Hello Everyone!
My name is Mr. Long. Some of you may have had me for a Latin course at Memoria Press Online Classical Academy – I’m the instructor with all the intriguing hats and the very manly coffee mug.
The Spring 2009 semester will be my second semester of teaching for Memoria Press Online. I also teach Greek, Latin, and Calculus at Highlands Latin School in Louisville , KY – where I’ve been teaching since the Fall of 2007. I am very happy to announce that I will be offering a new course for the Online Classical Academy this Spring 2009 semester. The course is entitled, The Writings of William Shakespeare.
You may already have some familiarity with Shakespeare. Perhaps you’ve been fortunate enough to see one of Shakespeare’s plays performed live – my own city, for example, hosts several weeks of Shakespeare productions every summer in one of our downtown parks. Or, more likely, you may have seen one of the many screen adaptations of a Shakespearean play – perhaps the 1948 version of Macbeth starring Orson Welles (memorable chiefly because Macbeth’s crown in one scene looks as if it may have inspired the design of the Happy Meal box!), or the recent and very colorful productions by Kenneth Branagh (like his 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, starring Emma Thompson). Or perhaps you’re altogether new to Shakespeare.
In either case, Shakespeare is well worth close study. Demonstrating a truly astonishing breadth of imagination, Shakespeare creates characters and plots that entertain and express deep insight into human nature. And almost no one has used the English language as beautifully as Shakespeare used it.
Our goal in this class will be to survey Shakespeare’s work – hence we’ll read two history plays, two tragedies, and two comedies. In the history category, we’ll be reading Julius Caesar and Henry V. For tragedy we’ll read Macbeth and Hamlet. And for comedy we’ll read The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing.
I really look forward to reading and discussing these plays with my students next semester. Shakespeare is a profound author, and he ought to be encountered – and enjoyed – early in the course of any good education. To read more about the chat time, book list, and age recommendations for this course, Click Here.
Blessings,
Mr. Long