Why, and how, Chaucer?
Certainly from my long time interest in
the use of digital resources in
the study of literature; and wondering how
these new devices might be used to make
the study of language a little more engaging;
These days,
one can easily envision teachers having access to
large databases of digital recordings, audio and video,
encompassing both popular song and popular culture
as well as the traditions of acting,
and interpretive reading of traditional verse.
Conceptually, in some districts, right now,
both teacher and student [might] possess
access to databases of all kinds of recordings,
(though its mainly spoken-word and popular song,
that piques my interest, and may possess some practical value,
in the form of a lesson, an essay, a course of some kind,
for the student or the teacher.)
This access is a tool, but what's the tool for?
How can this access to recorded sound best be used?
What can it be used-for?
[answer]
[reason 1: enjoyment and enrichment, ]
Simple enjoyment of an aesthetic event or object, in an intellectual, inquisitive setting, hardly needs excuse or explanation.It is the sought-after raw ore of learning, and spice to dryer linguistic pursuits; & the bonding that may come through
such shared aesthetic experience.
[reason 2: broadening cultural awareness and knowledge]
Sound and video brings an immediacy and immersion that should not be ignored. When used cogently, with direction and discretion, they ought to be a potent tool for expanding one's sense of self, culture and time, both ethnic & historical.[reason 3: model for recital]
Such access can serve as basis and modelto the art of recitation itself, and the acting and reading skills required,
for both student and teachers;
and thus as a basis for recitation
becoming a more regular part of the language skill curriculum;
and general culture.
[on the art of recitation:]
Recitation ought to be viewed as a set of skillsthat complement, entwine with, and support
the quiet language arts of writing and reading.
In recital we surrender and commit our selves
to someone else's words and thoughts,
words and thoughts that are not our own.
We spend time reciting, practicing,
from memory even,
well wrought literary works and poems;
to engage the mind in what might seem, at first,
a lesser exercise, but in what probably results in
a deeper and more lasting sense of literature;
and appreciation for
the art and use of language.
Practiced vocal performance
is its own form of engagement,
complex, practiced and studied over time;
a different set of objectives.
Reading engages the eye and mind,
and writing the hand and mind,
but reciting engages both ear and throat,
mind; and heart, which is to say,
emotion.
Recitation lies between two fundamental,
lifelong skills, namely reading and writing,
and entwines with them in a braid of linguistic skills,
each strand supporting, strengthening, the others,
It is a different mode of engagement and expression
that focuses on sounds, voice and emotions.
It uses spoken words to conjure up emotion
and thus offers us some degree of control over emotion
first in ourselves, and then in others,
like a musician, the emotion is the engagement,
and engagement is what we most desire in education.
And hopefully this brings some degree of directing.
Its ability to invoke, to conjure up emotion
are not easily come to but any other practice.
It instructs on how to prepare,
and how to put emotion on, to feel carefully,
to imagine and then project,
words and thoughts, the feelings and experiences
of another person whose language skills are probably
better than your own; undoubtably are different.
one puts on a different syntax,
and a different set of word choices,
a whole different style of being perhaps,
and when these scripts are practiced and well learned,
they then become a ready remedy
for a moment's idleness.
And thus an abiding part of ourselves.
A source of insight, as well as style;
of vocabulary, syntax and form.
unlike its siblings, reading or writing,
it's hard to imagine calling it a tool.
To have prepared, after a fashion,
a number of set pieces,
and to be able to recite them at a moment's turn,
is a symbol of commitment,
and a process that deepens and changes the self.
and an example that changes public discourse.
Listening
As reading is to writing,
listening is to reciting.
the act or art of listening,
of verse, spoken word, music or song,
and even the act of viewing, I shudder to say,
as in TV and movies,
over time these become viewed as likely assignments
enjoyed, exercised, or endured
outside of school, at the students own discretion.
Which raises questions such as:
Whose life, time, values, styles, choices,
is it after all?
And that a good question. (I'm glad I asked it.)
For the progressive the holy grail of education is
not a litany of facts, grammars and processes,
although these things are not trivial,
and not to be neglected,
but, simply, a shared respect for learning,
for such a shared respect for learning
promotes autonomy and self reliance
and that when the student is actively engaged
in his own education,
is self-directed and acquisitive,
then learning shifts to a whole new level,
a quantum leap,
(an order of magnitude improvement if not more)
over spoon feeding, testing and scoring,
The iPod and Chaucer
should listening be assigne ?
the immersion during the walk...
not just into Chaucer, but poetry in general,
sometimes interspersed with music,
a forced, disciplined repetition,
aural exposure to art and culture,
poetry and music, tempo,
affect, focus, interpretation,
A concern for the physical aspects of speech,
it's probably safe to say, is not shared by many
of those otherwise concerned about language skills and literacy.
But speech and performance are an important component in
professional development
one's ability to communicate, ( i.e. public speaking)
but the study, and practice of recital connects
in a personal and physical way,
mere grammar to art.
on Writing & (Purpose)Existentialism,
Increasingly, I believe, beneath the discussions of
educational reform especially as regards English
and testing, and testing writing, the broader questioning
of the value of literature study as main component of
language study.
For some, maybe a great many, a study of language skills
that lacks a study of literature, would be devoid
of any emotional spark, of human interest,
of inspiration and example.
One could study news reports, and essays
on politics, the arts, and sports,
we can try to teach writing to a prompt
but I'm not optimistic about ever seeing
a collection of the best prompt essays of the 2009 ACT tests-
but I wonder what they'd show?
an artificial form, I think
yet still a skill among the top scorers, ,
and certainly as diagnostic samples,
but one would be surprised to find such things,
as insight, wit and humor, commitment,
still it could happen of course,
wit like lightening strikes at random, they say.
One can't help but notice the difference between
writing-to-a-prompt, and normal writing.
Artifice is unavoidable in testing for writing
because the normal practice of writing as a [professional] skill
overwhelms the temporal constraints we expect in testing,
Undoubtably such testing will reveal
the basic shape of achievement
in learning how to write, for the student,
as well as for society,
and for that they are to be praised.
But they make a poor model for learning how to write.
And teaching to the test, in this case, is apt to be poor pedagogic practice.
but much of writing which we value most
comes as the result of the long grind
and personal commitment over time
and practice; values that one associates
more with the arts than the newspapers.
Our commitment to teaching writing skills
and our expectations may be over optimistic,
that carefully structured and thought-out writing
is not a likely outcome for the vast majority
of secondary school graduates, or even college graduates,
all we can hope to teach for the most part
is some set of inchoate pre-writing skills
out of which even the best of the bunch
will only hack out stiff mechanical
responses to some overly arranged,
artificial prompt.
And while the mind may marvel at various renderings
of people, stories, and emotion in reading,
for many writing is a struggle and challenge
to write, create, something of a similar quality
to what they read.
The difference 'tween good writing and bad
is apt to be, mostly, commitment,
and practice, and faith in the daily grind
of writing and revising, that it pays off,
if not in cash then personal satisfaction.
Until commitment happens, you're just teaching
grammar and penmanship, and typing...
In part the problem is that most of us
never make a personal commitment to
any particular body of knowledge, until
much later in our lifetimes,
than during our grammar days.
The typical student [really] hasn't that much to say!
what was sometimes referred to as Speech sometimes Rhetoric
sometimes acting, sometimes interpretive reading,
from The Persoun's Portrait:
He koude in litel thyng have suffisaunce.
...
This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf,
That first he wroghte, and afterward he taughte.
Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte,
And this figure he added eek therto,
That if gold ruste, what shal iren do?
What then should be studied?
Poetry's a likely choice.
After all concern for sound is what
defines most poetry and verse— and song.
Music. Sweet music— the popular song?
Varities of digital platforms,
the laptops and all the new handhelds,
the capabilities of their software
displaying information, playing songs,
and organizing all these sep'rate things,
It opens gates to wider ranging source
materials, rhetorical resources;
and pedagogical perplexities.
Should Johnny study show tunes?
the classic songs of Jazz?
Is this not an art's history?
Should we study lyrics,
the way we study verse?
They do have rhyme and rhythm, no? And sense
Occasionally. The styles change with time.
(That's a common theme...)
the new digital medium affords the ability to sample,
listen-to-repeatedly-perhaps,
from a wide ranging collection of audio [traks]resources,
recordings of spoken recitals, readings,
as well as short musical pieces,
classical, folk, historic popular song,
ragtime, the songs of the Jazz Era,
Such a system is easy to imagine.
The shuffling change of class,
Billie Holiday singing I cover the waterfront.
Or a Bach fugue prancing forth from a piano
played by some speed crazed Canadian.
Or someone reading the Pardoner's Tale.
Public education, especially literary education,
encompasses in fact the rough creation of culture and identity.
Public education proscribes, by default,
through the texts that it chooses,
and other experiences it offers,
a literary memory, consciousness, canon,
for the contemporary, maturing mind.
It doesn't necessarily have to do this,
I suppose, to proscribe a past,
we might just study texts prepared just for studying
and not depend on writings of the past.
Who needs literature?
Indeed, increasingly,
the aim of public literacy seems to be
the reading and writing of reports.
But if we do do so,
try to teach literature
Then in doing so creates a frame, a scenario,
in which the student locates himself.
This may be hegemony, but sure
it's a faltering one.
Of course the student is already defining himself,
and framing his experiences, history,
pastimes, and how she entertains herself.
And this creation of self is greatly assisted by
large marketers, gross hedonists perhaps,
who give the emerging mind what it wants
in terms of fashion and status.
The teacher, school and society can be seen
as competing with advertisers and artists
in popular culture, with the teacher,
as advocate for the past, its art and stories,
eventually loses out. Un-educable-ly, out of fashion.
But though the marketers have learned to use
the new devices and communications,
in time perhaps teachers will also.
And more attractively [effectively, affectively]
compel[force] exposure to a wider range
of culture, and history, and do so
in a deeply nourishing way;
through the use of voice, and its inflections,
through increased use of recording, recitation
in the classroom, but also through the day,
through listening assignments, via iPods and such,
such practices encourages deeper exploration of the past,
deeper acculturation, sense of history, place in time.
Perhaps at this point, thoughts of hegemony begin to make sense.
Into a conflict of aesthetic and moral(?) values,
of attitude, towards the past, toward authority,
The issue of acculturation,
concerns about identity,
of hegemony of aesthetic and cultural values and norms,
are perhaps best encounter by trying to change
the metaphor from that of a zero sum game
based on cultural identity,
but as enlargement and growth,
of both minority and majority aesthetics and values...
Having access to a wide collection of short audio recordings
of a wide range of cultural and historical sources,
encourages a growth and widening of identity,
and cultural values.
Is there a common place in rhetoric
for poetry, and for the popular song?
and similiar ways of looking at their use
of language, sound and sense, foot and form?
Lots of things might well be considered...
One wonders at how much or how well
these capabilities are made use-of.
Assume this lack of use a fact or trend,
what hinders then the greater use in school
of these tools? Perhaps we suffer from
a lack of clear direction of what and how.
For many, teachers' understanding may
require viewing prototypes and such,
and too, by seeing what works well with others.
and what works well with words and with recording.
Not all these questions come with easy answers.
That's
what Innerlea Poetics is about.
How might these new capacities be used
best?
It would seem an obvious benefit
that teacher's should have ready access to
a wide range of audio resources,
recordings and such. How could it hurt?
Well, perhaps one can get lost in it,
become bewildered, what should be listened-to?
and how much listening should be done?
Can listening be assigned? mp3's sent out?
One attractions of repeated close
listenings, (with access to a script,
and cogent notes) is how it makes the far-
off works seem so much more approachable—
Inexorable, the descant of the voice,
full knowingly, carrying us along.
Whene'er rhetorical art is involved,
there always stays some possibility
for some fortuitous thing to take place,
a little miracle that might occur;
when learning and enjoyment come together,
it happens sometimes, just like crazy weather:
the winter lightening, and the wild strawberry.
What we should be looking for is
what will entertain, especially
possessing historical vindication.
What is historical reknown except
what use to be once greatly entertaining?
(Upon a time.) And that's why they're remembered.
Chaucer and Shakespeare both wrote in verse,
they're remembered 'cause that verse was spoken,
repeatedly, in a public place;
and those words sufficed to entertain,
and serve as source and form for the emotions.
These words had power once, to entertain.
Do they suffice to entertain again?
We must imagine them as always writing,
but also as endlessly performing,
or else concerned about a work's performance.
and that their words were always getting said.
There is a well known painting of Chaucer,
reciting, in a book by Peter Ackroyd.
I say that this must surely stand for something —
It's here we should expect new tools to lead
to new insight, and to hear farther, clearer,
the deep past;
for it remains, the freshening counterpoint
to any current days' sense of style,
and media; a freshness that needs speaking
to be felt.
Chaucer, in part, because he lies at the
periphery of our consciousness and thoughts
of style. A cloud of dust, the remnant of
a star, that exploded when it died
long ago, leaving an echo of dust
over all. It was a point once,
seemingly remote from us now.
Long ago and far away. Star-dust.
Aristocratic. Cuckold?
Vulgar, familiar with the common man,
or peasant, but whose audience must be
the court, the aristocracy, a clique
of lawyers at a public house. Imagine
the constant need for entertainment, limited
to what one could say or sing, with his
own voice, and from the heart. We
too have this constant need for entertainment.
Ours is fulfilled automatically,
sometimes live, rarely by ourselves.
For the most part, poetry's been displaced
by the popular song. Which is great,
if you want to be transported by
the ecstacy of amplification, and
the bare semantics of some oft repeated
hook, straining to be remembered.
Mon frere, who's reached a certain age,
or Ipanema there, strikingly alone,
know, that there was never a world for us
except the one that requires filing up
with sounds, and voice, and words; and emotion.
Take pity on him, the common modern man
who brings sometimes not too much to the party
his memories of art, rarely long lasting
always vague, and being displaced, the words,
the styles, come and go, talking about
the currency. He's left celebrating youth,
ok in itself, but nothing else.
People get old. How does he deal with it?
The mind gets old, and it refuses to learn
new words, or steps, unless it's set aside
a store, or the time to build, something,
that better captures passing moments, that,
are not always euphoric, yet, still;
still fulfill.
[iambic pentameter]
that was built around a common form,
iambic pentameter,
It might be said, that all of metric verse
Can be divided into three parts:
Iambic tetrameter, four feet to a line,
Iambic pentameter, five feet to a line,
And everything else, (this mostly being
experiments with other rhythms and such).
And that tetrameter's the dominant form;
because it is a perfect power of two,
its structure's plainly heard.
and even trimeter
is just a four foot line that's lost a foot,
or rather, has a pause instead.
So what makes five foot lines so darn attractive?
Oddly enough, because the four foot ones
are too attractive and too tuneful for
their own good. We don't always want to be
so tuneful and square in our proclamations;
sometimes we prefer to be, meandering,
and meditative, more flow than march,
or more interested in telling a story.
These reasons are what draws us to this form.
The classics, Chaucer and Shakespeare, are then
the natural subjects for study in sound.
For most, they are, linguistically remote;
their power to enchant, assumed, not felt.
Thus we're drawn, especially, to these two,
to see how useful these new tools may prove
to be. And at the same time, haunted by
questions of these words true worth,
to the modern man, or student, or passerby,
are they, as Eliot's suggests:
merely a receipt for deceit...
Useless in the darkness into which they peered
Or from which they turned their eyes.
...
Is literature itself growing remote?
Undernourished, receding up the mountain?
If it is, perhaps it then make sense
to focus our attention on its most
salient works, and on their composers?
What should hold best is that which is the most
widely and historically respected.
And that is Shakespeare, commonly agreed.
He it is that should be studied most,
since he has taught the longest. He's not easy
though, for all to come-to.
He makes demands
Upon the ear as well as on the mind —
But one thing helps the ear to hear the sound
of a five foot line in verse when it goes down,
And that is repetition, hearing often
examples of it, without grand allusions
to Greek mythology, or burden us
with some magnificient grand metaphor,
but just to hear the rhythm, time to time.
Chaucer can do that! For he provides
A style that doesn't aim so high,
But aims full well at entertainment,
and enjoyment. More than Shakespeare does
he wants his lines to be, loved for their rhythm.
He comes to me a rustic. His rhythm
Sometimes rude for the occasion, his rhyme
Gynglen in a whistlynge wynd als cleere
Shakespeare, Shakespeare,
Hamlet and his ghost,
have a smoother line perhaps,
Eventually we come to the conclusion
that it isn't just Shakespeare at all,
its the very act of saying, our spoken
rhetoric, that has been undernourished.
Do spoken incantations, chants and spells
still have the power to revive an old
Aeson? and an old tradition: poetry?
We hope the voice is able to renew itself,
through the act of reciting.
Poetry, though is hard to come-to, and
for a number of reasons. Twisted syntax,
and other quaint features, anachronisms,
that many find a little cloying.
And then there's all the metaphors and such,
figures of speech, discovered by the greeks,
and also mythological allusions.
Things not admired by the common man,
perhaps. And yet voice and history
Lead us here. Trust in the voice?
If verse and poetry must then be done,
or if you think them key to the revival
of literature in general, then ought
we not to also focus on the form
that's used most frequently and also serves
as template for so many great works?
And this of course would be: Blank, verse.
Oh are not language teachers sometimes like
some clumsy Zen masters who do not
understand the lightness of the thing
that they transmit? An unbearable lightness of being?
Does not our dear Christian theology,
its categories of sins, their definitions,
visions of heaven, hell and purgatory,
tend to make a spreadsheet of the soul,
our virtues and trespasses there kept score-of,
like a manifest or bill of sales.
Can we think of our souls as something more
than just a bowl of sometimes spoiled milk
or cream, or rancid butter on cold porridge?
Imagine there's no final,
nor no final grade.
Only spirits whisp'ring,
Across a span of days.
Can we imagine souls as psyche? our thoughts,
Emotions, memory? What we think of as
ourselves? What came to us before and after
we were born? Is this what we transmit,
if indeed we do transmit anything
of ourselves, and it persist,
in the minds of others? And this should be
Our soul's sole temporal reversion?
Fourty minutes of Chaucer
the furthest reachable counterpoint to our
modernity; folksy, flippant, vulgar,
and crude;
One could argue further for, the efficacy of the human voice