Well, today was amazing. I sat in the back of the classroom fully engaged during every moment and cannot adequately express my gratitude to my peers for sharing their brilliance and insight. Today I was able to let go of the intimidation factor and let my mind buzz with excitement and thought as I listened to today's presentations. Today Jon Orsi mentioned that he has spent so much time thinking that it is difficult to begin writing. I believe many of us can relate to this and the anxiety it has caused us in the past, or maybe even currently. I've not previously had the pleasure of learning alongside Mr. Orsi, but both his blogs and presentation have allowed me to experience a "visceral self-experience of mythology" (said by Jon during his presentation).
James gave an emotional and stimulating reading of his paper thus far that let my heart soar amongst his language, passion, and style. I look forward to reading his finished paper and gaining more insight into the mind that brought us a unique perspective of James the Rat today. I also experienced the "whoa feeling" from Nathan today. Thank you Nathan? Seriously, the complexity of your paper made complete sense to me. It's exciting to watch and listen to you speak and tell our class your discoveries. Before hearing you speak about the different schools of literary criticism I had little interest in understanding each or any of them, but your examples allowed me to experience the value of being able to not only identify, but understand the different areas of criticism.
Although I have not mentioned every presenter individually it is my intention that everyone feels the appreciation I have for their insight and intelligence. It appears that we all understand aspects of Shakespeare on different levels and instead of constantly being intimidated by it we should embrace it. I began to wonder today if I need to be somewhat of an expert on Shakespeare in order to be a good, heck a decent, teacher...or, by limiting myself to understanding the works of Shakespeare am I decreasing my ability as teacher? Today it was mentioned that the intimidation of Ashley Arcel's term paper was appropriate and nothing to be frightened of...that she is in this class because she belongs here and it is a good place for her to be...because it is a good place for all of us to be regardless if we are teaching-option students or literature students. Today's presentations furthered my thinking that we all have something to offer the class on a subject that many scholars spend lifetimes attempting to make sense of. I have more connections, comments, and concerns about teaching Shakespeare vs. studying Shakespeare, but I will leave those for my next blog.
Instead, I want to leave you with the following excerpt from Measure For Measure that was discussed in class. This is Claudio's death speech that has been compared to Hamlet's "to be, or not to be" speech.
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendent world; or to be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain thought
Imagine howling: 'tis too horrible!
The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ache, penury and imprisonment
Can lay on nature is a paradise
To what we fear of death. (3.1.17)
Good grief! How did I miss such beauty? Both Claudio and Hamlet grapple with the idea of the "undiscovered country" but while Hamlet has only his mind to fight with Claudio's fate is essentially in the hands of his sister, Isabella. I can hear the urgency in his voice and the desperation as he contemplates death (for the first time?) and cries to his sister to change her mind and risk losing her morality.
Beautiful.
Today's class was delightful, powerful, passionate, calming, and simply amazing.
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