Manchester’s AA306 group met for its final tutorial on Saturday. We thought about Measure for Measure – and we talked about the coming exam.
Let us take the exam first. How might students reduce their feelings of anxiety and even enjoy the weeks ahead? Several people felt it was important to be selective about what is [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Tutorial report — “Measure” and revision
Posted in Uncategorized on September 21, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Tutorial report — The Sonnets
Posted in Uncategorized on September 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Students were very aware on Saturday that a long assignment was nearly due. This tended to concentrate minds. How could we together address the fact that people were very aware of their current project and at the same time prevent the discussion from being one-dimensional?
In the end we decided to move from the poems to [...]
Tutorial report — Cymbeline
Posted in Uncategorized on August 8, 2009 | 3 Comments »
• Why is Cymbeline called “Cymbeline”?
• Does Cymbeline have its comic moments?
• Where are the play’s decent men?
• What are the attractions (if any) of the dense language of Cymbeline?
• Is Cymbeline really a tragedy?
• Who is the play’s main character?
These were some of the initial questions that students brought to today’s discussion about Cymbeline. Several voices [...]
ScreenOnline
Posted in Uncategorized on July 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The OU’s online library offers students all kinds of resources. Here’s one that may be of special interest to those studying Shakespeare. “ScreenOnline” includes clips from (I think) every film in the BBC Shakespeare as well as from many other film and television productions.
There’s a link to the library on your studenthome page. You can [...]
Tutorial report
Posted in Uncategorized on June 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
What was it about “King Lear” that struck students?
In summary, this is what Manchester’s AA306 group thought. First: what terrible families are on display! Every family that appears in the play is divided and dysfunctional. Of course, Lear’s behaviour towards his daughters is one part of this. Even at this early stage there is [...]
. . .and Rob’s blog lives on
Posted in Uncategorized on June 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This blog will continue to be a resource for the Manchester AA306 Shakespeare group. Rob has passed it over to me. My name is Charles Cathcart and I will shortly be working with the group’s students. As soon as I have your details I will get in touch with you directly and introduce myself. In [...]
Much ado about nothing?
Posted in Uncategorized on May 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In yesterday’s tutorial, Crystal mentioned an article written by a friend of hers that expresses a jaundiced view of Shakespeare. It’s here, and is worth a look. Sample:
In my experience, reading or watching Shakespeare is, by turns, baffling, tiring, frustrating and downright unpleasant. It does not, as those suffering from bardolatry repeatedly claim, offer unparalleled [...]
Shakespeare’s Language
Posted in Uncategorized on May 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s an interesting point of view on WS. I don’t agree, but I know what he means.
English of the late 1500s presents us with a tricky question: At what point do we concede that substantial comprehension across the centuries has become too much of a challenge to expect of anyone but specialists?
There is indeed just [...]
Happy birthday, Will!
Posted in Uncategorized on April 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s the day, and if we were in Stratford, evidently, we’d all be dressing up.
Oxford wrote Shakespeare, says judge
Posted in Uncategorized on April 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We never seem to have these cases in Britain… 88 year old judge decides that WS wasn’t the bard after all:
Justice Stevens, who dropped out of graduate study in English to join the Navy in 1941, is an Oxfordian — that is, he believes the works ascribed to William Shakespeare actually were written by the [...]
