes,

"I do not mean to imply that the School of Night was a sort of club, with rules and membership-cards. It was more like a sort of loose network, changing and adding to itself as time passed, conducting ideas very rapidly across its membership, and, though a nucleus is clearly identifiable, without a clear boundary line. We have in the School of Night a living demonstration of the actual workings of a Zeitgeist or “climate of thought”; a civilization is not an impersonal force but a network of conversations in which ideas are generated and developed. There is no “program” except the program that the conversation itself creates; and people join and drop out of the conversation in no systematic way."

So here me out on this one...in the Literature/English world here at MSU there seems to be a major clash continuously happening between the Literature students and the English Education students.  To the Ed. students the Lit students seem to require some sort of secret membership-card or maybe a jazzy handshake; as if they really belonged to a secret society.  Then there are the Ed. students who joyfully pass out invitations to join their club to any takers just so they can share what they know.  Both majors sound like cults if you ask me (perhaps I'm just old enough to not care).  So naturally, as we form our own School of Night groups there is some unresolved tension and perhaps a bit of attitude.  However, if we all realize that our groups have been formed to generate and develop ideas and are simply a "network of conversations" then perhaps this won't be that bad.  The original school of night had many members and took place over a period of time much longer than our semester, but I believe that maybe, just maybe my group members can help me out with Shakespeare...even if I am an English Education major.

We are essentially all working in the same "climate of thought" and that is to learn more (or in my case, anything) about Bill.  He is kind of like our founding father and Dr. Sexson our knowledgeable leader.  I applaud the efforts of my classmates and I am enthused to hear/read about their insights; please forgive me if I do not woo you in the same way.  As I mentioned in my last blog post, I am attempting to make a connection with Bill that I can share with my future students. (Lit majors probably will want to stop reading now)  The first important connection I think that is important to make is that of how deciphering Shakespeare requires work from not a single mind, but that of an entire group, a secret-society, a school of night.