Audio - British Romantic audio

  Our second day of a workshop-style reading of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia.  This time the action has shifted to the present day.  Unlike the first day - today's reading has a lot more exposition - and the laughs are fewer, but the mysteries deepen.  We meet Benard, Hannah, Valentine, Gus and Chloe.  We also see some items, including 3 letters tucked into a book of bad poetry, that we were introduced to in yesterday's reading.  We also get to the first two pages of Scene 3 - back to the Romantic Era - and Byron gets mentioned for the first time.

When, in college, I was told that this is the most important poem in the English Language - after reading it - after discussing it in my college class, I had no idea why that was true (or even if it was true).  Then I became a student teacher - and had to say goodbye to my first class - suddenly it dawned on me - my class became Dorothy (Wordsworth) and I here I was describing things to them that I had seen before and that they were seeing for the first time.

When, in college, I was told that this is the most important poem in the English Language - after reading it - after discussing it in my college class, I had no idea why that was true (or even if it was true).  Then I became a student teacher - and had to say goodbye to my first class - suddenly it dawned on me - my class became Dorothy (Wordsworth) and I here I was describing things to them that I had seen before and that they were seeing for the first time.

 We finish Arcadia - and what a finish it is.  Benard leaves - caught in disgrace - both for what he published and personally - Thomasina's diagram is studied by both Valentine and Septemis at the same time - and the entire story comes together like a lovely waltz.  This is the Period A recording of our read through.

 We begin by doing a choral reading of the poem - we start reading it as the whole class and then row after row drops out until I, alone, am reading the last two lines - the effect is chilling.  Next we discuss the poem using a group work that can be found on this website - the rest of the group work is up to them.

There is so much that happens in this 50 minute period.  We read Walt Whitman (Song of Myself) - we talk about the meaning of "the child is the father of the man."  We also talk about the basic 3 precepts of the preface to Lyrical Ballads - and I tell two stories one about learning from my mother - the other about the wonder of seeing a rainbow through a child's eyes.  This is the Period B version of that class.

When, in college, I was told that this is the most important poem in the English Language - after reading it - after discussing it in my college class, I had no idea why that was true (or even if it was true).  Then I became a student teacher - and had to say goodbye to my first class - suddenly it dawned on me - my class became Dorothy (Wordsworth) and I here I was describing things to them that I had seen before and that they were seeing for the first time.