The ghost of William Shakespeare to a pupil who accidentally conjures him whilst frantically writing an essay at 3 o’clock in the morning:
“Don’t wrap me up in the chains
of your poxy writing frames
or pick at my remains with your
‘point-evidence-explain’
or prod at my pentameters
or filter out my metaphors
without first knowing how they make you FEEL.
And don’t drain my soliloquies
with clinical analysis
or paraphrase some essayist
like some amateur ventriloquist,
just get thee to a library
and find something to LOVE.
The chances are the ghost of me
is in those pages too,
and, for now,
that’s enough,
so get gone
(I’ll be waiting for you).”
IOB 09.07.16
[Picture by Chris Beatrice, from the cover of Read Magazine, http://www.theispot.com/whatsnew/2010/12/chris-beatrice-inspired-by-shakespeare.htm]
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