The aftermath

Well. If we can take one thing away from the class quiz today (besides, of course, a relatively disappointing score) it is a realization of the depth of the texts we are dealing with. This isn't too say that we weren't aware from the beginning of their complexity and depth. We were well aware. So aware that many of us probably just did a little skimming, or dare I say didn't read at all, due to their intimidating, greek-word laden, content. In a more likely scenario, I'm sure many people did a fairly thorough reading once through. Just once, maybe going back through to highlight a couple key points or terms. But that should be adequate, right?

 Not so much. Considering that it is hardly the bold terms, famous quotes, or major points that we come to discuss in class, but rather the "passage that nobody ever pays attention to" or that obscure word that means 80 different things, or a mewling and puking infant...it is fruitless to do a quick, single read-through. Or a second. Or maybe even a third.  To suck the marrow from these texts we must constantly revisit them. As this course progresses, so to will the way we interpret the essays of Frye, and the mind-bending meanderings of Turner. I won't say anything about Hughes here because those of you who have chosen to read him are far braver than I. 

We need to live and breath these texts, allowing them to constantly invade our consciousness. We need to not only read Bloom, but to use him as a pillow when we go to sleep at night, hoping that by some grace of the literature god an osmotic process will take place and we will wake up knowing exactly how Shakespeare invented the human.

Perhaps this seems extreme. But the point is, it is not enough to merely READ Shakespeare's plays and all of the secondary works, or to internalize the theories laid out on the page. You have to find things that resonate with you personally, become familiar with the texts, and then expand or grow outside of them. That is how the genius connections are made, and seemingly insignificant passages are transformed into something greater and more symbolic than even the most oft quoted lines in Shakespeare. Of course, those are always important too, but until the day Sexson makes up a test without exceedingly erratic terms and references, I think I'll stick to the unpopular and peripheral stuff.