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Shakespeare-centric universe
Jan. 20th, 2009 11:23 amSo I dreamed last night that I met a time traveler from the future (in a restaurant with the Worst Service In The World, but that's not the point), who said that he had trouble with the way we spoke English. He found it "rustic" and "quaint."
I said, "Oh, you mean like we think of Shakespeare?"
He was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
I quoted Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate."
"I don't understand that," he said. "Who is Shakespeare?"
"Shakespeare, comma, William," I said. "English playwright of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The greatest playwright of the English Renaissance. Probably the greatest playwright in the English language. Maybe the greatest playwright in the history of mankind, but put three English majors and a classicist in a room together, and you'd get a pretty good argument out of it."
"Oh," he said. "I've heard of him. He's about half lost to us."
Which I found almost unbearably sad.
I'd be the first to admit my subconscious is a freak.
I said, "Oh, you mean like we think of Shakespeare?"
He was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
I quoted Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate."
"I don't understand that," he said. "Who is Shakespeare?"
"Shakespeare, comma, William," I said. "English playwright of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The greatest playwright of the English Renaissance. Probably the greatest playwright in the English language. Maybe the greatest playwright in the history of mankind, but put three English majors and a classicist in a room together, and you'd get a pretty good argument out of it."
"Oh," he said. "I've heard of him. He's about half lost to us."
Which I found almost unbearably sad.
I'd be the first to admit my subconscious is a freak.
