- I agreed with some of the tweets in class answering the question "why is shakespeare difficult?" I do find that the english language has changed and reversing in time to Shakespearian language is straining, it also is much more detailed, most of the plays show this, by describing a simple feeling like a piece of artwork on a wall. Although I do disagree with the fact that it is 'bad writing', just because Shakespeare did not simply tell you exactly what was happening does not make it 'bad', in fact I find it more interesting to read as it hold more layers to what could have been a simple sentence. This brings me to another 'tweet' that I disagree with, 'losing my interest', for me it does not, just as long as I'm not on a short supply of sleep.
- There are many ways to overcome prejudices with education, what works for me, specifically with shakespeare, is knowing that there is reason behind teaching one author to countless students of all ages for hundreds of years. Also many of our own movies and novels have the same base plot as so many of the shakespeare plays, therefore although it way be sometimes difficult, i know i will be able to relate to the plays once i get over the first reaction to the writing itself.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
3rd Post of Shakespeare Unit
2nd Post For Shakespeare Unit
The Wikipedia page on 'Much Ado About Nothing' By William Shakespeare is, for the most part accurate to the play itself. This play does not have one specific main character like some of shakespeare's plays do (For example: Hamlet)
The 4 main Characters which i found to be focused on the most, mainly because they are all intertwined, are;
The 4 main Characters which i found to be focused on the most, mainly because they are all intertwined, are;
- Beatrice: "niece of Leonato: Hero's witty, older cousin, she attacks Benedick verbally, though she mentions once that "I wish he would have boarded me," insinuating that they had a past relationship. She swears never to marry, but after being tricked into believing that Benedick loves her, falls in love with him. She asks him to avenge Hero's dishonor and he reluctantly agrees to challenge Claudio to a duel. Her father is Antonio." Beatrice summary is the only out of the four main characters which completely satisfies a proper description of her character without completely re-telling the the play.
- Benedick: "of Padua; companion of Don Pedro: A sarcastic, witty bachelor who swears he will never marry, he later falls in love with Beatrice when he is tricked into believing that she loves him. He is said to be very good in battle and there is hinting at a past relationship with Beatrice, though they do nothing but fight when the story opens" The small summary given of Benedick is fairly accurate, rather than there being any error, there is simply some points left out. Such as, him being close friends with Don Pedro and Claudio, whom play a large part in the set up of him and Beatrice.
- Hero: "Leonato's daughter: Beautiful, sweet, gentle, and demure, she is wrongfully accused of unfaithfulness and publicly humiliated on her wedding day. Wounded by Claudio's anger and her love for him, she swoons, and later pretends to be dead to bring remorse to her beloved. She marries Claudio in the end." Heros summary lacks the information of her being very close with her Cousin Beatrice, this plays large importance, as Beatrice so passionately asks Benedick to avenge her sweet cousin and kill Claudio.
- Claudio: "of Florence; a count, companion of Don Pedro" Wikipedias summary on Claudio is extremely short and therefore does not paint an accurate picture of his character. Claudio is also friends with Benedick, as he helps Don Pedro trick Benedick into falling in love with Beatrice. Claudio is also in love with Hero, which plays a large role in the plot of the play, as he leaves her at the alter as he is under the impression that Hero has been unfaithful.
Sunday, 11 March 2012
1st Post For Shakespeare Unit
Much ado about nothing is a Play involving bitter siblings, pride between lovers, infidelity from both males and females, and trickery amongst families and friends. Focus is put on two couples falling in love at different speeds, do to both pure passion as well as friendly encouragement from meddling friends. As outside characters become more involved with the couples, to use them for their own revenge, a wedding is called off, a death is faked, and true emotion is revealed. All ends well with both couples being set straight, declaring their love for one another and a beautiful wedding.
MAIN CHARACTER:
- Beatrice - Leonato’s niece and Hero’s cousin.
- Benedick - An aristocratic soldier
- Claudio - A young soldier
- Hero - The beautiful young daughter of Leonato and the cousin of Beatrice.
- Don Pedro - An important nobleman from Aragon
- Leonato - A respected, well-to-do, elderly noble
- Don John - The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro;
- Margaret - Hero’s serving woman
- Borachio - An associate of Don John
- Antonio - Leonato’s elderly brother and Hero's uncle.
Disregarding the watching of the video version of Much ado about nothing Directed by A.J. Antoon with Nick Havinga, which will give me a good understanding of the play, the rest of my research for this play will be from, the following:
- Wikipedia’s small insight to the characters, themes and motifs used through out the play.
- EBSCOhost:
- "Sigh no more ladies"-- the Song in Much Ado About Nothing: Shakespeare and Branagh Deliver Aural Pleasure.
- Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
- Shakespeare and the government of comedy: Much Ado About Nothing
- Children of the mind: Miscarried natives in Much Ado about Nothing.
- Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING 3.5.17-26.
- Intention and Editing.
- Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.By: Ross, Gordon N.
- Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.By: Richards, David.
- The Semantics of Passion in Shakespeare's Comedies: An Interdisciplinary Study.
- Deforming Sources: Literary Antecedents and Their Traces in Much Ado About Nothing.
- MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS: http://www.srvc.net/engl154/html_files/Ado_Lecture.htm
- sparknotes.com: For basic Character analysis and theme analysis. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/muchado/characters.html
The four main elements to the play that I am going to focus on are, The time in which Shakespeare was writing the play, The main Themes of both male and female infidelity that continue throughout the play, and the dynamics to each main character.
Monday, 5 March 2012
Personal Learning Network
- A personal learning network is a network of professionals with whom you share knowledge and from whom you gain knowledge. Ex Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Blogger, 8Tracks
- 3 possible elements to a good PLN are;
- keeping your ideas organized and clear for other readers to be able to have easy access .
- having a high level of participation in conversations with other users as well as contributing thought provoking ideas, instigating appointive pieces.
- updating your PLN as frequently as possible always keeping it relevant, for other readers following you.
- Having a PLN could possibly give me an edge on fellow classmates because through expanding my network through multiple search engines, i will have a larger forum to accumulate information, opinions and ideas to contribute to any self-research projects. Having a larger social network (more people=more perspective)
- Potential employers may find it refreshing and innovative to have online portfolios. It takes commitment and shows that you are proactive not only with your career start, but as well with having a good handle on future technology. Technology is playing more of a role in the career force than ever, and you could prove to be an asset to the company.
- My current ‘online footprint’ could be considered some what Employer friendly. Although I am on several social networks, such as Facebook, myspace, 8tracks, and more recently Twitter and Blogger, many are for social and educational reasons not professional uses. That being said I have used my social networks to communicate with my current employers, and have found it very helpful. It makes for easy connecting as well as staying up to date with all of the companies promotions. I think that once i have completed my post secondary education and become closer to joining the career force, I should be making some changes to my online footprint. But until then I treat my social networks like a newspaper; if you wouldn't want it printed on the front page of the news paper then don't publish it on the internet, no matter what your privacy settings are.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
All About Robert Priest
Bio:
• Son of a Navy officer
• Emigrated to Canada at
the age of 4
• Mothers bedtime stories
• Dropped out of University
of Waterloo
• First Publication: ‘The
Visible Man’ 1979
•
Versatile Artist
Where He’s Been:
• Awards
• Alias- Dr. Poetry
• Various Job Placements
• University
• Festival Performances
More Recognitions:
• Now Magazine
• Colombo’s Canadian Quotations
• The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature:
• Today’s Parent Magazine
• Eye Magazine
• Michelle
Landsberg
How He Got His Start:
• Poetic EP 1981
• Congo Toronto 1986
• Rotweiller Pacifist in1988
• Tongue ‘n’ Groove 1998
Robert Priest’s Thinking:
• Robert Priest’s Classes
• Robert Priest Quote
Robert Priest’s Works:
Books
|
Poems In Anthologies
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Music
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Plays
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Awards and Honours
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Day Songs, Night Songs. Pictures by Keith Lee. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1993. (children's poetry)
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New Voices: A Celebration of Canadian Poetry. Ed. Clifton Whiten. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1984
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The Robert Priest E.P. Airwave Records, 1982. (songs)
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Minibugs & Microchips (1998)
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the 1962 Most Improved Trumpeter, Scarborough Firefighter's Drum and Bugle Corp.
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A Terrible Case of the Stars. Illustrations by Don Gauthier. Toronto: Penguin, 1994. (children's poetry)
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The Three Roberts. By Robert Priest, Robert Sward, Robert Zend. 3 vols. Toronto: HMS Press, Dreadnaught Press, Moonstone Press, 1984-85.
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Summerlong. G-tel Records, 1982. (children's music)
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The Coming (1991)
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the 1994 Special Choice Award, Children's Book Centre, for Knights of the Endless Day.
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Time Release Poems. Victoria, B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 1997. (collected aphorisms)
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The New Canadian Poets, 1970-1985. Edited by Dennis Lee. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1985.
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Congo Toronto. Robot Records, 1986. (song poem)
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Knights of the Endless Day (January 1992)
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the 1996 Socan Airplay Award for "Song Instead of a Kiss."
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Resurrection in the Cartoon. Toronto: ECW Press, 1997.
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The Meadow Mouse Treasury: Stories, Poems, Pictures from Canada's Finest Authors and Illustrators. Vancouver: Groundwood Books, 1995.
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Broken Star. Major Label Records, 1987. (song poem)
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Sweet & Sour Angel Wings (1994) (based on Robert Priest’s poetry)
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the 1998 Chalmers Canadian Play Award for Young Audiences for Minibugs and Microchips.
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Blue pyramids : new and selected poems. Toronto: ECW Press, 2002.
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Word Up: Spoken Word Poetry in Print. Edited by Jill Battson and Ken Norris. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1995.
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Playsongs and Lullabies by The Teds. Waterlily Music, 1989. (children's music)
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the 1989/1990 Milton Acorn Memorial People's Poetry Award for The Mad Hand.
| |
How to swallow a pig. Toronto: MisFit, 2004
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Periodicals include: ARC, Exile, In 2 Print, Our Times.
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Rottweiler Pacifist. Toronto: Coach House Press / Music Gallery, 1990. (audiotape)
| ||
Reading the Bible backwards. Toronto: ECW Press, 2008.
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Winterlong by The Teds. Waterlily Music, 1992. (songs and poems for children)
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The Secret Invasion of Bananas (Collected Children's Poems). (Cherubim Press, Victoria)
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Tongue ‘n’ Groove. Artisan Music, 1997. (spoken word CD)
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Scream Blue Living: New and Selected Poems. (Mercury Press, 1992).
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Instead of a Kiss, co-written with rock diva Alannah Myles,
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Knights of the Endless Day. (Viking, 1993; Puffin Books, 1994).
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Lullabies and Playsongs. (Waterlily Music).
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The Ballad of the Blue Bonnet. (Groundwood Books, 1994).
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Alannah Myles: Song Instead Of A Kiss
Song instead
of a kiss
Baby this is a
song instead of a kiss
For all of you
who ache
Who long for
nights like this
Song instead
of a touch
Darlin', this
is a song instead of a touch
To all of you
who wait so long
And need so
much
It is for
those who like to cling
It is to
those, to those I sing
Here is a song
instead of a clutch
Instead of a
moon
Instead of a
soothing touch in the afternoon
It is for
those who like to cling
It is to
those, to those I sing
Here is a song
instead of a clutch
Instead of a
moon
Instead of a
soothing touch in the afternoon
And Now You Know.
Literary Analysis Questions
Literary Analysis Questions Using Robert Priest’s Poetry
1. What’s the meaning/ point of the poem
2. What feelings does the text evoke
3. How using syntax and word choice does the author accomplish 1 and 2
Come to Me, By Robert Priest.
1. It is an untraditional love poem, rather than just adoration, passion and longing, Priest also collaborates, the acceptance of sacrifice, and the acknowledgment of both agreement and opposites. It is less of a fantasy and more of a promise for a reachable reality.
2. Devotion, sacrifice, longing, passion, desire
3. “I have tried to hate you with the strength of many animals and I cannot hate you” L5-6
“so come to me burning and I will burn” L The repetition in Priests short sentences, focuses the attention of the reader solely on the single word to accomplish two things. One to almost cancel out the words (hate) in this case to take the option of being without them is impossible, also to show the devotion, as the speaker promises to be with them through all (burning). Repetition is also seen throughout the entire poem with the phrase ‘come to me’, this implants the image of two beings together, as the constant repetition, makes the question seem to be more of a present action.
“come to me with snow and I will promise to be red in it” L The diction used is significant because both the colours white (snow) and red have pure connotations to them. The snow having just fallen has a pure image for itself, and in a similar way red like blood is also a very sterile object. With that symbolism, Priest is able to combine perfectly the idea of similarities of the objects, yet dramatic differences in the colours.
“Come to me unique and I will match you stare for stare Come to me in Greek in Spanish in French in Hebrew and I will sing” L the back to back sentences which hold different meanings allow for the realistic approach on love to sink in. ‘match you stare for stare’ creates the idea of a challenge, in love it is a balance just as a staring contest, and a equal opponent could make for a good match of a mate. This is followed by a component to over almost as important, and that’s effort, Priest uses the idea of a language barrier, something that many consider a rule out when it comes to love, but the speaker has reached further for love and come to the solution of song, a universal language.
Revolutions, By Robert Priest.
1. There’s no need to pity those who don’t fit in, for we fit in where they belong as much as they do where we fit. Everyone’s purpose is different but that’s why it is specific to them.
2. Inspiring, defying, focused, confident
3. “no doctor you are wrong I am tremendous and exultant” L11-13 The diction used, profiles the character to be strong and unquestioning about himself, instead of proposing to you that he may be happy or good, he forces the belief with the confidence.
“I am the dancing man who kicks over the jug of stars” L38-40 The diction ‘Dancing’ and ‘Kicks’ bring together the symbolism of the odd person out embracing themselves, the cloud calls himself a dancing Man, not walking or standing, because dancing is an action that cannot be missed, just as a misfit is. The cloud is the only object of nature that sits in the sky rather than on the earth, (upside down) just as the cloud says he ‘kicks the jug of stars’ a person who would embrace their own nature will toss out the rules for the status quo. Priest has chosen the action of kicking, to further enforce the conviction behind the clouds acceptance of being different.
“Where I put my feet is where the ground is”L43-45 Priest uses parallel syntax at the end of his poem in a contradicting way. The structure of the sentence itself is balanced and almost mimicked, by starting and ending each half with where and is, but the sentence itself is a statement to show the opposite, that the cloud does not mimic the rest of nature, rather it proudly does the opposite.
Christ is the Kind of Guy, By Robert Priest.
1. Lose, lose situation
2. Cynical, abrupt,
3. “Christ has the kind of skin that bruises when you hold him the kind of face that kisses cut” always something wrong, even when intentions are right there’s a sin
“if there is a cross in your house you will find yourself bumping up against him accidentally moving him close and closer to it.” Having made Christ into a actual person, the image of him constantly wanting to jump onto the cross is born.
“Christ is the kind of savior you can only get off the cross with a blow torch ‘Father forgive them’ he says as you begin to burn his hands”
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