tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post8668988633619082584..comments2024-03-15T01:11:32.832-07:00Comments on Bardiac: Crying in ClassBardiachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-48206500707378819542015-12-11T08:05:37.429-08:002015-12-11T08:05:37.429-08:00I agree--I think moments like this can be very arr...I agree--I think moments like this can be very arresting for students. <br /><br />What does it for me is reading the Gettysburg Address. That does it for me every time.Historiannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10615954696251174822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-21256263682840454222015-12-10T19:43:39.274-08:002015-12-10T19:43:39.274-08:00I agree there is no shame in being authentic! (Al...I agree there is no shame in being authentic! (Although I was a little embarrassed of getting teary at one of the sentimental moments of A Christmas Carol.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-27378787015599599592015-12-09T18:48:01.395-08:002015-12-09T18:48:01.395-08:00Embarrassing, yes, but what a good model for stude...Embarrassing, yes, but what a good model for students, to show them that words and literature have this power!What Now?https://www.blogger.com/profile/08221008082872963036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-87867913771478846732015-12-09T10:22:47.749-08:002015-12-09T10:22:47.749-08:00Yes, some amount of happiness in a play world with...Yes, some amount of happiness in a play world with death. I love that Hermione only speaks to Perdita.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-65993121093501170102015-12-09T06:23:31.602-08:002015-12-09T06:23:31.602-08:00It's only a problem because I find it a bit em...It's only a problem because I find it a bit embarrassing to cry in front of 30 people.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-12758141664554505442015-12-09T05:33:12.787-08:002015-12-09T05:33:12.787-08:00Certain poems and prose passages always make me we...Certain poems and prose passages always make me weepy when I read them aloud. I've tried asking students to do the reading, but that doesn't always help. On the other hand, I agree that it won't hurt students to see how literature can speak to our deepest thoughts and feelings.Bevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05412883073330413390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-65611023295179003522015-12-09T05:08:47.202-08:002015-12-09T05:08:47.202-08:00I agree about WT, but I'm intrigued that you s...I agree about WT, but I'm intrigued that you see this as a problem: literature moves us, and it's a way of feeling less alone in the world. I hope students learn this!<br /><br />I saw Cymbeline last night at the Globe, and I thought they did a great job of making the happiness at the end a little bittersweet - the grief of misunderstanding, the lost years of the prince's childhood, etc.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09716705206734059708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-54952997101349722572015-12-08T22:34:44.827-08:002015-12-08T22:34:44.827-08:00Oh, that last bit of PL for sure. I don't kno...Oh, that last bit of PL for sure. I don't know the MacLeish poem, Dame Eleanor, but now I'll look for it!Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-31929182421470055632015-12-08T16:25:06.905-08:002015-12-08T16:25:06.905-08:00Paradise Lost. Every time I lecture on it, and I r...Paradise Lost. Every time I lecture on it, and I read the end of the poem to the class, I barely make it through. Then, I finish up, and I turn away from the class and start sobbing. Every time. Every time. <br /><br />Winter's Tale guts me too. I saw SUCH a good version of it at ASC this summer. I was utterly swept away by it. Great play. Fie upon this quiet life!https://www.blogger.com/profile/12047096700049201873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-37046252094438301802015-12-08T14:33:35.020-08:002015-12-08T14:33:35.020-08:00Long ago, I memorized MacLeish's poem "Yo...Long ago, I memorized MacLeish's poem "You, Andrew Marvell" because I liked having an answer to "To His Coy Mistress." I can no longer get through MacLeish's poem, in public or in private, without my voice cracking, at the very least. I bet a lot of us have works that do this to us, and especially as we get older, and the words acquire new resonances.Dame Eleanor Hullhttp://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-264441284133772122015-12-08T12:06:33.601-08:002015-12-08T12:06:33.601-08:00WT does this to me, too. I read Act 5 as being abo...WT does this to me, too. I read Act 5 as being about how corrosive grief and bitterness can be--nothing has happened in Sicilia for 15 years because neither Paulina nor Leontes can move on or forgive. Whether we think Leontes deserves forgiveness is, I suppose, an open question, but we actually don't know that Hermione forgives him (she speaks only to Perdita), and whether she does or doesn't, some mistakes aren't fixable: their son is really dead and they lost their daughter's entire girlhood and what might have been the best years of their marriage. Those things are lost forever, as is Antigonus.<br /><br />As I tell my students, the happy ending of the play isn't really so magical: it's the kind of happy ending we get after real loss, when we're desperately grateful for such happiness as we can recover: in real life, our dead stay dead and usually our lost relationships stay lost, and many mistakes aren't fixable. But even if our lost partner or child or friend never returns, sometimes we still, hope against hope, manage to find some amount of happiness.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.com