tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post3432266625502707717..comments2024-02-05T09:17:53.322-08:00Comments on Adrian Barlow's blog: Twelfth Night: counting on OliviaAdrian Barlowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04526714501872493961noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-42173411695093027842011-11-29T12:20:00.073-08:002011-11-29T12:20:00.073-08:00I tried out this blog entry on my terminale studen...I tried out this blog entry on my terminale students today and we had great fun having a go at speaking the lines using your scansion. It's not easy to coax students away from a mechanical, rhythmical chant towards a more natural delivery but some of the more advanced of them gave a fine performance. I think the whole exercise gave them an insight into how Olivia feels at this moment and I hope it will help them should they have to discuss the passage. What was particularly interesting was the notion of an inventory and itemising parts of the lady's face, which led me to revise the 'blazon' and the 'carpe diem' theme. All good, wholesome fun. Footing it sweetly.Garry Headlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07741556616880181278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-46438752436941744332011-11-05T10:30:21.587-07:002011-11-05T10:30:21.587-07:00I see that you now have twelve disciples, Adrian, ...I see that you now have twelve disciples, Adrian, which makes it appropriate to talk about Twelfth Night, although you have published it on Bonfire Night, which suggests subversion rather than celebration. This is an interesting exercise and one I shall spring on my students in Terminale who are studying the play for the OIB this year. I think we shall enjoy speaking the lines as you have scanned them and hopefully this will encourage them to think about the naturalness of blank verse as a medium for drama and poetry in English, in spite of the underlying regularity of the rhythm. I was once lucky enough to attend a demonstration by an extraordinary teacher of Shakespeare who showed us a trick I almost religiously use each year with new students in my literature classes in order for them to understand and retain the definition of iambic pentameter. She got us all standing up and walking around in a ‘snake’ chanting ‘I am’ as many as five times, each time emphasising the second word. This rhythm, she explained, is like the heartbeat, and the words ‘I am’ tell us that we exist, that we are alive. This rhythm runs through Shakespeare’s blank verse giving it life. Of course, this is simply a trick to remember the name of the iambic foot and where the stress falls but how extraordinarily illustrative and what fun! Everything exists... ou-boum!Garry Headlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07741556616880181278noreply@blogger.com