SOMETHING ABOUT SHAKESPEARE

Our clouds were both dark and white and especially billowy this morning, and we knew to expect another rainy day, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeping in, as Macbeth said, but for a different situation entirely. I just checked to see how many tomorrows he used, although I know the soliloquy from memory, and found something rather astonishing. There was the soliloquy as we knew it in school, but then there it was written in modern English too! A desecration, in my book. I remember learning many years ago, as a young teacher, Shakespeare must never be brought down to anyone's inadequacy, but the student must be brought up to Shakespeare's level. The original version is poetry. The modern version is prose. I will rub it in and say it is prosaic prose. To save time for those who aren't familiar with that word, I'll tell you one of the meanings of prosaic is dull. Poetry--real poetry--is never dull. ***