The bookshelf has had another update … this is the sort of thing that floats my boat on evenings when I don’t have urgent schoolwork to do; the sort of thing that makes pupils look aghast when they ask what I do with my life instead of watching TV!
Month: February 2017
PTS01/005: Where’s a night-tripping fairy when you need one?
O, that it could be proved
That some night-tripping fair had exchanged
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,
(KING HENRY IV: Henry IV 1, I.i.85-87)
Henry VI 1: Act IV
Talk about someone having ‘greatness thrust upon them’!
O, Henry, Henry, Henry … Continue reading “PTS01/005: Where’s a night-tripping fairy when you need one?”
Though his actions were not visible …
Though his actions were not visible, yet
Report should render him hourly to your ear
As truly as he moves (Pisanio, Cymbeline)
When next you hear about – or indeed deride, yourself – the fabulous, wholly unjustified level of holidays enjoyed by teachers, spare a thought in particular for this poor English teacher …
More Golden Dogberries …
If there’s any small consolation to spending your half-term marking, it’s the occasional gem in your books. Hence my decision to award ‘Golden Dogberries‘ for ‘extraordinary’ student responses …
PTS 01/004: We need Talbots, not bastards …
Henry VI 1: Act III
Writing about this act has been an almost painful task.
It would have been too too easy to continue with the ‘Carry On Up the Dolphin’ theme I’d adopted for Act II, but I didn’t feel up to it, aside from referencing the incorrigible overfamiliarity of Charles:
Ay marry, sweeting, if we could do that,
France were no place for Henry’s warriors. (III.iii.21-2)
Continue reading “PTS 01/004: We need Talbots, not bastards …”
The needs of the many …
Happy Lupercalia, everyone.
A cheeky way of muscling in some commentary on one of my favourite plays, way ahead of SCHEDULE? Perhaps. I shouldn’t be discussing Julius Caesar (let alone Star Trek) until September 2018 …
PTS01/003: Open your ears! For who could possibly block them when loud Rumour speaks?
Henry VI 1: Act 2 the act with that scene …
No, not the one in the garden. Surely, there’s only one thing worth talking about … in the words of Joe Jackson:
Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me,
There’s something going wrong around here.
… are the Dolphin and La Pucelle an item or not?
Boar’s Head Bookshelf update
The bookshelf has had an update …
‘Art any more than a steward?’
subtitled thus:
Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? (Twelfth Night)
Allow me to introduce the non-Redditors amongst you to the Democratic People’s Republic of R/Literature. When you get there, it sounds great, doesn’t it?
Welcome to /r/literature, a community for deeper discussions of plays, poetry, short stories, and novels. Discussions of literary criticism, literary history, literary theory, and critical theory are also welcome–strongly encouraged, even.
and yet, all this fancy aspirational stuff doesn’t really mean a thing. Read the following from the bottom up.
This is, in many ways, one of the reasons why I started blogging …
PTS01/002: Shameful Complacency; Priapic Dolphins
Henry VI Part 1: Act 1
And off we go. First-time visitor? Click here and here to find out what Ponytail Shakespeare is all about. Then come back, read, and comment – either here or at the Shakespeare Reddit sub.
On to the play, and post two of God knows how many in this project.
I wonder if I lowered my expectations too far …
To shrug and say it was fine, good, OK, would be to do the opening act of Henry VI part I a disservice. Sure, there were moments of clunkiness – not least when the French Master Gunner feels the need to declare – to himself, his son, and thereby the audience – his employment:
‘Chief master gunner am I of this town’. (I.iv.6)
But overall, it’s been an entertaining start.
Continue reading “PTS01/002: Shameful Complacency; Priapic Dolphins”
The Boar's Head, Eastcheap 