Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,I informed the kids that the "fire" alluded to either a) the fires of hell, or b) sexually transmitted diseases. We had a funny discussion about sexual practices in Shakespeare's time, to which one of my students started laughing by himself. I asked him what was funny that he had to laugh all alone and not share the joke.
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
"I just had a thought... about the Bible... but it's inappropriate," he said.
At this point, the entire class looked at him and he aroused (no pun intended) my curiosity as well. So I gave him this look that encouraged him to share this thought. With a repressed snicker, he said, "The burning bush."
I nearly burst out laughing and the other kids started snickering as well.
That was the best joke I've heard these past months.
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Those Kids...
In class today, the students and I were discussing one of Shakespeare's sonnets, "Sonnet 144," about a love triangle. The couplet at the end of this sonnet is as follows: