Comments on Shakespeare Geek: Shakespearean Functional Shift

Hi DuaneGreat site, and thanks for picking up on m...

2008-07-19T06:18:58.669-04:00

Hi Duane

Great site, and thanks for picking up on my article. I think your reader Catkins makes a good point in that the verb interpretation of 'crook' might be the initial interpretation.

Nice to know there are some Shakespeare geeks out there...

Best
Ian

Thinking makes you think ...Thinking about cream c...

2008-07-18T00:41:50.870-04:00

Thinking makes you think ...

Thinking about cream cheese makes you smarter! As long as you are 'thinking' about it, not just remembering.

Shakespeare is a brilliant thing to think about because he asks questions - and you have to provided the answers: It is a common enough phenomenon.

Reading Shakespeare doesn't make you smarter - thinking about what you've seen (preferably) does.

I think that's the point, though, Catkins - that n...

2008-07-17T22:22:20.991-04:00

I think that's the point, though, Catkins - that new research suggests that reading Shakespeare does, in fact, make you smarter. The original article I was thinking of is about 2 years old, and cited here:

http://blog.shakespearegeek.com/2006/12/shakespeare-is-good-for-your-brain.html

We Shakespeare geeks find it cool and interesting because we "get" it faster than others. We've read enough, far more than others ever will.

I don't think it is so much that reading Shakespea...

2008-07-17T19:36:02.260-04:00

I don't think it is so much that reading Shakespeare makes you smart as that reading Shakespeare is really interesting. But I don't think this is the best example. I read "crook" right off as a verb. It has to do with what Samuel Johnson called the author's "diction." If you read enough Shakespeare, you get to learn to expect certain patterns. Sometimes he is complicated and sometimes he is not. It may depend on the stage of his career, or it may depend on the effect he is creating. Straightforward diction can have a very direct effect; complicated diction can have a very intricate effect. I suspect that he used the functional shift to create more complicated effects, though I doubt that he thought about it in that way.