07-05-2015, 08:15 AM
For years I thought I hated Shakespeare. Then when I left school and read him for myself I realised I loved him
It's like that old joke about two English teachers walking in the woods. The first is so moved by the natural beauty that he's compelled to quote William Wordsworth:
"O! Cuckoo, shall I call thee Bird
Or but a wandering Voice?"
The second teacher then ruins the moment by butting in with:
"State the alternative preferred
With reasons for your choice."
To me, what's weird about how poetry is taught in schools is its relentless focus on messages and meanings, as if each poem has one which can and should be articulated at a moment's notice after the first reading.
It's like that old joke about two English teachers walking in the woods. The first is so moved by the natural beauty that he's compelled to quote William Wordsworth:"O! Cuckoo, shall I call thee Bird
Or but a wandering Voice?"
The second teacher then ruins the moment by butting in with:
"State the alternative preferred
With reasons for your choice."
To me, what's weird about how poetry is taught in schools is its relentless focus on messages and meanings, as if each poem has one which can and should be articulated at a moment's notice after the first reading.
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe