hogso Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Shakespeare really really didn't write his own stuff. But I think that is more for the conspiracy thread. Leemond, pics of the infamous roof plz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Actually those plays were not written by William Shakespeare, but by another man of the same name. This is a great read on ol' Will Shakspear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 So after all those years of mystery it was someone called John Michell all along. Yes I'm joking I'm not that stupid. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Very good! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 2, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 2, 2013 Yep, it was Joni Mitchell alright: 'Just before our love got lost, you said "I am as constant as a northern star" (Joni Mitchell: 'A Case of You') 'I could be well moved if I were as you. 'If I could pray to move, prayers would move me. 'But I am constant as the northern star' (William Shakespeare: 'Julius Caesar') 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 2, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 2, 2013 Lord of the Flies is great. Unfortunately, reading it at school ruined it a bit for me, as reading anything at school does. Over analysis. But still, great book. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrenchVillaLova Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 5, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) ^ ^ ^ ^ Oui, c'est formidable. Aussi: Vol de Nuit, et Le Petit Prince. Edited August 5, 2013 by mjmooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Lord of the Flies is great. Unfortunately, reading it at school ruined it a bit for me, as reading anything at school does. Over analysis. But still, great book. That's a shame you feel that way. I had an absolutely brilliant English teacher for most of my English lessons in high school, she was absolutely brilliant and genuinely cared. We analysed it in a lot of detail because there is a lot of stuff hidden away in LOTF, but she made it seem fun and she's a big reason why I read as much as I do now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 5, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 5, 2013 Lord of the Flies is great. Unfortunately, reading it at school ruined it a bit for me, as reading anything at school does. Over analysis. But still, great book. That's a shame you feel that way. I had an absolutely brilliant English teacher for most of my English lessons in high school, she was absolutely brilliant and genuinely cared. We analysed it in a lot of detail because there is a lot of stuff hidden away in LOTF, but she made it seem fun and she's a big reason why I read as much as I do now. My teacher was good, in so much as he taught us well. We had excellent grades. But it was through hours and hours of analysing every sentence. We were never given time to read the book ourselves (ok we could have done that in our spare time, but we were 15 or 16 years old). It just involved reading the book in class, sentence by sentence. And going back and analysing every paragraph, every sentence. I just couldn't enjoy the book that way. I knew the **** thing from cover to cover and, at the time, I could have told you everything about it. What the author meant by every single word and probably a load of stuff that the author never meant at all but they'd just invented. The same went for Shakespeare. Arguably it's more fitting to shakespeare as it's a lot harder to understand (especially at that age). But it still took all the enjoyment out of it. We were never, for example, taken to actually SEE a Shakespeare play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) I know what you mean, I think I was just fortunate. You definitely need that sort of approach with Shakespeare though, I wouldn't have been able to understand it without. I know what you mean, we were never taken to see a Shakespeare play. We watched the RSC do Othello with Sir Ian McKellen as Iago on VHS though Edited August 5, 2013 by Ginko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 5, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 5, 2013 My teacher was good, in so much as he taught us well. We had excellent grades. But it was through hours and hours of analysing every sentence. We were never given time to read the book ourselves (ok we could have done that in our spare time, but we were 15 or 16 years old). It just involved reading the book in class, sentence by sentence. And going back and analysing every paragraph, every sentence. I just couldn't enjoy the book that way. I knew the **** thing from cover to cover and, at the time, I could have told you everything about it. What the author meant by every single word and probably a load of stuff that the author never meant at all but they'd just invented. The same went for Shakespeare. Arguably it's more fitting to shakespeare as it's a lot harder to understand (especially at that age). But it still took all the enjoyment out of it. We were never, for example, taken to actually SEE a Shakespeare play. Not being taken to a play is outrageous. We did Hamlet for A-Level, and we went to see it on stage, plus got shown a couple of film versions (Olivier's and - fascinatingly - the Russian one by Tarkovsky). On the other hand we were expected to read books in our spare time - not just the main novel, but other works by that author. I must have read at least seven or eight Graham Green novels in the 6th form, completely in my own time. Old school, in the most literal sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 5, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 5, 2013 Weird thing is I've never read as much as I did in that time period. I read every night for a couple of hours. I just think studying it took so much enjoyment out of it that reading in my own time I wanted to read something completely different. We got shown 2 film versions of Macbeth. But we studied Julius Caesar for our actual exams. It was a good school as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) I read most of the books we studied at school in my own time, but I remember we did a compare and contrast for our A Level exam where we pitted Aldous Huxley's Brave New World against Sir Thomas More's Utopia. I have never struggled to stay interested in a book as much as I did with Utopia, so much so that I actually barely read it. Fortunately, we analysed it so much and the comparisons and differences were made so clear to me that I didn't have to. I ended up getting an A too Edited August 5, 2013 by Ginko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 We went to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for A-Level. The story has a character, Brick, who's an alcoholic. For some reason Jack Daniels couldn't pass up the opportunity of sponsoring a play containing an alcoholic. Letting 16-year-olds partake of free shots of JD at the intermission is a bad idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legov Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Lord of the Flies is great. Unfortunately, reading it at school ruined it a bit for me, as reading anything at school does. Over analysis. But still, great book. That's a shame you feel that way. I had an absolutely brilliant English teacher for most of my English lessons in high school, she was absolutely brilliant and genuinely cared. We analysed it in a lot of detail because there is a lot of stuff hidden away in LOTF, but she made it seem fun and she's a big reason why I read as much as I do now. My teacher was good, in so much as he taught us well. We had excellent grades. But it was through hours and hours of analysing every sentence. We were never given time to read the book ourselves (ok we could have done that in our spare time, but we were 15 or 16 years old). It just involved reading the book in class, sentence by sentence. And going back and analysing every paragraph, every sentence. I just couldn't enjoy the book that way. I knew the **** thing from cover to cover and, at the time, I could have told you everything about it. What the author meant by every single word and probably a load of stuff that the author never meant at all but they'd just invented. The same went for Shakespeare. Arguably it's more fitting to shakespeare as it's a lot harder to understand (especially at that age). But it still took all the enjoyment out of it. We were never, for example, taken to actually SEE a Shakespeare play. Reminds me of the Chemistry teacher I had when I was 15/16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 We were never, for example, taken to actually SEE a Shakespeare play. Did they take you to see anything? RSC Stratford does decent concessions. With its proximity to Brum you'd think there'd be a lot of school trips heading there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 6, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 6, 2013 Nope. I think the A Level English students got to go and see a play or two. But I gave it up after GCSE. We didn't get to see anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 6, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 6, 2013 (edited) One of the teachers at my kids' school said that even taking kids to the theatre (never mind caving, whitewater rafting, etc.) these days is a bureaucratic nightmare, with health and safety/insurance issues. I think it's stopped a lot of schools doing it. Which must be one of the stupidest situations ever. Edited August 6, 2013 by mjmooney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Reading "Das Reich" at the moment,very interesting. Have found out stuff that I didnt know about before.A good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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