To think an English teacher should know poems that AREN'T on the examination syllabus?

[Shiningbaubles]

And be familiar with Shakespeare plays other than Romeo and Juliet?

Friend is training but 'hates poetry" and 'hates Shakespeare.'

Or am I being harsh?

Why should someone have to like Shakespeare?

Yes, he was a great playwright Yes - his use of language and plots was remarkable.

But why should someone have to like his work?

They can teach it - God knows we have to teach things that don't engage us a lot of the time.

Plays should be seen.
Books should be read.
Poems - should be performed.

Shakespeare isn't that difficult, the themes are universal. The language can be tricky but approached in the right way can be very powerful.

'Poems should be performed' makes the introvert in me shudder.

'Hating' Shakespeare just seems so ridiculous though, since he wrote on so many themes, which still resonate today. I suspect that anybody who dismisses Shakespeare entirely just hasn't seen a decent production of any of the plays.

I dislike the comedies, for example - think, 'Measure for Measure' is ridiculous etc, but 'Macbeth' and, 'Hamlet' and various others are incredible.

I would be the person listening

It just seems odd to me that someone who hates Shakespeare and all poetry would choose English teacher as a profession. Someone stating they dislike all poetry would indicate (to me at least) that they're not particularly widely read. It's quite a closed minded statement to make.

In my defence, I LOVE poetry and reading. There are SO many other parts to the English language (and literature!) than Shakespeare.

My specialism is linguistics...it doesn't make me a bad teacher!

I suspect that anybody who dismisses Shakespeare entirely just hasn't seen a decent production of any of the plays

Or has probably analysed them, had to quote them, read them and write essays on them.

It's a good way to turn people off anything.

I'm a maths teacher. I hate statistics. I don't consider it real maths. I can still teach it!

I wouldn't say poems are for performing. They can be but more often than not enjoying poetry is a solo activity.

Orlando, but you'd still have to go out to some kind of public venue. You can't just sit at home and read a nice bit of Keats while cuddling a dog if it is going to be a performance.

Even worse in school, where some extrovert kid would read it, thereby taking up even more time and attention than usual.

How does she feel about other aspects of literature op?
Oh Squoosh knew you'd be a bit metaphysical. Personally
"If we had world enough and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime"
Does it for me every time. (No the rhyme wasnt on purpose)

I think dismissing all poetry and the complete works of an author is Not great, however, I can see how people can be put off Shakespeare-Romeo and Juliet for GCSE, dissected and analysed non stop since September could dampen anyone's interest. I was the same with Austen-Couldn't read any for years after 6th form.

noble

See - I love statistics. I love talking about it and getting the children to think about it.

But circle theorems bore the hell out of me.

Tabby but I am a secondary English teacher and without exception all of the teachers I have worked with have had a good knowledge of literature and enjoyed Shakespeare and teaching poetry. Not all of his plays and not all poets but all have genuinely had a love of literature and an enthusiasm for their subject. Unless they are very good at faking I am amazed the person you know got on a teaching course. My head of dept is very discerning and we never have anyone without good knowledge and without a degree and teaching qualification in English.

To answer the OP, I'd privately judge someone who went into English teaching hating Shakespeare and poetry. I'd certainly expect them to not mention this to their students, who don't get to choose in what texts they read for the most part.

Mostly I find teachers who blanch at this actually don't understand it and reach for the No Fear books asap.

Ha TrulyTurtles! You could tell from my eye rolling snark on the Masterchef thread that I was a metaphysical groupie.

Licence my roving hands, and let them go
Behind, before, above, between, below.
Oh my America! my new-found-land

Mr Donne gives me the shivers (the good kind)

Jane Eyre was the book ruined for me after months and months of dissection and analysis.

I think any interviewer worth their salt would be able to work out that here is an English teacher who doesn't really care for some pretty big branches of the English curriculum. And I would assume hope that teacher would therefore be pretty much unemployable.

'liking' Shakespeare isn't compulsory, but you will spend a pretty big chunk of your time working on him. you need to be able to summon up the requisite enthusiasm though. But an English teacher who can't find anything to like about poetry? Ffs.

Oh god poetry is not for performing. Definitely not in that special poetry voice that people use

I'm not a Shakespeare fan. It doesn't really move me or speak to me and I've studied my fair share of it. But poetry I do enjoy and have found my own way to the poets I enjoy. And normally for me it's a solitary thing.

Odd to be an English teacher though if you get nothing out of any of it.

You don't really get asked about literature or subject knowledge at interview, strangely enough. And some schools teach through extracts and 'easy' set texts that require no wider subject knowledge. Which is wrong, obviously, but you could teach English in some schools knowing very little about literature. Why you'd want to is another question.

Oh, metaphysicals!
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage.
Minds innocent and quiet take
That as a hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above
Enjoy such liberty.

I agree, squoosh: poems are so densely layered, I think they need to be studied, rather than simply performed.

An English teacher hating poetry and not knowing any Shakespeare other than R & J I can't imagine is going to be very good at teaching English. I mean by the time you finish English GCSE, A level and then degree you've probably studied at least 5 Shakespeare plays, there's no escaping him.

There's a lot more to literature than Shakespeare. It's also perfectly possible to teach something you don't like personally ...indeed this is often the case in the creative arts. (Or you may love it the first time you teach it but loathe it by the tenth). And, as others have said, maybe your friend prefers the linguistic side. Or have you taken a flippant comment she made too seriously?

Dawn that's one of my favourites