Sweetsilentsessions: introduction on reading Shakespeare
sweetsilentsessions: Glenn Feole on Shakespeare
I am trying to read all of Shakespeare. Yes, all of his works. How can I consider myself fully educated and literate without having done so, I have been asking myself lately...or not so lately?
My college roommate at Princeton in 1970 (during those halcyon, innocent, hopeful days) took a course on Shakespeare and, if I recall correctly, when I asked him what plays they were reading he said 'all of them.' There are 37 plays so I'm not sure about that, but I do recall the sense of awe I had at his accomplishment. One of my favorite writers is Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale and an ardent Shakespeare devotee. Similar to Bloom, my other favorite is Cervantes (Don Quixote being my favorite book)...perhaps the subject of another blog. His essays on Shakespeare have inspired me to keep on reading.
In any case, I have just re-read all 154 sonnets. I have been reading and writing poetry for over 50 years and I have to say that Shakespeare's Sonnets are the most exquisitely beautiful poems. I had memorized Sonnet 73 (my favorite) almost forty years ago and have been repeating it in my mind ever since. As the years progress, I keep discovering unseen nuances in the words, the alliteration, the symbols, the interplay of themes and relation to other sonnets and plays. An endlessly creative process. Sonnet 30 is another of my favorites and the reason for the title of this blog.
I have read16 of the 37 plays so far, a dog eared copy always accompanying me to work, to lunch, in the car, at my bedside, on my desk at my pediatric clinic. The plots can be amazing or banal, stolen or created, horrifying or romantic, but they are not why I read Shakespeare. I read Shakespeare for the poetic gems found strewn throughout the works. As Bloom says, he is a 'panoply of puns.' Humor and pathos.
My next blog entry will be an essay I wrote about trying to follow the reading list at Brooklyn College for entry to the MFA in Creative Writing. This was like walking into a candy store for anyone who loves reading and literature. It eventually inspired my reading of Shakespeare and this blog as well.
After that, I will include a list of all the references to 'love" that I found in the sonnets. (I sent them to one of my daughters, a new Mother, as I though of her beautiful twin girls).
I hope you enjoy these essays. I have found great enjoyment in creating them and would love to share these thoughts with you. I hope you will send comments or your own thoughts as well.
Glenn Feole
glennlouisfeole@gmail.com
I am trying to read all of Shakespeare. Yes, all of his works. How can I consider myself fully educated and literate without having done so, I have been asking myself lately...or not so lately?
My college roommate at Princeton in 1970 (during those halcyon, innocent, hopeful days) took a course on Shakespeare and, if I recall correctly, when I asked him what plays they were reading he said 'all of them.' There are 37 plays so I'm not sure about that, but I do recall the sense of awe I had at his accomplishment. One of my favorite writers is Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale and an ardent Shakespeare devotee. Similar to Bloom, my other favorite is Cervantes (Don Quixote being my favorite book)...perhaps the subject of another blog. His essays on Shakespeare have inspired me to keep on reading.
In any case, I have just re-read all 154 sonnets. I have been reading and writing poetry for over 50 years and I have to say that Shakespeare's Sonnets are the most exquisitely beautiful poems. I had memorized Sonnet 73 (my favorite) almost forty years ago and have been repeating it in my mind ever since. As the years progress, I keep discovering unseen nuances in the words, the alliteration, the symbols, the interplay of themes and relation to other sonnets and plays. An endlessly creative process. Sonnet 30 is another of my favorites and the reason for the title of this blog.
I have read16 of the 37 plays so far, a dog eared copy always accompanying me to work, to lunch, in the car, at my bedside, on my desk at my pediatric clinic. The plots can be amazing or banal, stolen or created, horrifying or romantic, but they are not why I read Shakespeare. I read Shakespeare for the poetic gems found strewn throughout the works. As Bloom says, he is a 'panoply of puns.' Humor and pathos.
My next blog entry will be an essay I wrote about trying to follow the reading list at Brooklyn College for entry to the MFA in Creative Writing. This was like walking into a candy store for anyone who loves reading and literature. It eventually inspired my reading of Shakespeare and this blog as well.
After that, I will include a list of all the references to 'love" that I found in the sonnets. (I sent them to one of my daughters, a new Mother, as I though of her beautiful twin girls).
I hope you enjoy these essays. I have found great enjoyment in creating them and would love to share these thoughts with you. I hope you will send comments or your own thoughts as well.
Glenn Feole
glennlouisfeole@gmail.com
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