- Do you believe the study? Why or why not?
- Do the findings make reading Shakepeare worthwhile? Why or why not?
- What questions does the article raise for you? Why?
- Also consider other ideas and reactions that stand out to you when you read the article.
Make sure you discuss your ideas in relation to those of your classmates; DO NOT repeat the ideas discussed by anyone else!
All responses due by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22nd.
I do believe in the study because I have had personal experience with Shakespeares work. Whenever I read his work, especially shorter sonnets or poems, the structure enthralls my minds. The evidence in the article is hard to argue with, the backwards route our brain must embark when reading Shakespeare is very odd. Unlike all other authors, poets and playwrights, Shakespeares work is revolutionary. Learning this, it makes reading Shakespeare that much more exciting because it is proven that your brain is working in a unique way. A question that comes to mind is; Could there be other poets with similar effects on the Human Mind. Shakespeare is obviously a world renowned writer but could there be other authors who strive for the same effect? Or is it that since Shakespeare is so famous, the experts will experiment with his works and not ones of other poets?
ReplyDeleteThis article propossed a good theory why a lot of people like to read Shakespeare's work. The theory says people like the way he words nouns as verb and it throws off the English language but that is the main reason why they love it. People love the idea of thinking outside the box and thats what he does because you can not only read his work but you must think about it for a while. I believe thats why a lot of people like his work because if you just read it you will not get anything from it you must think about each line seperately. The finding do not make the reading worthwhile unless you can decode each line of his work. Because if you mess up it will throw off the whole story and its meaning.
ReplyDeleteOne question I got from this article is, If people like to think outside the box and try and find a things true meaning, why don't they read a mystery book instead of being confused by Shakespeare's High Class English. My overall reaction to the article is why do scientist study their brain when they could just ask the people who love Shakespeare and ask them why they like him. They could of saved a lot of time and they would of good a clear answer instead of reading a computer's image of a brain.
When I read this article,many things jumped out as meaningful to me. Many times when I read something in English, and I misread a word, the whole sentence becomes confusing, I must stop and go back and reread a sentence, when I read it again, and I read correct word, I can understand the sentence. My brain knew when I misread the word, that I was not comprehending so it told me to look at it again. This is similar to Shakespeare's functional shift. When he uses his nouns at verbs, our brains are confused and a signal goes off, telling us to look again. For me Shakespeare is doubly confusing my brain gets doubly confused it takes me so long to read shakespeare that I don't read unless I am forced to.
ReplyDeleteNo, I do not believe in this study. I think it is a good way to look at it because some people may wonder why others read Shakespeare. I do not think it makes reading it any more worthwhile. I do not think that reading his works makes your brain excited and want to read more because personally, I do not enjoy reading it. I think it is very confusing and never straightforward. There is always some hidden meaning in each work.
ReplyDeleteSome questions are how could grammar that the brain does not understand make someone want to read his works anymore than before? If you were reading something and did not understand, usually it would make you want to stop reading. People like to read things they enjoy and easily understand.
The article gives good evidence to the theory of Shakespear . An I guess that I would need to agree with it to a degree because when reading Shakespear’s works they make you stop and think more than a normal story. As said in the article they compare it to playing with a jigsaw puzzle, it says when using a jigsaw puzzle it captures more of your attention and makes you think and focus on what you are doing. I believe that when reading Shakespear you are thinking about what you are reading and you look deeper into the story at hand.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend reading Shakespear just to see how your brain reacts to the wording, because in my opinion with the different wording you will get more knowledge out of the story. An by reading shakespear’s works perhaps your vocabulary will enhance a little.
I believe this study because Shakespeare befuddles my brain to this day. His words are so strange and he makes you think. I don’t read Shakespeare for fun but it makes it interesting and worthwhile to know that you are exercising your brain to farther capacities. I may question how credible the way they find the studies out and if it is really true because it is so boring for me to read because I have no idea what is going on. I like how it points out in the article that he uses verbs as nouns because he challenges our minds and we practically know the word from previous vocabulary. He has made so many words from using nouns to make verbs in the English language.
ReplyDeleteI guess this article makes some sense because everytime I read Shakespeare it still confuses me. The words that he uses are very strange and the time that he wrote in, the English was still very complicated to understand. This study seems very logical because the brain is a very complicated structure in your head. The way we think is a very complicated process that no one will ever figure out how we figure out or interpretate things. This article was very boring to read because I had no idea what they were really talking about. The article tells you how Shakespeare uses verbs as nouns and I am pretty sure someone told me that before. That is why Shakespeare is so hard to read about because he really makes you think about what you are reading. I could see that this be true but if they could word the article more different, I could understand it better and believe it more.
ReplyDeleteI do believe the study presented in the article. I believe the study because it is done by certified doctors and has to do with the brain. Those two things give this story a lot of creditability. Therefore; I do believe the study is true. From the study, I now do believe reading Shakespeare is worthwhile. The main reason for this change of thinking is that in the article, they talk about the works of William stimulating the mind. I can see where they are coming from with that because the way Shakespeare’s works are written are in a different style then we are used to. Because of that it forces the reader to really think about what is being presented to them.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I find this study extremely interesting. I always thought Shakespeare was just written in a strange style that no one really understood. But now, I have a new found respect for his writings and also his writing style. I do think reading Shakespeare’s works can be beneficial for all people. That is largely due to the fact that the style of which is it written forces the reader to adapt the way he or she reads the story.
After reading I do not believe in the study. It seems like that kind of brain activity could happen when reading anything and not just Shakespeare. The findings are worthwhile however, because it can’t hurt your brain if you read Shakespeare but I don’t think it helps anymore than reading something else that promotes brain function. The article makes me wonder if the study would show the same affects on the brain when reading something else or if it is just Shakespeare. I wonder this because I don’t think things written by one person have this affect on the human brain.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading this article it made me think about the validity of the study. It could be false information or a fluke. I think when someone reads anything that makes you think a little your brain will show more activity. The article was very interesting to me even though I don’t believe it.
The study that was done on brain activity while reading Shakespeare is very believable. I can almost feel something happen in my own brain when I read something of the Shakespearean language, almost as if my brain says “I am not used to this, this is abnormal”. The brain does not know how to react because it is so used to seeing certain words used in a certain way so when Shakespeare changed and played with some of these rules, it can really throw your brain for quite a loop. I do not think that reading Shakespeare is worthwhile solemnly because of this study, I think that reading Shakespeare is good in general education sense. It can help turn you in to a well rounded, educated, literate person. But I do think that this study just adds to the importance of reading Shakespeare. While reading this article I was a bit skeptical of the machinery being used and how these scientists have came up with these exact data of what our brains are doing while reading Shakespeare, but not too skeptical though because the study does make sense.
ReplyDelete