The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0321  Wednesday, 28 July 2010

[1]  From:      Annie Martirosyan <
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     Date:      July 26, 2010 12:21:57 PM EDT
     Subj:      Re: SHK 21.0310 Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life?

[2]  From:      Paul Barry <
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     Date:      July 26, 2010 4:31:01 PM EDT
     Subj:      Re: SHK 21.0310  Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life?

[3]  From:      Nick Ranson <
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     Date:      July 28, 2010 10:21:45 AM EDT
     Subj:      Re: SHK 21.0310  Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:         Annie Martirosyan <
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Date:         July 26, 2010 12:21:57 PM EDT
Subject: 21.0310 Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life?
Comment:      Re: SHK 21.0310 Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life?

Mr Sohmer

I think you do not necessarily need a guide or a comprehensive essay or a piece of 
exposition to teach them all this. I am sure you have read many books on Shakespeare 
and also have your own way of looking at his works and art.

The process of teaching need not necessarily follow the chronological order you 
mention. To provide a semantic and thematic wholeness and sequence is more 
productive. You might take them to watch Michael Wood's brilliant "In Search of 
Shakespeare" and insert interpretations wherever the students' comparative lack of 
depth of information on Shakespeare may come forth. You can tell or discuss with 
them any detailed phase or experience connected with Shakespeare as done in a very 
learned and accurate manner by James Shapiro in his "1599: A Year in the Life of 
William Shakespeare" or Jonathan Bate in his "The Genius of Shakespeare", "Soul of 
the Age". You will certainly represent the material in a more 'friendly' manner and 
can easily 'fill in the gaps' of necessary background information (historical, 
cultural, linguistic) they need to back up and broaden their overall conception.

What I hint at is you do not want to find an 'easier' guide but had better introduce 
them to 'authentic' reliable knowledge about Shakespeare. This easy guides very 
often contain inaccurate information. Recently I read in Eyewitness Shakespeare (a 
cutely illustrated magazine you can get at Shakespeare's houses' gift shops and 
despite its merits and suitableness in working with students) that one of 
Shakespeare's merits is that he had a vocabulary of 30.000 words whereas a modern 
adult knows 3000 words! That's certainly false! An average educated person knows 
double as much!

As for a linguistic perspective, which I believe you cannot overlook because 
Shakespeare is as much a linguist to the manner born as a playwright, you will gain 
much reading through Professor David Crystal's "Think on My Words: Exploring 
Shakespeare's Language" (CUP, 2008) (www.theshakespeareportal.com.) Professor also 
has a range of wonderful articles on Shakespeare which will be a delight to your 
students (look at his website www.davidcrystal.com, under the category "Shakespeare" 
on the left panel).

Good luck

Annie

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:         Paul Barry <
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Date:         July 26, 2010 4:31:01 PM EDT
Subject: 21.0310  Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life?
Comment:      Re: SHK 21.0310  Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life?

Whenever someone nods off, you could do spirited rendition of "Brush Up Your 
Shakespeare." Don't forget your tap shoes.

PAUL BARRY 

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:         Nick Ranson <
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Date:         July 28, 2010 10:21:45 AM EDT
Subject: 21.0310  Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life?
Comment:      Re: SHK 21.0310  Query: .ppt on Shakespeare's Life?

Why not use Michael Wood's In Search of Shakespeare available from the PBS website 
on 2 DVDs for approx. $35.00? It will certainly interest your students to probe 
further.

Nick Ranson

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