I'll jump into this more thoughtfully at a later date, but for now, two points I'd like to make to Anthony. 1. I'm interested that you'd use a common, shared forum to indicate your "dread" of "the idea of" of common, shared culture. You ask "which poetry, whose culture?" Two answers: One: As long as we live in communities, it will be the poetry and the culture of our communities. Two: The best poetry from all cultures. 2. I'm interested that you, who have gained so much from acting, would be "thankful that students do not have to memorize poetry." Sometimes it seems to me that canon bashers are the same people who have benefited a good deal from being exposed to a tradtional canon. Anthony, without some common culture, how do citizens in a polity work toward (or even engage in) a civil society? And what the heck is wrong with knowing some poetry by heart? Jamie