"I hate Chaucer.
Reading any work by Chaucer is seemingly no more than a waste of time. In English class, we are supposed to do a huge project on Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales,' which is quite simply a whole book filled with nonsensical stories about people's lives and struggles in days gone by. I find it quite monotonous. That's why I decided to finally update my blog: I was bored with this stupid project in school, and I found out that Blogger is one of the few sites that isn't blocked!
As I sit here in the library, I realize how much I have missed writing. I love my ability to write all of this in the blink of an eye. Although I'm really talking about nothing, I love it so."
"Right now i am reading this in my Englsih class, and it seems it is like Lord of the Rings. I jsut got done with The Pardoner's Tale.
Almost nothing but imagery, and it is even worse than Tolkien."
"A classic, so of course it's dull."
"I don't care about the fact that this book is supposed to be symbolic and meaningful or not, I think it's weird. I mean come on, there was one story in which three people ran around a dark room, taking turns sleeping together. What? Yeah, I really doubt pilgrims back then were that perverted. Next book!"
"This book is horrid. I think of it as mind-numbing. Its verse is stilted, its subject vile. Anyone thinking of reading this book be warned: it is terribly over-rated. People who know nothing of literature have boasted of reading this book."
FIVE STARS FROM THIS GUY, HOWEVER, FOR SINS OF THE HIGHLANDER: AN EROTIC HIGHLAND ROMANCE
"The worst part of being an English major is having this afflicted on me in multiple courses. The 3rd, 4th, hundredth, whatever, reading of this doesn't make me appreciate it more. Its not good literature."
Showing posts with label chaucer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chaucer. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2013
Thursday, June 30, 2011
SPECIAL: THE HORRORS OF EDUCATION
"I'm a high school student. Today, my English teacher said: 'The difference between sarcasm and irony is that sarcasm has to be mean, while irony is nice sarcasm.'"
"I'm totally opening my Goethe lessons with that when I have to cover him in class. 'Kids. Goethe sucks donkey dicks.'"
"Holden's incessant whining and indulgence in self-pity annoyed me. I wanted to say to him what I say to my son or my students: Look at your life and get over yourself."
"I know as an English teacher, I'm supposed to love The Canterbury Tales and there's a lot of language in there that's teachable, especially from an evolution of linguistics point of view. But it was just tough for me to get into. So there."
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD - THE GREAT GATSBY
"When my yr.11 class whined to our teacher over how much we hated this book, she replied with 'This is english advanced..you're not going to read fun,interesting books in english advanced..you're going to read boring, old novels'"
"Now I am a teacher and at one time found myself in a position where I had no choice but to assign my students _The Great Gatsby_ ... And don't you dare tell me I didn't get the book. Since I was supposed to be teaching the thing I read it three times (well, to be frank, two and half times; midway through my third reading, I gave up in disgust, both at myself, for having persisted so long, and at the novel itself). I mean, who really gives a fig for any of the characters in the book? Or for that stupid green light? Oooh, ah, and the Valley of Ashes! How very apocalyptic! And T. J. Mecklenburg, or whatever his name was. How could anybody really give a fig for any of it?"
"back in high school, after we were finished with the book, my english teacher told us he never understood why this book was so highly regarded. he called it 'stupid.' i had never agreed with a teacher until that moment."
SAMUEL BECKETT - WAITING FOR GODOT
"As an English teacher, an avid reader, a Lit major, et cetera, I am sure I am supposed to give this play six stars, but I was unimpressed. Severely. It feels more likely that this is an enormous hoax on the literary world than it is a legitimate piece of writing - as if in 40 or so years, the Beckett estate will reveal a letter saying something like, 'Just Kidding, y'all. It's garbage, and I know it'. The hat scene - surely cited as 'postmodern lunacy' or somesuch bilge in theatrical reviews, seems more like a tired Warner Brothers skit. Oh well."
HERMAN MELVILLE - BILLY BUDD
"I had to teach this book to juniors in high school and could never figure out why. It is a VERY difficult read and I absolutely hated the book until the end. I'm not sure if I would recommend it or not, but if so, I wouldn't recommend it to teenagers or even early college-aged students. It was very difficult."
"My A.P. English teacher decided that to pass her class we would have to read and take a test on Billy Budd, so we would be able to take the A.P. exam and pass it. This is a woman who appreciates good literature told us 'anyone who likes this book is crazy and should be shot.' needless to say I can't stand it. The only thing that perplexes me, is why people actually read it, why it's such a 'good' book."
SHAKESPEARE - JULIUS CAESAR
"I've never been a fan of reading Shakespeare. As a 10 gr. English teacher, I face the challenge of making relevant and exciting the reading of a play I don't find relevant or exciting."
CORMAC MCCARTHY - THE ROAD
(I DON'T REALLY THINK THIS IS A GOOD BOOK BUT THE QUOTE IS HORRIFYING SO HERE WE ARE)
"As an English teacher, I appreciated the imagery and the amazingly lyrical writing throughout the book. I will also admit to not being able to stop reading it, but not because I was enjoying it. This book was full of gruesome ideas and dark reality. Could this or would this happen after an apocalypse, I am convinced that it would, but I did not find the father continuing on with his son in this black, white, and shades of grey landscape inspiring or faith building."
MARK TWAIN - THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
"I want to love this book, really I do. I'm an English teacher so shouldn't I love it."
"I read this book out a sense of responsibility to America's literary canon. I hadn't read it since middle school. I've taught high school for ten years, and I would not choose this book to read with an English class. I just don't think it's really that deep. Satirical, comic, adventurous, page-turner, yes, but deep, well no. There are other books that made me think more. The people in the country towns are depicted as lawless and base. Jim, while noble and kind, is stupid. Huck is a child swayed by what other people think, and not yet old enough to make his own convictions. Tom Sawyer is a foolish child whose antics cause pain for people. The women in the book are all kind but out of touch with reality and easily duped. There are a couple well educated, intelligent characters, but they are the exception to the rule. For such a long book, there's just not much meat there."
"I know, I know... I am an English teacher who doesn't like Mark Twain. It's a shame, but at least I will never force my students to read this boring book!"
SOPHOCLES - OEDIPUS REX
"This book is overrated, or at least my teacher overrated it. In the beginning of the story, the prophet tells Oedipus that he will live in sin (make love to) his mother. My teacher constantly said that we wouldn't be able to fathom how awesome the plot twist would be, however it was spoiled near the beginning (and if you've ever read these stories, the prophet is NEVER wrong. No matter what happens, their prophecies will not be stopped). We cant forget that the ending is DEPRESSING! Dont bother waiting until you read this story to roll your eyes and say 'THATS IT!?' because I'll tell you now. Oedipus unrealistically flies to get eaten by gods or something. No real reason, no real gain, no loss, just leaving his family for god(s)."
EMILY BRONTE - WUTHERING HEIGHTS
"Ugh. I don't have the level of concentration required to read this book right now. I made it up to like, page 70, mostly driven by guilt that I'm an English teacher and have never read this. Decided life is too short to trudge my way through Victorian sentences in a book where neither the characters nor the story interest me. I was, however, amused that the narrator used the word 'ejaculated' about 15 times in the first 20 pages to mean 'exclaimed.' ('"Wretched inmates!" I ejaculated mentally.') Otherwise, I was both bored and confused. I may come back to it someday, but probably not. I think I'll pick up the 3rd Twilight book instead."
"Very tedious. But on the bright side, now I can grade papers on this work intelligently."
SHAKESPEARE - ROMEO AND JULIET
"Geez... why do so many people insist that this is the PERFECT Shakespeare play for 9th graders? I don't think I can teach it again. HELP!!! I am drowning in a ridiculous love story that gets compared to gang warfare all the time."
"I don't even think Shakespeare wrote this one, it was probably one of those poseurs. Ugh! I had to teach this play and pretend I liked it! That was not fun."
"I am so so so tired of this play. It is an excellent introduction to Shakespeare for young readers (like the freshmen I teach it to) but it is defintely one of Shakespeare's weakest plays. (i.e What's up with all of the plot summary in the dialogue?)"
"I'm sick of this crummy work getting accolades from the literary adult world. Haven't kids suffered enough?"
CHILDREN CAN NEVER SUFFER ENOUGH
"I'm totally opening my Goethe lessons with that when I have to cover him in class. 'Kids. Goethe sucks donkey dicks.'"
"Holden's incessant whining and indulgence in self-pity annoyed me. I wanted to say to him what I say to my son or my students: Look at your life and get over yourself."
"I know as an English teacher, I'm supposed to love The Canterbury Tales and there's a lot of language in there that's teachable, especially from an evolution of linguistics point of view. But it was just tough for me to get into. So there."
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD - THE GREAT GATSBY
"When my yr.11 class whined to our teacher over how much we hated this book, she replied with 'This is english advanced..you're not going to read fun,interesting books in english advanced..you're going to read boring, old novels'"
"Now I am a teacher and at one time found myself in a position where I had no choice but to assign my students _The Great Gatsby_ ... And don't you dare tell me I didn't get the book. Since I was supposed to be teaching the thing I read it three times (well, to be frank, two and half times; midway through my third reading, I gave up in disgust, both at myself, for having persisted so long, and at the novel itself). I mean, who really gives a fig for any of the characters in the book? Or for that stupid green light? Oooh, ah, and the Valley of Ashes! How very apocalyptic! And T. J. Mecklenburg, or whatever his name was. How could anybody really give a fig for any of it?"
"back in high school, after we were finished with the book, my english teacher told us he never understood why this book was so highly regarded. he called it 'stupid.' i had never agreed with a teacher until that moment."
SAMUEL BECKETT - WAITING FOR GODOT
"As an English teacher, an avid reader, a Lit major, et cetera, I am sure I am supposed to give this play six stars, but I was unimpressed. Severely. It feels more likely that this is an enormous hoax on the literary world than it is a legitimate piece of writing - as if in 40 or so years, the Beckett estate will reveal a letter saying something like, 'Just Kidding, y'all. It's garbage, and I know it'. The hat scene - surely cited as 'postmodern lunacy' or somesuch bilge in theatrical reviews, seems more like a tired Warner Brothers skit. Oh well."
HERMAN MELVILLE - BILLY BUDD
"I had to teach this book to juniors in high school and could never figure out why. It is a VERY difficult read and I absolutely hated the book until the end. I'm not sure if I would recommend it or not, but if so, I wouldn't recommend it to teenagers or even early college-aged students. It was very difficult."
"My A.P. English teacher decided that to pass her class we would have to read and take a test on Billy Budd, so we would be able to take the A.P. exam and pass it. This is a woman who appreciates good literature told us 'anyone who likes this book is crazy and should be shot.' needless to say I can't stand it. The only thing that perplexes me, is why people actually read it, why it's such a 'good' book."
SHAKESPEARE - JULIUS CAESAR
"I've never been a fan of reading Shakespeare. As a 10 gr. English teacher, I face the challenge of making relevant and exciting the reading of a play I don't find relevant or exciting."
CORMAC MCCARTHY - THE ROAD
(I DON'T REALLY THINK THIS IS A GOOD BOOK BUT THE QUOTE IS HORRIFYING SO HERE WE ARE)
"As an English teacher, I appreciated the imagery and the amazingly lyrical writing throughout the book. I will also admit to not being able to stop reading it, but not because I was enjoying it. This book was full of gruesome ideas and dark reality. Could this or would this happen after an apocalypse, I am convinced that it would, but I did not find the father continuing on with his son in this black, white, and shades of grey landscape inspiring or faith building."
MARK TWAIN - THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
"I want to love this book, really I do. I'm an English teacher so shouldn't I love it."
"I read this book out a sense of responsibility to America's literary canon. I hadn't read it since middle school. I've taught high school for ten years, and I would not choose this book to read with an English class. I just don't think it's really that deep. Satirical, comic, adventurous, page-turner, yes, but deep, well no. There are other books that made me think more. The people in the country towns are depicted as lawless and base. Jim, while noble and kind, is stupid. Huck is a child swayed by what other people think, and not yet old enough to make his own convictions. Tom Sawyer is a foolish child whose antics cause pain for people. The women in the book are all kind but out of touch with reality and easily duped. There are a couple well educated, intelligent characters, but they are the exception to the rule. For such a long book, there's just not much meat there."
"I know, I know... I am an English teacher who doesn't like Mark Twain. It's a shame, but at least I will never force my students to read this boring book!"
SOPHOCLES - OEDIPUS REX
"This book is overrated, or at least my teacher overrated it. In the beginning of the story, the prophet tells Oedipus that he will live in sin (make love to) his mother. My teacher constantly said that we wouldn't be able to fathom how awesome the plot twist would be, however it was spoiled near the beginning (and if you've ever read these stories, the prophet is NEVER wrong. No matter what happens, their prophecies will not be stopped). We cant forget that the ending is DEPRESSING! Dont bother waiting until you read this story to roll your eyes and say 'THATS IT!?' because I'll tell you now. Oedipus unrealistically flies to get eaten by gods or something. No real reason, no real gain, no loss, just leaving his family for god(s)."
EMILY BRONTE - WUTHERING HEIGHTS
"Ugh. I don't have the level of concentration required to read this book right now. I made it up to like, page 70, mostly driven by guilt that I'm an English teacher and have never read this. Decided life is too short to trudge my way through Victorian sentences in a book where neither the characters nor the story interest me. I was, however, amused that the narrator used the word 'ejaculated' about 15 times in the first 20 pages to mean 'exclaimed.' ('"Wretched inmates!" I ejaculated mentally.') Otherwise, I was both bored and confused. I may come back to it someday, but probably not. I think I'll pick up the 3rd Twilight book instead."
"Very tedious. But on the bright side, now I can grade papers on this work intelligently."
SHAKESPEARE - ROMEO AND JULIET
"Geez... why do so many people insist that this is the PERFECT Shakespeare play for 9th graders? I don't think I can teach it again. HELP!!! I am drowning in a ridiculous love story that gets compared to gang warfare all the time."
"I don't even think Shakespeare wrote this one, it was probably one of those poseurs. Ugh! I had to teach this play and pretend I liked it! That was not fun."
"I am so so so tired of this play. It is an excellent introduction to Shakespeare for young readers (like the freshmen I teach it to) but it is defintely one of Shakespeare's weakest plays. (i.e What's up with all of the plot summary in the dialogue?)"
"I'm sick of this crummy work getting accolades from the literary adult world. Haven't kids suffered enough?"
CHILDREN CAN NEVER SUFFER ENOUGH
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Chaucer - Troilus and Criseyde
"this 'lytel booke' stinks."
"I had to read this for an undergrad English class...From Epic to Romance. This was neither epic, nor was it romantic. More annoying than Romeo and Juliet. Just awful."
"Because really, any girl traded to an invading army as part of a prisoner exchange is a shameless hussy who is Just Asking For It. Let's deride her for being untrue to her true love, so that we can call our poem a Romance."
"I like romantic comedies.. Jill Mansell and Cecilia Ahern are good. All the Harry Potter books (yes I am a Harry Potter geek..). Russel Brands autobiography is funnyy. I hate Chaucer."
"I had to read this for an undergrad English class...From Epic to Romance. This was neither epic, nor was it romantic. More annoying than Romeo and Juliet. Just awful."
"Because really, any girl traded to an invading army as part of a prisoner exchange is a shameless hussy who is Just Asking For It. Let's deride her for being untrue to her true love, so that we can call our poem a Romance."
"I like romantic comedies.. Jill Mansell and Cecilia Ahern are good. All the Harry Potter books (yes I am a Harry Potter geek..). Russel Brands autobiography is funnyy. I hate Chaucer."
Friday, March 25, 2011
Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales
"too poetic."
"I couldn't finish this. Perhaps it's the translation. Perhaps they didn't translate it enough."
"Terrible. I wouldnt recommend this to anyone. I didnt even finish it. Maybe its because I dont appreciate the poetic side to it or the way its written. Whatever it is, I thought it was a terrible book."
"I realize the time period this was written in, and maybe I'm just too modern of a woman to enjoy this kind of thing, but this was one of the most sexist, elitist, and culturally discriminatory works I've ever read."
"I have so many things to do in my life I just don't want to take the time to read something that isn't appropriate."
"I don't easily understand poetry and traditional prose, so this was very hard to understand for me. I'm very sarcastic and can be quite cynical at times, so if this hadn't been so much work for me to read, I may have enjoyed it more."
"Ugh. This was one of those "Let's read this in Olde English-Middle English!!!!" college reads. That I didn't actually read the whole thing of. It's a metastory in poem form. I just didn't like the stories and I really hated the Olde English (it's seriously like another language). Good thing for 1066. (lol)"
"Gawd. I don't like the language (Old English), and I don't like the style (verse, poetry). I read for pleasure, and reading this is about as much fun as wiping your butt with a Brillo pad."
"Many people can be divided into camps of either liking Chaucer or Milton."
"Very slow moving, reminds me of Aesop's type fable reading."
"Just leave me alone. Yes, I don't understand you and I really don't like you, so what? Am I going to burn on a stick, while Goodreads crowd is going to scream, 'You witch, burn, you witch! You deserve no better!'"
"Chaucer makes you remember that the England of his day had a much smaller population than nowadays, along with a proportionally small amount of persons with an IQ of 100 or above. That's the only way I can see how this book gained its reputation as a classic."
"I hate the freaking Canterbury Tales! I don't care if it is a classic. I don't care if it's older than snot -- I still hate it. Sure, it's cool that it survived and whatever. But I'm not impressed."
"im not a fan of literature for literature's sake. i hated this book with a passion"
"The stories, set as they are in the 14th century, are barely contemporary"
"To me, this is a book that introduces one to the flavor of a certain time and place--Medieval England-- and much like tasting that flavor of time."
"This is another classic that contains sex, violence and language to rival any controversial book of today. And yet, this is required reading in advanced placement English in high school."
"It was fun to read about the tales that were told and retold during that Elizabethan time period."
"Just not what someone raised on modern storytelling can enjoy. At least, not this someone."
"If you like the television series 'The Simpsons,' you will probably like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. They reflect the same vulgar approach to entertainment which, instead of making us rise above the gutter of everyday life, brings us to the lowest level of crudity. There are some redeeming tales however, such as the Knight's Tale, but as a whole, this book should be avoided by anyone with a sense of honour and decency."
"Garbage
The Canterbury Tales are nothing more than dirty stories in the disguise of eloquent, archaic language. Why this is considered a classic is beyond me. The stories are low class and equivalent to crude comedy. Chaucer was merely a peddler of trash to the British public."
"Some consider this a bawdy, racy, funny book, but seriously modern Saturday morning cartoons are racier than this. I can imagine people hundreds of years ago talking about this "dirty" book on the sly and passing it around, but today it really doesn't measure up with other more enjoyable works."
"I couldn't finish this. Perhaps it's the translation. Perhaps they didn't translate it enough."
"Terrible. I wouldnt recommend this to anyone. I didnt even finish it. Maybe its because I dont appreciate the poetic side to it or the way its written. Whatever it is, I thought it was a terrible book."
"I realize the time period this was written in, and maybe I'm just too modern of a woman to enjoy this kind of thing, but this was one of the most sexist, elitist, and culturally discriminatory works I've ever read."
"I have so many things to do in my life I just don't want to take the time to read something that isn't appropriate."
"I don't easily understand poetry and traditional prose, so this was very hard to understand for me. I'm very sarcastic and can be quite cynical at times, so if this hadn't been so much work for me to read, I may have enjoyed it more."
"Ugh. This was one of those "Let's read this in Olde English-Middle English!!!!" college reads. That I didn't actually read the whole thing of. It's a metastory in poem form. I just didn't like the stories and I really hated the Olde English (it's seriously like another language). Good thing for 1066. (lol)"
"Gawd. I don't like the language (Old English), and I don't like the style (verse, poetry). I read for pleasure, and reading this is about as much fun as wiping your butt with a Brillo pad."
"Many people can be divided into camps of either liking Chaucer or Milton."
"Very slow moving, reminds me of Aesop's type fable reading."
"Just leave me alone. Yes, I don't understand you and I really don't like you, so what? Am I going to burn on a stick, while Goodreads crowd is going to scream, 'You witch, burn, you witch! You deserve no better!'"
"Chaucer makes you remember that the England of his day had a much smaller population than nowadays, along with a proportionally small amount of persons with an IQ of 100 or above. That's the only way I can see how this book gained its reputation as a classic."
"I hate the freaking Canterbury Tales! I don't care if it is a classic. I don't care if it's older than snot -- I still hate it. Sure, it's cool that it survived and whatever. But I'm not impressed."
"im not a fan of literature for literature's sake. i hated this book with a passion"
"The stories, set as they are in the 14th century, are barely contemporary"
"To me, this is a book that introduces one to the flavor of a certain time and place--Medieval England-- and much like tasting that flavor of time."
"This is another classic that contains sex, violence and language to rival any controversial book of today. And yet, this is required reading in advanced placement English in high school."
"It was fun to read about the tales that were told and retold during that Elizabethan time period."
"Just not what someone raised on modern storytelling can enjoy. At least, not this someone."
"If you like the television series 'The Simpsons,' you will probably like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. They reflect the same vulgar approach to entertainment which, instead of making us rise above the gutter of everyday life, brings us to the lowest level of crudity. There are some redeeming tales however, such as the Knight's Tale, but as a whole, this book should be avoided by anyone with a sense of honour and decency."
"Garbage
The Canterbury Tales are nothing more than dirty stories in the disguise of eloquent, archaic language. Why this is considered a classic is beyond me. The stories are low class and equivalent to crude comedy. Chaucer was merely a peddler of trash to the British public."
"Some consider this a bawdy, racy, funny book, but seriously modern Saturday morning cartoons are racier than this. I can imagine people hundreds of years ago talking about this "dirty" book on the sly and passing it around, but today it really doesn't measure up with other more enjoyable works."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)