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Ah, the problem of opening one's big mouth is having to explain all one's cavities. Like Jamie, I will respond more carefully later, perhaps when a few more people have jumped in, so I hope these brief responses suffice to keep something going. >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. This CASLL list is a common forum frequently used, as now, to explore differences. The dread I feel has to do with the end of debate, the bland oppression of consensus. I'm all for access to discussions and displays of difference, and I don't think the purpose of this or other forums is to erase or even necessarily to reduce difference; instead, I think the purpose is to create some new ideas - that is, to make rather than remove difference. I think of culture, like knowledge, as a process rather than a product. Do we have to go back to "In Flander's Field" to consider the horror of war? There are immigrants and refugees coming to Canada on a daily basis who are escaping from some war somewhere. This multiple, fragmented, contradictory, ever-changing culture we live in will not stand still long enough to allow the shaping of a "common" culture, and for that I am extremely grateful. >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 I am not sure why you are linking the memorization of poetry to acting. I chose to be in plays, and once the choice was made I memorized the lines so I wouldn't look like a complete idiot as I stood on stage in tights. Seriously, though, I'm not sure why you've linked the two. I despised having to memorize poetry and, along with other force-feeding techniques, memorization made me despise poetry and all the high culture it was associated with in my schooling and the adult society that foisted it on me. I loved the theatre and memorization was simply one of the steps necessary. In fact, although I had most of King Lear memorized just over a year ago, I have forgotten pretty well all of it now. It was a strictly utilitarian move: I needed the lines to do something else I was interested in. Same reason I've learned just about eveything of value that I know. And I have learned to love poetry, but only after I quit high school because I hated the "benefit" of a forced exposure to THE canon. Anyway, I'll shut up now. Anthony