Meaning and Idea Thought piece

Ladies and gent~

The purpose of a "thought piece" is to delve deeper into the poems we've discussed in class, since our limited class time only allows us to go so far.  Considering what you've gathered from the Meaning and Idea packet, especially in terms of a poem's "prose meaning" and "total meaning," select a poem to analyze further-- please choose any one of the poems from the latest packet, or pleeeease consider tackling "The Love Song of J. Alfred Profrock."  Discuss the poem for what you perceive as its total meaning; please pull concrete details out to support your ideas, and provide a "so what?" factor in your concluding thoughts.

If you're having trouble beginning, I recommend you pick a particular line that stood out to you, and start by discussing that line's significance to the poem's overall meaning.  Feel free to discuss what the poem means to you on a personal level.  Also, if your thoughts are at all informed by outside commentaries, please acknowledge those sources.

Shoot for about 3 paragraphs.

Thanksgiving Break Homework

1.) Revise your essays.  These will be due Monday, Nov. 29th.  *** IF, that is, I manage to get them back to you before Thanksgiving break.  If school is cancelled or you don't get them back, you'll tackle these after break.

2.) Finish your MOR.  These will be due Wed. Dec. 1st along with a reading card (you and your partner only need to turn in one.)

3.) Read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; we will discuss this on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 2nd-3rd.

Original Shakespeare Pronunciation

NOW, all those seemingly "slant" rhymes make SENSE...!

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-professor-audience-shakespeare-words-accent.html

Hamlet Act V, Sc. I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAx_q6be3pE

So good.

Hamlet and Gertrude

Kenneth Branagh version, part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSoUf8hFxP0
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtHk2WEuWaA&feature=related

This is the relatively "normal" one-- though he still throws her around on the bed.  When you see it live action-- in Gertrude's bedroom; Hamlet is showing her the small portraits; he's using all this sexual language-- it DOES seem to lend itself to the whole incest thing more than when you just see it on the page.

Though you don't have to view it that way!

Kevin Kline is perhaps my favorite Hamlet yet, and this is another "milder" version, but again... still thrashing around, and Gertrude's dress slips off her shoulder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqP3DRGHD4Y

Here's a ballet version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__nL0IJAsU

Very pretty, but incest implied THERE too...

In the Mel Gibson version they actually kiss.  Yeesh!  I couldn't find that version online, but I might subject you all to it on Friday if we have time. Thoughts?

Get Thee to a Nunnery

Two videos for you, so you can see this play in live action!


I tried embedding this, but it didn't work, or else I couldn't figure it out.  Let's pretend it was the former.  So, just click on the link:

Get thee to a nunnery scene

Kenneth Branagh is not at all how I picture Hamlet-- forgive him the mustache, blond hair, and 40-some years of age.  It's still a well-played scene-- and they even kiss at that spot when it would work for them to kiss!  Also, Kate Winslet is a heart-breaking Ophelia.  It's so good.  Great, classic interpretation.

Aaand... viewer discretion advised, this next one is pretty trippy; it was made in the 70's when EVERYTHING was trippy-- but this link will show you a completely different interpretation of the same scene.  Helen Mirren plays Ophelia and characterizes her as very coy and seductive-- not at all the innocent Ophelia we see from Kate Winslet.  This scene also presents a fascinating depiction of Hamlet's mental switch from nice guy to meanie... almost worth watching just to see how that's illustrated.  Then it gets weird, and Hamlet pulls a knife on Ophelia, and rips her dress (don't worry; she's wearing a bodice underneath).  Don't say I didn't warn you.  Here's the link:

Trippy Get Thee to a Nunnery scene

Incidentally, Helen Mirren plays both Ophelia AND Gertrude in the trippy interpretation.  Now THAT'S  injecting some serious directorial commentary!  (Can I get an 'Oedipus Complex' shout out, what what?)

See all the cool stuff you can do with Shakespeare??  ENJOY!

Sonnet Composition!

You have a sonnet-- a delicious, vibrant, original sonnet-- due this Friday.  This sonnet needs to be written in the Shakespearean style.  This means:

1. It should be 14 lines.
2.  There should be three quatrains and an ending couplet.
3. The quatrains should be relatively thematic; the couplet should act as the "key" to understanding the sonnet's true meaning.
4. The rhyme scheme should be abab, cdcd, efef, gg
5. It should be written in iambic pentameter, which means ten syllables per line, starting with an unstressed syllable.  It should roughly sound like: da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM.  *** Remember, you have the option of a feminine ending (an eleventh syllable) IF the eleventh syllable is unstressed: da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da.
6. If you break ANY of these stylistic rules, you must have a clear stylistic purpose.
7. You can write about ANYTHING YOU WANT!  Traditionally, Shakespearean sonnets have to do with love-- any kind of love, including requited, unrequited, budding, dying, tortured, forbidden, etc.  However, feel free to deviate from this subject.  I'm most concerned with you understanding the form.

Here is an example of a classic Shakespearean sonnet:

That Time Of Year Thou Mayst In Me Behold

William Shakespeare

1 That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

5 In me thou see'st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west;

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

9 In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed whereon it must expire,

Consumed with that which it was nourished by.

13 This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

*Note: Shakespeare does "break the rules" himself in line 11 (breaks iambic pentameter).  However, you could argue that there was clear artistic intent for doing so.  In line 11, the breach in iambic pentameter emphasizes "deathbed," which is essentially what the whole poem's morbid momentum has been leading to.