A Spoonful of the Bard

Caitlin and I have been watching the 2009 BBC production of Hamlet. (Because we have a difficult time finding an uninterrupted 3-hour window, we are watching it in three one-hour installments.) Our watching of this version of the play follows our reading of it and our watching of the Franco Zeffirelli/Mel Gibson version.  It is interesting to compare/contrast the different presentations, and of course, each subsequent experience with the play results in increased understanding.

Last night while we were watching, Evan remained in the room. This may not seem significant, but it is. My "highly sensitive child" is extremely wary of anything on the screen to which he does not have previous exposure. He generally self-excludes when the big people decide to watch a movie. But last night he stayed. He wasn't watching, really--just doing his own thing at the computer. I did see him turn around a few times to see what was happening.

Tonight at supper I told him we would be watching another installment and said, "You didn't mind it last night, did you?" He replied, "Well, I was a little disturbed by the violence and the cursing. But it didn't bother me too much."

Tonight he watched almost the entire hour with us. I think he's in for the balance tomorrow night, violence and cursing notwithstanding. Everything is just easier to take in Elizabethan English, isn't it?

This Is Marriage, Part 2

As illustrated in the previous post, being married for a long time means being able to communicate, sometimes, without even talking. It also means accepting the other person even as he or she changes over time. For example, in the old days my husband and I would sit in the same room together and he would read politics while I read Shakespeare. Now we sit in the same room together and he reads theology while I post silly pictures on Facebook. What is rather surreal is when he reads the theology out loud while I am posting the silly pictures.

Sir, I am too old to learn. - William Shakespeare, King Lear, 2.2.99

A Tale of Two Blog Titles

Well, how about that? Seems Yours Truly was named Issues, Etc. Blog of the Week (along with Rev. Paul McCain at Cyberbrethren). I am honored. My sincere thanks to Issues producer Jeff Schwarz for choosing me. How do I get my badge? :-)

Just one little nitpick. When he read my post on the air, Jeff referred to my blog as Round Unvarnish'd Table (with a "b" in the last word, as in a piece of furniture). But the title of my blog is not Round Unvarnish'd Table, but Round Unvarnish'd Tale (as in story, narrative, report, yarn, vignette, anecdote, chronicle, summary, write-up . . . you get the idea).

I told Jeff not to feel bad. My blog title has been misread countless times over the years. For the longest time my mom wasn't able to find it because she kept searching for a table rather than a tale. (Which I totally understand. My dad was a handy sort who used to make all kinds of things, including furniture, but who was much more interested in functionality than aesthetics. I think we probably had several round unvarnished tables sitting around our house when I was growing up.)

Anyway, considering my recent brush with fame, I thought now would be a good time to revisit the whole blog title thing. So, everyone, repeat after me. Three times, please. "Round Unvarnish'd Tale. Round Unvarnish'd TALE. Round Unvarnish'd TALE."

Thank you. :-)

And while we're on the topic, here's a little background on how I came to name my blog. When I started blogging roughly three years ago I imagined my blog would at times have a literary angle (seeing as how I used to be an English teacher). So I wanted a title that would reflect that by having something to do with writing or speaking. What better place to look than Shakespeare? So I went digging and was reminded of this quotation from Othello:

“Rude am I in my speech,
And little bless’d with the soft phrase of peace:
For since these arms of mine had seven years’ pith,
Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used
Their dearest action in the tented field,
And little of this great world can I speak,
More than pertains to feats of broil and battle,
And therefore little shall I grace my cause
In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,
I will a round unvarnish’d tale deliver
Of my whole course of love.” —Othello, 1.3.81-91

Obviously my blog has nothing to do with the subject matter in Othello. But this quotation says sort of what I wanted to say in starting a blog. Othello is speaking to Desdemona about his wish to speak his "whole course of love" for her. But he is not sure he can do a good job because he is "rude" (common, plain, ineloquent) in speech. All he knows about is "feats of broil and battle, " not matters of the heart. So he asks her to be patient with him as he gives it his best shot, still fearing that he may little "grace" (help) his "cause" (winning her devotion) in the process.

So how do Othello's words apply to me? Well, I think I'm a decent writer, but I am limited in what I am able to write convincingly about (a novelist or playwright I am not). My little blog is pretty insignificant as blogs go, and I can't speak about much more than pertains to my own experience of the world in my everyday life (which does have its own kinds of broils and battles!). So to paraphrase, in speaking for myself (writing a blog) I may not grace my "cause" (the relating of my life) very much, but if you will grant your patience (keep reading) I hope you will find my blog to be a complete and bluntly honest ("round") and unadorned ("unvarnish'd") representation of the life of a homeschooling Lutheran literary/musical mommy type, and that every once in a while it will even offer you some encouragement and enlightenment.

Make sense?

Happy Birthday, Will - Updated

William, that is. Shakespeare. Today is probably his birthday (historians don't know for sure but guess at it based on his baptismal record). If you want to join in a little fêting, here's one place you can do so.

Update: If you're so inclined, you're invited to come back here after visiting the link and play along by posting your own favorite Shakespearean play.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy blogging birthday, that is! It was one year ago today that I first began to tell this "round, unvarnish'd tale"; in that time, I have logged 328 posts (including the 10 or so that are currently languishing in my draft file). If you weren't around on day one and want to see how it all began, click here. If you have been here since the beginning, thanks for sticking around! And if you are someone who often reads but rarely comments, I invite you to do so today just to let me know you're out there. (For anyone who is not experienced in commenting on blogs, here are a few helpful hints: this blog accepts anonymous comments, so you don't have to have an account. Just type in your comment, signing your name at the end to let me know who you are, and select "Anonymous" for your identity. You will then be asked to type in a group of letters that you see on the screen--this is to prevent spam comments. Once you have typed in those letters you can click either "preview" or "post comment.")

By the way, if you've ever wondered about the name of this blog, it was chosen because of my fondness for both Shakespeare and literature as well as because of what the phrase communicates, namely the intention to give a full, unadorned and honest recounting of a narrative. In this case the narrative is purely personal as I write about family or self or practical matters or my own forays into the world of ideas, so I guess this blog is most interesting (if it is at all) to those who know me. But I hope that along the way there have been a few posts that have had value for a broader audience and that I have managed to write them in a way that invites attention and maintains interest. I dearly hope that you never stop by to discover, in the words of another Shakespearean character, "a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing" (Macbeth V.vi.26-28).

Thanks for reading! May the peace of the Lord be with you today and always.

Cheryl

More Anagrams

My children and I have had no end of laughs this morning since discovering the anagram site mentioned in the last few posts (thanks again, Susan). My son did a little more exploring of the site and discovered the "Anagram Hall of Fame." Here are just a few of the treasures you will find there:

dormitory = dirty room

Clint Eastwood = Old West action

Madame Curie = Radium came

The Morse Code = Here come dots

Conversation = Voices rant on

Mother-in-law = Woman Hitler

The United States of America = Attaineth its cause, freedom

Statue of Liberty = Built to Stay Free

Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one

William Jefferson Clinton = Jail Mrs Clinton: felon wife
(by Ward Hardman)

George Bush = He bugs Gore
(by Mike Morton)

Ronald Wilson Reagan = No, darlings, no ERA law
(by Mike Morton)

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea = Huge water tale stuns. End had you tense.
(by E.L. Benfer)

To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. = In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.
(by Cory Calhoun)

Music to My Ears

Since September, I have been teaching a literature class to a small group of home educated students (my two oldest children plus three others). The students, two boys and three girls ranging in age from 12 to 15 years, read and work independently during the week and gather at my house each Wednesday morning for group instruction and discussion. They are a delight to teach, and my time with them marks one of the more relaxing and enjoyable parts of my weekly routine.

Recently we began a study of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. We are using the Barron's Shakespeare Made Easy edition, which includes a side-by-side layout that pairs Shakespeare's original text with a paraphrased modern English "translation." I chose this edition knowing that several of the students in the class had not read Shakespearean English and would in their independent study need the assistance provided by such a format. However, I have recommended that the best approach would be to read the paraphrased version first so as to gain an understanding of the characters and plot but then to follow up with a reading of the original text with as little reliance as possible on the paraphrase. I think that reading the play this way on an act by act basis is a better strategy than constantly switching back and forth between the two, interrupting the experience of being immersed in Shakespearean English.

Several days ago as my 12-year-old daughter was reading, she looked up at me and spoke this beautiful sentence: "Mom, I think Shakespeare's actual words are a lot better than the paraphrased version." I could have hugged her. I asked her to provide an example of what she was talking about, and she referred me to Act I, scene ii, in which Cassius is planting the seeds of treachery in the mind of Brutus. Brutus has agreed to meet with Cassius at a later time to further hear his concerns about Caesar and to consider what might be done, to which Cassius replies, "I am glad / That my weak words have struck but thus much show / Of fire from Brutus" (I.ii.173-75). The paraphrase reads, "I'm glad that my little speech has sparked off such a show of spirit in you, Brutus."

Better indeed. And my sixth grade daughter sees it and gets it. It's moments like these that I think we're doing something right.