They ran from palace walls
Into the forest where
Unruly beings cast their spells
And heard through rustling verdant leaves
The sound of clanging wedding bells.
I’m teaching A Midsummer Night’s Dream to my Year 7s at the moment and I love hearing their take on the language and what it might mean. Some are way off the actual meaning, but even when it’s wrong, I love that they are thinking about the word choices and what they could possibly mean.
I think that it’s also interesting to get their thoughts on some of those bigger themes that Shakespeare tackles; the themes that keep his work relevant some 400 years after he was writing.
Today I was reading through their books and looking at some of the predictions that they were making as to what they think might happen as the story continues. Worryingly, there are a lot of them that seem to think that the characters are all going to be murdered. Perhaps they are getting confused with Macbeth?
I did notice another slip of the letters in one book. A girl had written that she thought Lysander and Hermia would kill Demetrius and Egeus and then they would ‘be free to exchange their vowels’.
Remember that if you are getting married and want to go against tradition there is always the option to exchange your consonants. Something to think about if you are planning your nuptials.
Much Love
Rachel xx
Margot Kinberg
Hahaha! Their vowels! Well, I can say that when my husband and I married, we did carry all of our vowels down the aisle and passed them to each other. The consonants were carried up by our attendants (each had a few). I mean, in English, there are more consonants than vowels…
As to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I love it that you’re having them engage with it to predict what will happen and what they would like to see happen. That’s the way to make the story and the characters real for them. It also allows them to be creative and take pride in what they’re learning and making.
Greg Dennison
Vowels 😂😂😂