I read with interest your latest meditation on Shakespeare. My 7th grade son, Joey, has been complaining of late that he should have to learn to memorize Shakespeare. He says we go to such great lengths to learn the rules of English and Latin 'grammar,' and then go and ruin it all by reading and memorizing Shakespeare, who breaks all the rules. He wants to know why I would confuse him so!
Being in the thick of the analytic stage, he is doing a wonderful job of analyzing, summarizing and categorizing many things on a daily basis.
So far this year he has memorized parts of Prospero's speech from Act V of the 'The Tempest' and is now working on the St. Crispin's Day speech from 'Henry V' and it is tough going for him, even after watching the famous 1989 BBC video. Of course, he can do it mechanically, because all of us have been memorizing poetry since Kindergarten. But, he finds it goes against the grain for him to learn such bad grammar. I have told him that Shakespeare is above grammar rules, and that he may be largely responsible for many of the grammar rules now found in modern English, but this does not dissuade him of his opinion. I even told him not to worry, but to try to enjoy himself. It is easy to see that Shakespeare is an acquired taste, myself having only learnt to appreciate the nuances and imageries in my later (after 40) years.
