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Post by Admin on Jul 12, 2013 15:32:33 GMT
Anyone else here studying English? I have English Literature for the next two years,and just received my book list: - Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
- The Taming of the Shrew - Shakespeare
- The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge
- Selected poems of John Keats
- The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I've read some of these already and the other I need to read before summer is out. Opinions? Got any book lists of your own?
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Post by megers67 on Jul 12, 2013 18:14:49 GMT
I have read all of those actually.
Be sure to spend a little bit of extra time on Shakespeare if you're not comfortable reading his style. Even if you read it in class as a play like a lot of teachers do, read it again outside of class. As much as Shakespeare should be experienced as a play, many of your classmates (unless it is a theatre class) won't know how to cold read or properly handle it so it'll be even harder than normal to understand as they're stumbling through everything. Taming of the Shrew is a wonderful and should be appreciated. Very witty stuff. Same thing with The Importance of Being Earnest. It'll be easier to understand just take into account your classmates if you're reading in class. It's a very good play and quite funny.
Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite Jane Austen books so that's a must-read. I wasn't much of a fan of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. For Great Gatsby, be sure to be aware for the heavy use of symbolism. Fitzgerald I swear gets a hard-on for symbolism and disillusionment of the American Dream. Also take your time with the poetry since it's well poetry.
For my own must-reads, if you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus, then you are really missing out. Twelfth Night if you really like Shakespeare (it is one of the funniest I've ever read) and I can't seem to think of any others off the top of my head.
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Post by klingonchick on Jul 12, 2013 20:48:25 GMT
The Great Gatsby and Clockwork Orange are some of the reads in highschool down here. I personally enjoy Hamlet by Shakespeare for some reason.
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Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2013 19:41:48 GMT
I have read all of those actually. Be sure to spend a little bit of extra time on Shakespeare if you're not comfortable reading his style. Even if you read it in class as a play like a lot of teachers do, read it again outside of class. As much as Shakespeare should be experienced as a play, many of your classmates (unless it is a theatre class) won't know how to cold read or properly handle it so it'll be even harder than normal to understand as they're stumbling through everything. Taming of the Shrew is a wonderful and should be appreciated. Very witty stuff. Same thing with The Importance of Being Earnest. It'll be easier to understand just take into account your classmates if you're reading in class. It's a very good play and quite funny. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite Jane Austen books so that's a must-read. I wasn't much of a fan of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. For Great Gatsby, be sure to be aware for the heavy use of symbolism. Fitzgerald I swear gets a hard-on for symbolism and disillusionment of the American Dream. Also take your time with the poetry since it's well poetry. For my own must-reads, if you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus, then you are really missing out. Twelfth Night if you really like Shakespeare (it is one of the funniest I've ever read) and I can't seem to think of any others off the top of my head. Thanks for the tip! I haven't read any of Shakespeare's plays in quite a while and even then that wasn't the play in it's entirety so I'll need to get back into the swing of that. I prefer his sonnets really, I adore poetry, especially sonnets. I <333 Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese. Is it worth looking into seeing if I can go and watch either of the plays? Do you think it'd help with my understanding of them? P&P I read and loved years ago because my mum was a fan too so I'll definitely have no qualms with rereading it over the summer. Hahaha I shall keep that in mind when reading Gatsby then! I'll definitely make sure to read both of those at some point, you seem like you certainly know what you're talking about! The Great Gatsby and Clockwork Orange are some of the reads in highschool down here. I personally enjoy Hamlet by Shakespeare for some reason. Clockwork Orange is a high school read? Woah, awesome. Pretty controversial to be teaching at a school  Never read of seen Hamlet, another to add to my list then! |
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Post by megers67 on Jul 13, 2013 19:57:47 GMT
Yes, if you have the opportunity to watch the plays then do it. I think there are some good versions of stage productions that have been filmed since they are famous plays. That's what I suggest so you have the option of rewinding if you missed or don't understand something that you just saw. See it first without stopping, then after that refer to the text every once in a while so you can get a feel for how what you see is translated in the text in front of you like for Shakespeare how the words flow in the iambic pentameter (the supposed natural meter). There are plenty of versions that have "translations" as well. There's plenty of ways to get at it. The way I see it is that it's written as a play, you should experience it as it was meant to be experienced: as a play.
Shakespeare has actually a pretty good sense of humor and puns that can only be understood when you actually hear them or see a visual accompaniment, something that you can't get from classroom readings. Speaking of which, any mention of fish or cod is without a doubt an innuendo. Taming of the Shrew is also good at insults. I have no idea if the version with David Tennant and Cahterine Tate is available anywhere but they have very good chemistry together in that show.
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Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2013 20:24:01 GMT
My local cinema is showing a live broadcast of The Taming of the Shrew from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the 6th of August that I might be able to catch if my national citizen service doesn't call me in on that day, so I'd love to watch that if the opportunity arises. Is the Colin Firth film of The Importance of Being Earnest any good? I think my nan has that so I could ask to borrow it, heh. Iambic pentameter is something I've never been able to really grasp, I can never figure out how it's supposed to sound, I guess? I'll try and track down the Tennant/Tate version  |
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Post by megers67 on Jul 13, 2013 20:38:51 GMT
I sadly can't help you with versions of The Importance of Being Earnest because my school did that show live. Iambic pentameter means that it has 5 iambs. An iamb (or a foot as it's sometimes called) is when you speak, the first syllable is unstressed and the next is stressed. The word 'attempt' has this as does quite a lot of words in the English language. Iambic pentameter has that rhythm five times in a line. Say the next sentence out loud.
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!
Saying that phrase naturally, where do the stresses go? When you say words not every word nor every syllable is stressed when speaking.
For notation, the unstressed syllable is notated with an x and the stressed with a /
x /
at-tempt
x / x / x / x / x /
A horse, a horse, my king-dom for a horse!
Iambic pentameter is how Shakespere does a lot of his writing. When you see long passages with relatively even line lengths or dialogue where the spacing seems odd, he's using iambic pentameter (in the dialogue people finish each other's rhythms). It explains why he might phrase something a specific way or shorten a word here or where something would be pronounced "both-er-ed" as opposed to "bothr'd" etc.
I hope this helps? I know he used it in his sonnets as well.
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Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2013 21:01:24 GMT
That's really, really useful! Nobody's ever taken the time to explain it to me like that, so thanks so so much! I'll probably print that out and stick it in with my English notes for reference actually.
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Post by megers67 on Jul 13, 2013 21:03:18 GMT
No problem. I had Shakespeare units several times over the years in both my English classes and advanced theatre classes. I got your back.
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Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2013 21:31:24 GMT
I'll keep that in mind, wonderfully kind of you to help me out!
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Never read of seen Hamlet, another to add to my list then!