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cosmolinguistIt started so innocently. The professor, Brad, asked when the Romantic period started (since we are talking about Romantic poets now instead of the horrible Ann Radcliffe), and I knew the answer. And I was excited about this, because it's a stupid, obscure piece of information that is exactly the kind of thing most people don't remember, because it's stupid. I thought I was flaunting my knowledge. I said, "1798."
"Yes, and why then?"
"That was ... Lyrical Ballads right?" I wasn't that interested in answering questions now, because they were getting geekier. I had to move my backpack, anyway; it was on my foot.
"Right," he said, "Lyrical Ballads, which was written by ... "
"William Wordsworth." I took a sip of my coffee.
"And?"
What was the guy's .. oh yeah. "Samuel Taylor Coleridge."
And then he went on talking about this, and I thought about what a nerd I am. I never tried to learn this stuff. I don't even like Romantic poetry. I don't know why my brain has filed it away so nicely and so well while omitting far more important strings of information. But it's all there.
A minute later he asked us who the six major Romantic poets are. Six? I wondered. I counted them off on my fingers. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats ... who's the sixth?
Somebody said Keats, which made Brad laugh. "Yes, the two I've given you to read for today." Someone said the other, "Coleridge."
"Wordsworth," my friend Allison said.
"Byron," I added. It made Al scoff. We find Byron ridiculous and terrible, thanks to our British Romanticism class, which was taught by someone who thinks Byron is ridiculous and terrible. "Shelley."
Right. Now, who the heck was the other guy?
"The other guy was a bit earlier," Brad said, and then I knew.
Al said it first, though. "Blake!" We snickered. After the experiences we had in our British Romanticism class, all these guys are inexplicably funny to Al and I. Especially Wordsworth and Byron. But then, Othello was funny to us, too. We're just odd.
But hey, we apparently know more about Romantic poets than anyone else in our class!
Like that's a good thing.
I'd gotten a mocha before that Gothic lit class, because I'd been yawning throughout my previous class. It was not only not what I'd ordered, but a bad mocha anyway--but hey, I'm used to that sort of thing around here, no matter how nicely the Starbucks people advertise themselves on the side of their paper cups. The sugar and caffeine seemed to just make me silly, but I think I would've found the first part of our class amusing nonetheless.
Brad had a couple of people read "Kubla Khan," and then said they could've read it more excitedly. " 'Beware! Beware!' " he said, and recited a bit more of the poem in his more-excited manner. "They could hardly go a line without using an exclamation point," he said. "In fact, during the Romantic period exclamation points were almost used up for all time. Yeah, we almost ran out. Luckily, the Victorians after them were rather staid, and didn't use many."
He's rarely that silly; I enjoyed it very much.
Then he told us that he'd tried to sum up Romantic poetry, or at least this poem, in five words, and the five words he'd come up with were "Boom! let's have demon sex!"
I think even people who hadn't had a lot of sugar and caffeine found that amusing.
"Yes, and why then?"
"That was ... Lyrical Ballads right?" I wasn't that interested in answering questions now, because they were getting geekier. I had to move my backpack, anyway; it was on my foot.
"Right," he said, "Lyrical Ballads, which was written by ... "
"William Wordsworth." I took a sip of my coffee.
"And?"
What was the guy's .. oh yeah. "Samuel Taylor Coleridge."
And then he went on talking about this, and I thought about what a nerd I am. I never tried to learn this stuff. I don't even like Romantic poetry. I don't know why my brain has filed it away so nicely and so well while omitting far more important strings of information. But it's all there.
A minute later he asked us who the six major Romantic poets are. Six? I wondered. I counted them off on my fingers. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats ... who's the sixth?
Somebody said Keats, which made Brad laugh. "Yes, the two I've given you to read for today." Someone said the other, "Coleridge."
"Wordsworth," my friend Allison said.
"Byron," I added. It made Al scoff. We find Byron ridiculous and terrible, thanks to our British Romanticism class, which was taught by someone who thinks Byron is ridiculous and terrible. "Shelley."
Right. Now, who the heck was the other guy?
"The other guy was a bit earlier," Brad said, and then I knew.
Al said it first, though. "Blake!" We snickered. After the experiences we had in our British Romanticism class, all these guys are inexplicably funny to Al and I. Especially Wordsworth and Byron. But then, Othello was funny to us, too. We're just odd.
But hey, we apparently know more about Romantic poets than anyone else in our class!
Like that's a good thing.
I'd gotten a mocha before that Gothic lit class, because I'd been yawning throughout my previous class. It was not only not what I'd ordered, but a bad mocha anyway--but hey, I'm used to that sort of thing around here, no matter how nicely the Starbucks people advertise themselves on the side of their paper cups. The sugar and caffeine seemed to just make me silly, but I think I would've found the first part of our class amusing nonetheless.
Brad had a couple of people read "Kubla Khan," and then said they could've read it more excitedly. " 'Beware! Beware!' " he said, and recited a bit more of the poem in his more-excited manner. "They could hardly go a line without using an exclamation point," he said. "In fact, during the Romantic period exclamation points were almost used up for all time. Yeah, we almost ran out. Luckily, the Victorians after them were rather staid, and didn't use many."
He's rarely that silly; I enjoyed it very much.
Then he told us that he'd tried to sum up Romantic poetry, or at least this poem, in five words, and the five words he'd come up with were "Boom! let's have demon sex!"
I think even people who hadn't had a lot of sugar and caffeine found that amusing.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-16 04:13 pm (UTC)-- not william blake
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-17 07:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-16 09:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-17 07:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-16 11:40 pm (UTC)Oh trust me, even people who weren't actually there (like me) found that amusing :)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-17 07:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-18 05:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-17 07:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-17 07:56 am (UTC)