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which classic literature you were forced to read in high school did you hate the most
Beowulf was boring, as was Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, and Moby Dick. And dont even get me started on the hacks known as Wordworth and Byron.
I don't know I found Beowulf interesting as it's one of the few tales we have from then
Gatsby really is an insight to the rich of that era
Steinbeck I am indifferent to
Moby Dick is a ponderous tome of Americana
Wordsworth well yeah poetry hmm how to talk about that...…
Byron meh I find the fact he went on holiday with the Shelleys, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont just after the Napoleonic wars throughout Europe a novel concept as nobody did this until much much later
I hate Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield can suck it
I think my beef with Beowulf was the prose. I'm fine with "old timey language " but something was off when I read it. Maybe I need to read it again. I'm finally reading Marcus Aurelius at 40, and I like the message, but recognize the jumbled mess of trying to pull it all together.
I remember we studied Chaucer and the only thing I took away from it was that the Knight's tale basically codified "bros before hos" as one of the fundamental morals of english-speaking culture.
I remember we studied Chaucer and the only thing I took away from it was that the Knight's tale basically codified "bros before hos" as one of the fundamental morals of english-speaking culture.
there's different translations of beowulf, the one you read might have just been not your cup of tea
Beowulf has at least one completely boss paragraph:
And another item lent by Unferth
at that moment of need was of no small importance:
the brehon handed him a hilted weapon,
a rare and ancient sword named Hrunting.
The iron blade with its ill-boding patterns
had been tempered in blood. It had never failed
the hand of anyone who hefted it in battle,
anyone who had fought and faced the worst
in the gap of danger. This was not the first time
it had been called to perform heroic feats.
QuetziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User, Moderatormod
Beckett and Stoppard are hacks
(they've written some very good plays and are overall fine, but they come from a school of thought that gets very particular about the way that their plays are performed and has been known to get litigious about such matters if the director actually directs their play or the actors actually act)
(they've written some very good plays and are overall fine, but they come from a school of thought that gets very particular about the way that their plays are performed and has been known to get litigious about such matters if the director actually directs their play or the actors actually act)
The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
edited August 2018
The Catcher in the Rye
I actually liked Great Gatsby when we read it in school so I followed it up by reading Catcher in the Rye of my own volition over the following summer. This was a Mistake.
He's angsty for literally all of the wrong reasons! Also I'm still pissed about the fencing equipment.
Edit: Also A Farewell to Arms was terrrrible. That War in Lit class turned out to be one of my favorite classes except for that one horribly boring, paint-drying disaster of a book. We literally just moved on like a third of the way through it because it was clear everyone in the class had given up reading it.
Sighs, Satin, and the Potion of Trembling Secrets: Part 4 of the Larlar Saga: Now a Minor Television Miniseries!!
Waiting for Godot... Here is where I brag about seeing Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart on Broadway.
I actually liked it in school when we read it, but forgot most of it until I saw it. I'm not the biggest fan of reading plays in general. I'm not good at seeing the action in my head.
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
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IronKnuckleThis is also my faultRegistered Userregular
When I was in middle school I thought that "poetic license" was, you know, an actual licensing system that allowed you to be a poet. My English teacher, who was also my mother, created a whole licensing testing system for me, which culminated in a laminated card. Dear woman. Miss her terribly.
The only bit I remember about Waiting for Godot is the bit where the small dude on the leash goes into the literary version of a YouTube Poop.
On the subject of Beowulf, after studying the work in earnest, our teacher handed us a satirical "modern extension" in which Beowulf, shortly after dealing with Grendel, gets into a barfight with Godzilla. It was written in English mangled to sound like the 1300s-era priestly translation. When my family went to a Society for Creative Anachronisms meeting (my sister rolled with them in college), they had a bardic competition at the end of the day. I recited the poem as my entry and narrowly took first place, winning a handcrafted trinket box I retain to this day. I think I may actually have a recording within arm's reach, but I'd be mortified to have it seen.
My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
Sighs, Satin, and the Potion of Trembling Secrets: Part 4 of the Larlar Saga: Now a Minor Television Miniseries!!
One day I'm going to put on a show called Waiting for Waiting for Godot. I will rent out a theater and set an opening time of 7 PM. Every few minutes I will send somebody out to say the show has been delayed slightly but the doors should be opening shortly.
Runtime is however long it takes for the last person to get fed up and leave.
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
My 10th grade English teacher made us read The Mayor of Casterbridge, which was boring for a high schooler yet still captured this constant creeping dread of what was going to happen.
Same teacher also assigned The Count of Monte Cristo which is one of the best damn books of all time.
We also read The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway, and I didn't like it very much. On a whim I gave it a re-read almost a decade later and enjoyed it very much.
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
The Great Gatsby
lol anthem might be Ayn Rand's dumbest book
imagine a libertarian version of that ridiculous comic where the guy defeats CRITICS by DOING ART
One day I'm going to put on a show called Waiting for Waiting for Godot. I will rent out a theater and set an opening time of 7 PM. Every few minutes I will send somebody out to say the show has been delayed slightly but the doors should be opening shortly.
Runtime is however long it takes for the last person to get fed up and leave.
Some godshitawful community theatre has to have beaten you to the punch on this one. I can feel it in my bones.
Also because I had to endure several directors that were visiting artists with my theatre company who had even more pork-fisted artistic declarations that needed to be shared with the bleating proletariat.
When I was a sophomore in highschool the English teacher was a fan of Hemingway so yes we had to read all about Old man in the sea. the Sun also rises farewell to arms {She glossed over the Spanish civil war when talking about it} And all quiet on the western front. She even had a copy of his marriage license from when got married in Cheyenne.
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
When I was writing a paper on Midsummer Night's Dream I decided it would be a good idea to try and read The Faerie Queen for cultural context.
I'd heard it was a long poem but I figured I could just give it a quick read for some research. You know, finish it in a night before moving on to outlining in the morning.
I made it through the sixth? Canto or so before I fully realized how stupid that idea was.
One day I'm going to put on a show called Waiting for Waiting for Godot. I will rent out a theater and set an opening time of 7 PM. Every few minutes I will send somebody out to say the show has been delayed slightly but the doors should be opening shortly.
Runtime is however long it takes for the last person to get fed up and leave.
Some godshitawful community theatre has to have beaten you to the punch on this one. I can feel it in my bones.
Also because I had to endure several directors that were visiting artists with my theatre company who had even more pork-fisted artistic declarations that needed to be shared with the bleating proletariat.
Oh yeah it wouldn't be half as funny a joke to me if I didn't think it was highly likely some pretentious dickbags had legit done something like this.
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QuetziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User, Moderatormod
I've seen very similar versions of that joke put on by my local super short plays company.
My favorite was This Play Will Not Continue Until Someone Makes This Right, in which the cast brought two pedestals to center stage, one with a donut hole and one with a donut. They then all stepped back to the wings until a member of the audience got up and shoved that donut hole into the center of the donut.
I've seen very similar versions of that joke put on by my local super short plays company.
My favorite was This Play Will Not Continue Until Someone Makes This Right, in which the cast brought two pedestals to center stage, one with a donut hole and one with a donut. They then all stepped back to the wings until a member of the audience got up and shoved that donut hole into the center of the donut.
Well, that at least gives the audience agency and can successfully be argued as a stage show, if not strictly a play
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Non musical plays are generally phbbbtt.
Musicals are fucking great but, uh, hard to read for class.
I don't know I found Beowulf interesting as it's one of the few tales we have from then
Gatsby really is an insight to the rich of that era
Steinbeck I am indifferent to
Moby Dick is a ponderous tome of Americana
Wordsworth well yeah poetry hmm how to talk about that...…
Byron meh I find the fact he went on holiday with the Shelleys, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont just after the Napoleonic wars throughout Europe a novel concept as nobody did this until much much later
I hate Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield can suck it
I'll call that growth.
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This is possible, I read it in 1996. Much like Marcus Aurelius' Reflections, translations make all the difference.
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I was a weird kid.
No we only had to memorize and regurgitate American founding documents at mine. Murika.
Steam // Secret Satan
Mark Steel gives a good run down about Chaucer
And other literary characters
Beowulf has at least one completely boss paragraph:
but it's fucking funny. It's really, really, really funny.
Steam // Secret Satan
it's because they're really witty and really funny.
Although i'm mostly thinking of Beckett and Stoppard.
Steam // Secret Satan
(they've written some very good plays and are overall fine, but they come from a school of thought that gets very particular about the way that their plays are performed and has been known to get litigious about such matters if the director actually directs their play or the actors actually act)
they just got up to the bit where
and they flipped out. can't wait to watch the rest with them next week. even if it's not the best Human Condition fodder, it's a fun film :cool:
yeah that stuff is pretty bad
Steam // Secret Satan
Wasn't a fan to begin with and was less so the second time around.
On the upside at one point I got given The Call of the Wild for some sort of homework. Wizard of Earthsea at some point too.
He's angsty for literally all of the wrong reasons! Also I'm still pissed about the fencing equipment.
Edit: Also A Farewell to Arms was terrrrible. That War in Lit class turned out to be one of my favorite classes except for that one horribly boring, paint-drying disaster of a book. We literally just moved on like a third of the way through it because it was clear everyone in the class had given up reading it.
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
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Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
I actually liked it in school when we read it, but forgot most of it until I saw it. I'm not the biggest fan of reading plays in general. I'm not good at seeing the action in my head.
On the subject of Beowulf, after studying the work in earnest, our teacher handed us a satirical "modern extension" in which Beowulf, shortly after dealing with Grendel, gets into a barfight with Godzilla. It was written in English mangled to sound like the 1300s-era priestly translation. When my family went to a Society for Creative Anachronisms meeting (my sister rolled with them in college), they had a bardic competition at the end of the day. I recited the poem as my entry and narrowly took first place, winning a handcrafted trinket box I retain to this day. I think I may actually have a recording within arm's reach, but I'd be mortified to have it seen.
I'm "kupiyupaekio" on Discord.
Runtime is however long it takes for the last person to get fed up and leave.
Same teacher also assigned The Count of Monte Cristo which is one of the best damn books of all time.
We also read The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway, and I didn't like it very much. On a whim I gave it a re-read almost a decade later and enjoyed it very much.
imagine a libertarian version of that ridiculous comic where the guy defeats CRITICS by DOING ART
Some godshitawful community theatre has to have beaten you to the punch on this one. I can feel it in my bones.
Also because I had to endure several directors that were visiting artists with my theatre company who had even more pork-fisted artistic declarations that needed to be shared with the bleating proletariat.
yes, but way dumber
I'd heard it was a long poem but I figured I could just give it a quick read for some research. You know, finish it in a night before moving on to outlining in the morning.
I made it through the sixth? Canto or so before I fully realized how stupid that idea was.
Oh yeah it wouldn't be half as funny a joke to me if I didn't think it was highly likely some pretentious dickbags had legit done something like this.
My favorite was This Play Will Not Continue Until Someone Makes This Right, in which the cast brought two pedestals to center stage, one with a donut hole and one with a donut. They then all stepped back to the wings until a member of the audience got up and shoved that donut hole into the center of the donut.