kuldpsingh6149

This book would be an excellent book to use in a history or social studies class, as well as a theater or English class. The author recommends how this book could supplement a study of medieval times: "I wrote these plays for a group of students at the Park school where I work as a librarian. They were studying the Middle Ages, and they were going at it hammer and tongs. They were experimenting with catapults and building miniature castles, baking bread and tending herbs, composing music and illuminating manuscripts. I wanted them to have something to perform" (viii). By either memorizing and performing or by just reading aloud, students can absorb part of the human experience of life during medieval times. The pieces are written in poetic form with some artful word play students could study to practice for reading and understanding Shakespeare and the times in which he set some of his plays. Each monologue (there are also two dialogues) is a voice of a person from a medieval village. Each person represents a social class and occupation, and he describes feelings and interactions that may have been a part of his daily life. Otho, for instance, is the miller’s son. His monologue opens: Father is the miller As his father was of old And I shall be the miller, When my father’s flesh is cold. I know the family business - It’s been drummed into my head: How to cheat the hungry customer And earn my daily bread. (27) Not only do we learn some realities about the miller’s trade, we also catch a glimpse of Otho’s feelings about it - his dad’s repetitious instructions and traditions have been given so often, he cannot mistake them. Each monologue has realistic elements like those described above. Taken together all the characters’ monologues could help a classroom get an overview of the historical facts as well as the human side of history. The book has great helps to further aid a student in understanding the times. A map at the beginning shows each character’s workplace or home in the village. Notes in the margins explain unfamiliar words or turns of speech. The word “fell” in the following lines has a different meaning: “Though I was born crookbacked,/ crippled, and fell,/ I will be cured at Saint Winifred’s well” (20). The margin note says, “Fell is an old-fashioned word for ugly and bitter” (20). In this one sentence, learning medieval language is dovetailed with learning the variety of problems people faced as well as religious beliefs and practices. Learning history is facilitated by visualizing the people of the time doing their daily work, speaking their words, dealing with their problems, using their tools, and otherwise walking in their shoes. The artwork compliments this process with pictures of people dressed in medieval-like clothing, and set in medieval homes and geography. The parts of the examples above that might help students practice for reading Shakespeare are the old English words and the indirect descriptions and puns. Otho’s family business is to grind people’s grain into flour, but it is more than that, too; it is to do it in such a way that the customer is cheated out of some of his flour so the miller can feed his family. “Daily bread” has come to mean daily monetary earnings and food, but in this monologue it means quite literally, bread one would eat to sustain life which would come of the flour the miller takes from the villagers. Inexperienced readers of Shakespeare could begin to get a feel for the way he writes and for some of his subject matter with these poem/monologues. This book is most suitable for ages 10-14. Parents need to be aware that death, homelessness, and abuse are addressed skillfully and realistically, but briefly.

2022-11-14 13:51