Saturday, December 29, 2018

Richard III: Assignment (Act III, Scene 7)

Welcome back to the Richard III reading project. This week we're going to focus on a single scene: the long ending to Act III in which Gloucester assumes the mantle of king of England. Your assignment, after reading the scene, is to write a poem about evil--in your own language idiom, not as an imitation of Shakespeare's. Your poem can directly address material in the play, relate the play to current events, focus on your private relationship to evil, invent an anecdotal situation, etc. However, you may borrow only one metaphor from scene 7 for use in your poem. It can be either a centerpiece for your thoughts or a supporting image. But limit yourself to this single borrowing; don't string multiple Shakespearean metaphors into your draft.

My purpose in creating these constraints is to encourage you explore how reading a powerfully inventive work can trigger your own powers of invention . . . not as a reiterator or a mimic but as a creative force in your own right.

Let's aim to share these drafts next Saturday.

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