by Andrew Perez
Tate’s natural, un-bothered cadence of her performance inverts the expectations placed upon her by Tennant and the academic gravity of Shakespeare. Her character, Lauren Cooper, is a “most insolent child” that completely disrupts Mr. Logan’s lesson on Shakespeare. Lauren’s remark that Shakespeare is “pointless, repetitious, and extremely dull” sparks the polemics surrounding the classroom environment Mr. Logan tells her that she could never match the “genius” of the poet. This negative description also reflects Mr. Logan’s perception of her: Lauren’s carefree demeanor lends Mr. Logan’s position as an academic to discredit her identity as a student. The basis of this conclusion, however, is entirely incorrect. Lauren recites the entirety of Sonnet 130 verbatim with tone and delivery that would make any thespian or poet drip with jealousy.
Lauren’s choice of Shakespeare’s sonnets is no coincidence: the speaker of the poem describes a woman that does not fit the conventional image of an ideal woman by society’s standards but nonetheless possesses all of its qualities internally. Mr. Logan’s conception of “genius” affirms this parallel: he represents a community of scholars and teachers who dismiss poets and students that fall outside of what is palatable and deserving of merit. Though Lauren’s “reputation precedes her”, her capacity as a scholar and writer does not. In a final twist of sweet irony, Tate’s character reveals that the student understands Shakespeare’s sonnet far better than the instructor.
Reciting the sonnet is something Tate does with effortless grace, but her delivery pierces viewers with machine guns filled with iambic bullets. Her tone is cutting, confident, empowered, and most importantly, attention-grabbing. Lauren’s approach to Shakespeare makes his poetry a commentary on the failing methods through which poetry curriculum are designed. Sonnets should not be read off of the page like Mr. Logan’s misguided attempts, but should viscerally exude through performance like Lauren’s endeavor. By taking the plain seriousness of Shakespeare and reinventing the poem as a means of jest and imitation, one begins to realize how accessible Shakespeare’s poetry really is. If you “don’t have to be English to teach it”, then you don’t have to be a “genius” to write poetry like Shakespeare. Even problem-student Lauren can compose and transform Shakespeare into a format that is approachable, unpretentious, and impassioned.
Introduction to Poetry 
Nov 07, 2019 @ 00:31:17
While the commentary on the video and its connection to the poem is impressive, some more context on the poem would suffice. The poem isn’t really mentioned in detail on the blog post, with the blog post describing how the video relates to the poem, never really “defining” said poem. It would help to at least summarize the poem a bit, the same way you gave a summary of the video.
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Nov 09, 2019 @ 00:00:09
The image for this blog post really takes it to a whole other level, as a visual learning it really helps. I love the way you describe the way Tate’s character behave and speaks, there is not much to criticize here. Amazing as always! 🙂
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Nov 09, 2019 @ 01:48:00
I love how deep this went. The use of the characters as metaphors and how poetry should be read is something not spoken of much. You have so many other ideas to talk about that I wish I had more time to write about all of them individually, and you mention the reference to this reputation that not a lot of people are mentioning. You’re focusing on this presentation, this performance, and the expectation that is there but is ultimately deflated. So much good content for an easy paper. In fact, this is pretty decent as a short paper as is.
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