Chekhov's Mistress
Why, asks I, just Shakespeare?
According to a study at the University of Liverpool, ”Reading Shakespeare has dramatic effect on human brain.” Here’s why:
Professor Philip Davis, from the University’s School of English, said: “The brain reacts to reading a phrase such as ‘he godded me’ from the tragedy of Coriolanus, in a similar way to putting a jigsaw puzzle together. If it is easy to see which pieces slot together you become bored of the game, but if the pieces don’t appear to fit, when we know they should, the brain becomes excited. By throwing odd words into seemingly normal sentences, Shakespeare surprises the brain and catches it off guard in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity – a sense of drama created out of the simplest of things.”
Interesting enough, but I’m not so sure why this only applies to Shakespeare when any good poem should have the same affect.
comments
A.S. Byatt wrote the same thing about Donne’s poetry in the TLS Donne issue back in September so she beat them by a few months. (Granted hers was an untested hypothesis but why nitpick.)
– Imani (12/20 at 12:47 AM)
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: December 19, 2006
- Filed Under:
Wise Men Fish Here: Literature
- Comments:1
- Links to this Post: Technorati
