Matthew S. Monahan
3.1 Texts and Methods
Socrates made the claim that "the unexamined life is not worth living." Although he may have had introspection in mind rather than the lives of others, an examination of the life of William Shakespeare will be of great benefit to my students. My students have little experience with canonical literary works. One rather consistent exception to this is Shakespeare. Most students have encountered
Romeo and Juliet
by the end of freshman year. I have alternated between junior and senior level English teaching assignments and as a result my students have read
Hamlet, Macbeth
and
Titus Andronicus
.
A happy accident is the majority of my senior level English students next year will not have formally studied either
Macbeth
or
Hamlet
prior to entering my classroom, as their junior level English teacher decided not to stray from the American literature focus of the year. Although
Macbeth
is the shortest of the tragedies and of high interest due to its gangsterism and high body count,
Hamlet
fits in to this particular unit of study seamlessly. Not only is the drafting of
Hamlet
a late turning point in Shapiro's book and in Shakespeare's own career, but it lends itself more naturally to greater themes of self–examination and decision making with which my student biographers will be engaged. This engagement applies not only to them as biographers and autobiographers, but as young men and women facing life–altering choices with regards to post–secondary education and career opportunities.
To view or not to view; that is the question. Maybe more precisely one might wonder if any adaptations of
Hamlet
are appropriate for classroom use, and if so, how much class–time might one dedicate to critical viewing?
What will prove interesting will be, instead of viewing Kenneth Branagh's version in its entirety with its colossal running time of 242 minutes and its claim of being the "first–ever full–text film of William Shakespeare's greatest work", to have students critically view selected clips of monologues prior to the sonnet slam. Said monologues need not come from Shakespeare exclusively; however, a battle between Sir Lawrence Olivier, Richard Burton, Mel Gibson, Ethan Hawk and Branagh will make for interesting discussion, even though Hawk's is delivered in large part via voice–over. These clips, as well as Sonnets 41 and 42 which are included in a sample plan, will form the basis for student writings, compare and contrast essays specifically.
Yale will be producing
Hamlet
, starring New Haven's own Paul Giamatti, during the Rep's 2012–2013 season, while its undergraduate theatre department will be staging
Twelfth Night
. Although I have never taught a comedy– a Shakespearean comedy at least–
Twelfth Night
plays no small part in
Shakespeare in Love
. Both of these dramatic works feature strong female protagonists named Viola –– the "Viola" of
Shakespeare in Love
is the presumptive model and inspiration for the Viola of
Twelfth Night
. Such speculation raises the most interesting issue of chronology. According to Shapiro, much of the confusion that once surrounded the actual authorship of Shakespeare's plays was the result of early folio editors' insistence on grouping the plays arbitrarily by category and thus presenting them out of order. This obscured, if not obliterated, any sense of Shakespeare's development as an artist. However, we now "know a great deal about Shakespeare's career as a writer (more than enough to persuade a reasonable skeptic that he wrote his plays himself)" (Shapiro xiii).
One issue which is of the upmost importance is the eternal question: how much of Shakespeare's writing is purely work of imagination and how much came from personal experience? Quite obviously he had experience dealing with monarchs, but it is equally as obvious that he never faced the same pressures as Elizabeth must have. Shakespeare may have had experience with false friends, not unlike Hamlet did with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; however, there is no evidence that he ever killed a man, his lover's father and brother no less.
There is an interesting anecdote about Ben Jonson and the "'neck verse'–a legal loophole dating from medieval times whereby the literate were spared the gallows by reading from the Bible in Latin" (Shapiro 11). Jonson was a skilled swordsman, as well as a playwright, actor, and poet who killed a fellow thespian in a fight that apparently began over artistic differences. But alas, that was Jonson, not Shakespeare, who was the convicted murderer.
Shapiro argues that the works of Shakespeare are both from his experiences and his imagination. A sponge by any other name would absorb as much; this is a shared conceit of Shapiro's book and Stoppard's script. One of Shapiro's best examples in supporting his argument that Shakespeare was very much a man of his time is the apparent influence that the sermons of Lancelot Andrewes had on
Henry V
(73–84). It is well documented that Andrewes delivered specific lines at the palace at Richmond, coinciding with a visit by Shakespeare's company The Chamberlain's Men.
In Stoppard's
Shakespeare in Love
, an early scene has Shakespeare casually passing by a minister preaching in the street whose sermon includes Juliet's lines about the nature of names, "A rose by any other…." Additionally both Shapiro and Stoppard recognize the influence his contemporaries had on Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe specifically. In Stoppard, Marlowe's lines that begin with "Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?" become an ironic mantra of sorts for Elizabethan theatre–goers and thespians alike. In one scene Marlowe himself appears, deftly portrayed by Rupert Everett (an autobiographical aside is that I used to sell Mr. Evert dog food when I worked part–time at Pet's Kitchen on Christopher Street in Manhattan). In the scene Marlowe and Shakespeare are chatting over a pint and Marlowe gives Shakespeare the outline for what will ultimately become the greatest love story of all time,
Romeo and Juliet
. The point here is not so much that Shakespeare borrowed ideas from others without providing what we today would consider appropriate acknowledgement, but that his (and that of others no less) genius lay in his ability to shape and improve upon the ideas of others.
Before tackling a full–length Shakespearean tragedy such as
Hamlet
, senior English students must complete a poetry project. In preparing students to self–select various works for inclusion and subsequent literary analysis, my students will read and perform various sonnets. Students reading and writing sonnets, Shakespearean sonnets specifically, are an ideal audience for discussions centered on The
Passionate Pilgrim
.
The Passionate Pilgrim
was published in the year 1599, for no one other than Shapiro is this fact more convenient; he dedicates the tenth chapter of his book to its publication and its consequences. "While Shakespeare couldn't deny that some of the sonnets in
The Passionate Pilgrim
were his, he had nothing to do with their publication. And though the book advertised his authorship–testimony to his growing popularity– he didn't profit from its sale (188)." The Elizabethans were still centuries away from the development of intellectual property law as we know it and the legal construct of authorial copyright, Schapiro notes that it was the publishers that held the rights.
Shakespeare's disappointment would have stemmed as much from being wronged artistically as much as financially. Not only was his work taken out of context, but it was on display alongside inferior works purporting to be his own.
Sonnets 41 and 42 are particularly effective at engaging teen readers and eliciting strong responses with their themes of love and youthful infidelity. Sonnet 42 also raises questions about the author's sexuality, as he appears to be more devastated by the loss of his friend than that of his lover. Although I think it is irrelevant whether or not Shakespeare had dalliances with young men, it is an issue that will more than likely be raised when discussing the artist and muse relationship, especially in the context of Elizabethan theatre and its well–documented absence of female performers that is so brilliantly exploited by Tom Stoppard and company in
Shakespeare in Love
.
Although students will spend much of their time focused on the writing of autobiographies, biographies and creative works while considering the works of both Shapiro and Stoppard, my students will also be asked to read, analyze and react in a number of ways to a selection from Richard Wright's autobiography
Black Boy
. There are several reasons I include a particular episode from Part 1, Chapter 2 of
Black Boy
, not the least of which is that it is autobiographical, but also I believe it prepares my students to grapple with their final District Quarterly Assessment that is based on an obscure Annie Dillard quote, a released SAT writing prompt, that relates how literature made her better able to examine her life and brought her "reeling back to earth." Students have difficulty making sense of Dillard's words especially as they are in isolation and without any greater context. The episode from Wright more clearly demonstrates the power of words and the transformative powers of literature. Wright recounts a time when his grandmother ran a rooming house and his infatuation with a boarder, a young school teacher named Ella. Wright was not only attracted to Ella physically but more importantly was fascinated by her reading habits. Wright was a child at the time unable to read. At the peril of incurring the wrath of his grandmother, Wright convinces Ella to recount the story that she is reading,
Blue Beard and His Seven Wives
. Upon discovering their indiscretion, the grandmother exclaims that all writing other than the Bible is the "devil's work." When Richard attempts to defend Ella's actions, he receives a fierce beating. In spite of physical punishment Richard has seen the light and continues to be transported to far and distant lands by sneaking off to an out–building with Ella's books where his desire for adventure leads him to teach himself to read and gradually develop his vocabulary. Although my rationale for including Wright and the related analytical and writing exercises may appear to be "teaching to the test," these activities and the resultant writings will benefit my students beyond the scope of a single summative assessment.
After reading this selection from Wright, performing memory writing exercises borrowed from Liner and Kirby, and having constructed a number of autobiographical and biographical writing samples, students will have a greater understanding of the Dillard quote and its accompanying task of reflecting on life and literature.
3.2 Details: Sample Lesson Plans:
3.2.1 (Writing Your Life's Story as a Teenager: A Writer's Guide to Works of Staggering Genius)
Objectives: SWBAT (Students will be able to)…
-
1. Compose personal narrative that is relevant to future experiences.
-
2. Demonstrate awareness of author's purpose and of audience.
Prior to embarking down the path of the District's formulaic "Three–Part College Essay", students are to compose and put through the five–step writing process a "heartbreaking work of staggering genius." Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be heartbreaking; however it must be autobiographical, four to five pages typed (following the guidelines ascribed by "What My Published Writing Looks Like"), and a work of genius.
3.2.2 Cracking the Code: Analyzing Sonnets in Anticipation of the SSS (Shakespearean sonnet Slam)
Motivation:
"The reader is just as important as the writer, without a thoughtful reader a piece of literature has little or no meaning."
Warm Up:
Whether it is poetry (the sonnet) or drama, a hallmark of Shakespeare's writing is the use of
iambic pentameter
. An
iamb
is a metrical foot consisting of an unstressed and a stressed syllable. A system of
scansion
is a way to mark the metrical patterns of a line esp. a line of poetry. For our purposes we will use a trough–and–crest unit. Before we apply scansion to lines from Shakespeare, we will warm up by applying our symbol set to the following lines of American verse (all but the last coming from George Starbuck, the last from Robert Frost):
Whaddaya do for action in this place?
I'd like to introduce a friend of mine.
Please fill'er up–and better check the oil.
Suppose you take your damn feet off the chair.
Deposit fifty cents for overtime.
For rent: one–room apartment near the lake.
Eleven times eleven comes to what?
I'd like to know exactly what she said.
He burned his house down for the fire insurance.
Objectives: SWBAT(Students will be able to)…
-
1. Define and analyze the use of
meter
,
iambic pentameter
specifically, in preparation for the district's mandated quarter four reading of Shakespeare.
-
-
2. Review and apply a definition of
theme
as it relates to the literary analysis of a sonnet (as Poetry Month is ongoing).
Mini Lesson:
Theme:
the main idea or message conveyed by a piece of literature.
Theme
is generally stated as a complete sentence; an idea expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase is a
motif
.
Example: One theme explored in Wiesel's memoir
Night
is that in spite of the seemingly endless capacity of some to commit acts of cruelty, other individuals are able to endure such hardships and later spread messages of hope and/or fight against injustices.
Shakespearean Sonnet–
a formal poem (highly structured) consisting of 14 lines, 10 syllables per line, and a set rhyme scheme.
Workshop:
A. Sonnet 41
-
1. In pairs or groups read and discuss Sonnet 41.
-
2. Identify the theme or themes in the poem.
How to analyze a poem and identify theme:
Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits
When I am sometime absent from thy heart
Thy beauty and thy years well befits,
For still temptation follows where thou art.
|
·
|
This sonnet places emphasis on ea words, such as heart, beauty, and years.
|
|
·
|
The wrong that the subject commits are beautified by being called pretty.
|
|
·
|
The subject enjoys liberty, beauty, and youth which collectively result in him straying.
|
-
Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won;
Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assailed;
And when a woman woos, what woman's son
Will sourly leave her till he have prevailed?
|
·
|
The woman is the "wooer" who leads the subject astray.
|
Ay me, but yet thou mightst my seat forbear,
And chide thy beauty and thy straying youth
Who lead thee in their riot even there
Where thou art forced to break a two–fold troth:
|
·
|
The author excuses the subject's break–up of the marriage (affair) by claiming that the subject was forced to due to his beauty and youth.
|
|
·
|
"my seat" is ambiguous (insert speculative interpretation here)
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Hers, by thy beauty tempting her to thee,
Thine, by thy beauty being false to me
|
·
|
The subject's beauty is doubly responsible for the break–up.
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Theme:
Youthful Infidelity
Content:
An excuse for the subject to stray.
B. Sonnet 42
Read and annotate Sonnet 42.
-
1. Interpret the first quatrain (four line stanza).
-
2. What is/are the theme(s) of this sonnet? Is there a common
motif
running through Sonnets 41 and 42?
-
3. How is the theme expressed? What lines are essential to the meaning of the poem? Why?
-
4. What poetic devices are used to express this theme? How are they used? Are they effective?
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5. In your own words what is Shakespeare trying to say in this sonnet?
Writing Workshop
-
A. It is agreed that love is a common
motif
of Shakespearean Sonnets; brainstorm a list of five potential
themes
for original sonnets. Remember a theme is expressed as a complete idea/sentence.
EXAMPLES:
|
1.
|
Adolescence is a time for fun and experimentation, not the time for a serious romantic relationship.
|
-
|
2.
|
Breaking–up is sometimes a difficult thing to do.
|
B.
Either begin drafting an original Shakespearean sonnet or write six lines of
blank
verse
.
Blank verse
refers to unrhymed lines of
iambic pentameter
(10 syllables).
Homework
:
Complete Writing Workshop.
3.2.3 Richard Wright's Black Boy: A Work of Staggering Genius
Journal/Motivation:
|
1.
|
What story has made you want to read more by a certain author and why?
|
-
|
2.
|
I recently heard it said, "All great writers are great readers." Interpret, agree or disagree, and explain.
|
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Aim: How can we identify and analyze Richard Wright's aim (purpose) and use of autobiography in the selection from
Black Boy
, so we may incorporate these techniques into our own writing?
Objectives:
Students will be able to …
-
1. Define writer's aim and the key term autobiography and identify them in a text.
-
2. Read and appreciate a selection by Richard Wright.
-
3. Respond to the selection through creative writing.
Mini Lesson:
At our last meeting we discussed the genre of
autobiography
and the
personal narrative
. In exploring these forms of writing we created timelines and wrote short autobiographical pieces.
Today we will read a selection from Richard Wright's autobiography
Black Boy
. While we read we are going to be on the lookout for examples from the text that will allow us to establish Wright's
aim
(purpose or goal) for writing.
People write with the following aims (author's aim is largely dependent on which of the five major classifications of writing he or she is engaged): to inform (
expository
/
informational
writing); to tell a story, either true or invented, about an event or a sequence of events (
narrative
writing); to reflect (
personal
/
expressive
writing); to entertain, enrich, or enlighten (
imaginative
writing); to persuade readers or listeners to respond in some way, such as to agree with a position, change a view on an issue, reach an agreement, or perform an action (
persuasive
).
Quick Review: Autobiography
is the story of a person's life as told by that person. As you read autobiography decide what it reveals about the author's character.
Reading Workshop
:
-
1. Read the selection from
Black Boy
.
-
2. Aim/purpose: What is Richard Wright's purpose in writing this selection? Provide examples from the text that support your position(s).
-
3. Autobiography: What does the selection reveal about the author's character? Make a chart in your English notebook. On the left, list quotes from the selection revealing aspects of Wright's character. On the right, explain what you have learned about Wright. One example is provided. Which of Wright's personality traits do you find most compelling?
Writing Workshop:
You are to go back and capture four incidents in your life. Each incident may be important or trivial, but it should be one that stands out in your mind. First, record them as briefly as you can, but make it as real as you can.
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1. Go back in time twenty–four hours. Remember one incident from yesterday. Record it.
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2. Go back in time one week and remember something you were doing seven days ago. Record it.
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3. Go back a year for this one and record an incident you remember from about the same time of year. Concentrate on the particular details.
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4. Now concentrate really hard and go back as far as you can. Record your first clear memory.
Next, analyze your writing. What techniques did you use to make the memory live on the page? What connections do you see among the events?
Finally, select one of your memory based quick writes to expound upon. Use your analysis to guide your revision e.g. concentrate on using vivid action verbs and providing concrete details (Kirby, Kirby and Liner 2004).
Homework (choose one):
-
1. Imagine you are Wright. Write a
journal entry
explaining what hearing the story of
Bluebeard and His Seven Wives
meant to you.
-
-
2. Imagine you are Wright's grandmother. Write a
letter
to your grandson explaining why you consider fiction "Devil stuff." Tell him what you would prefer him to read and why.
-
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3. Wright writes:"… I tortured my mother into telling me the meaning of every strange word I saw, not because the word itself had any value, but because it was a gateway to a forbidden and enchanting land." Write a
paragraph
hypothesizing (making a tentative assumption) how Wright gained access to that land as he grew older.
