Who was Shakespeare?

It seems like no one actually knows who Shakespeare was. Of course, there is a myriad of websites and sources providing information on the man and there have been plenty of rumors about old "Billy Shakes." One rumor being, that he used to be called "Billy Shakes." I've heard that he was left-handed, pirated his plots, wore a gold hoop earring, and was possibly homosexual. I understand that there will always be a certain amount of false information circulating when an author is so widely studied and old, but this seems to be ridiculous. In my opinion, we should just study his works and the culture during the time, because speculating about one person's personal life doesn't really help the reader to learn about the work.

Spirits in The Tempest

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster makes the point that authors of literature do not give characters disabilities unless there is a reason for it. For example, he states that making a character blind must have literary significance because it is much harder to make a plot when the character has to remain blind for the entire book. Shakespeare takes the risk of involving spirits in his play, even though they are difficult to stage. Sometimes spirits are not able to be on stage because the spirit does not have a body. According to Foster's logic, there must be an important reason to use them. However, since Ariel is a spirit, she has magical powers.  So while it may be difficult for the stage director to represent Ariel's character, in the printed version of the play, the use of spirits gives the author tremendous freedom due to the unlimited capabilities of magic.

QuickWrite: Illusions

Illusions are a beautiful thing in life. Believing in illusions is a natural coping mechanism for humans to deal with the hardships that life will inevitably throw at you. This reminds me of lucid dreamers. There are people who spend most of their life controlling their dreams. They dream so vividly, that sometimes they confuse their real life with their dreams. Although the feelings they have during dreams is an illusion, it feels completely real to them. If we believe that it something is real, and we enjoy the illusion or dream being set up in front of us, then what is the harm? Is it even worth living a real life if your dream life leaves you so much more fulfilled? Other than the fact of living a life of dreams is a very selfish life, the detachment from the real world is no issue to the rest of the world, because if the person is enough of a fool to believe the illusion, then he or she probably would not offer much to the world anyways. 

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature that is plagued with a bad image. Many people know poetry to be very abstract, and because of this, many people characterize the entire genre as unimportant. The poor image is reflected in our current curriculum. As a 12th grader, preparing to graduate, I am just now getting my first glimpse of poetry. Throughout my high school English classes or any classes for that matter, I have not spent more than two weeks learning or appreciating poetry. I feel as though my teachers have cheated me of the pleasure of reading poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed my classes' poetry circles. I like that poems are quick to read yet, there is still so much take away from them. This is especially good for my generation's short attention span, making poems much more pleasurable to read than a novel. Good poets can create a vivid character in 5 words or less, and in modernist poems, 5 words can evoke emotions about an image that may leave the reader puzzled as to why they are feeling that way. I am happy that I have found another form of literature that I enjoy to read, even if the joy is a bit overdue.

Faulkner - Backstage at Morning Meeting

I tried to come in on time but I couldn't and I kicked the door but the door wouldn't budge and it was dark down there so I ran up the stairs.  I kept hollering for Darl. Darl. Darl. Darl! He saw me. I bet he saw me but he didn't do a thing about it. He sat in his chair and didn't do a thing about it. I stood behind the curtains and I was scared that someone would come up from behind me and open the curtains and then everyone would look at me. I ran over to the side of the stage to make sure that no one could see me if someone did sneak up on me and pull those curtains open. There were hats. There were sparkly costumes too and plastic shiny batons and a stuffed animal bear and a stuffed animal fish. It reminded me of my mom and I started to cry because my mother is a fish.